Magicpaddler wrote on Jan 7^th, 2013 at 10:42pm:

What I presently have is a pair of Surco R6200 rails with my own risers and cross rails.   (You need to Login or Register These are straight and need to be bent to fit the roof. My roof is curved in two directions making it difficult to keep them parallel.  Once on these have worked so well I am spoiled.  MP I agree with you about ropes.  Ropes are the best and ratchet binders are the absolute worst.

MP,

For years I had toted my canoe around on a van using the standard dealer roof racks.  No problems.  Since I put about 4000 miles annually carrying a canoe, I decided to purchase the Yakima Q towers, bars, strap kit, and the wind fairing (?) at Copia 3 years ago for my Toyota Corolla.  Total cost was about $400 with the discount.  They were kind of a pain to get them set up correctly, but once that was done, it's very easy to put on and take off.   Compared to how I hauled the canoes in earlier times and worried about things while on the highway, I am very happy with how the Yakima racks have performed to date.

If you already have a "rear" rack as you mentioned in your first post, you could just buy 2 Q towers and a bar to put near the windshield.