Mount a kayak cradle on vehicle w/ basket?

[Sasquatch SC]

I would like to be able to take my kayak with me on some trips. Up top, I have an extended Thule Canyon XT basket mounted to a set of 47” Thule WingBar Evo crossbars. The basket has four forward facing Hella 500 lights on the front that would prevent me from lashing it down on the basket itself but I wouldn’t do that anyways bc the basket usually has gear in it when I’m going adventuring.

So what are my options?
Replace the crossbars with the Thule 60” set, but that’s an extra $225 before I even buy the kayak j-cradle?
Are any other more affordable brands than Thule crossbars compatible w/ the bases I already have?
Is there any way I can reliably mount the cradle direct to the side of the basket?
Any other mounting ideas w/ my current setup that wouldn’t damage the kayak?

 

[ryanorr280]

For what it’s worth, I fight a similar battle. We haul 2 kayaks, and I haven’t found a compromise to haul them and haul gear on the roof yet. I have seen some with the kayak on one side, gear on the other. But if you don’t have bars on top of your basket to mount the cradles to, it really only leaves the options you are mentioning. Either longer bars, or mount directly to the basket, which doesn’t clear your lights.

 

[Alan S]

this scenario is exactly why I bought an inflatable double kayak. I have several hard shell yaks but no good way to mount them to roof rack on the truck, along with other gear. This compromise works for us