It seems we need a little more room for gear and people then the inside of my vehicle will afford. Are there any preferred methods of securing gear to the roof? I do have yakima racks and my wife's sister offered to let us borrow her large covered yakima roof top carrier to use on my cherokee. We are renting a canoe, so that may only be part of the equation from the outfitter to the put in and back. I do not have a tow hitch installed.

Curious as to what other people do to increase seating and storage capacity. The rods will get put into a pvc tube and tied to the roof rack. I was also thinking about simply using a piece of plywood over the racks and wrapping a couple packs in a tarp to protect from the bugs, oil etc. Would this work ok? Other ideas?