Thule Roof Rack and Hullavator on 2018 Subaru Outback

I recently got a new-to-me car, and I needed to attach my Hullavator to it. Its a pretty common car, a 2018 Subaru Outback, and the Hullavator is a back saver for an old man like me. But I didn’t find much information on how best to do this, so I thought others might like to see the way that worked for me.

I bought a Thule Rapid Fit Kit 4063 ($129), the Rapid Podium Feet 460R ($220), and the SquareBar 118 ($120). The factory rack on the Outback has cross bars that can swing from the ”cross” position to the “tucked in the side rails position”, and they lock down by hand very sturdily. To start, with one of the Subaru crossbars slightly open, you want to loosely fit two of the Fit Kit 4063 feet on one of the crossbars. This is easier to do when the cross bar is slightly open. Position the feet as widely as possible, for weight distribution. When two of these Fit Kit feet are on the crossbar loosely, the Subaru crossbar can be closed and locked down. The two Fit Kit feet opposite them can be put on the opposite crossbar, and adjusted till they are fairly accurately positioned directly across from the first Fit Kit feet, and the Subaru crossbar locked down.

Next the first Podium foot can be loosely attached to the first Fit Kit foot by a single bolt that goes through the Fit Kit foot and into the Podium foot. A T Bar on the back side of the Podium foot first has to be turned 45 degrees to accept the bolt tip. Then the first SquareBar is slid onto the first Podium foot, and extended out 6 inches from the Podium foot for clearance of the kayak from the side mirror of the car. The opposite Podium foot can be slid onto the opposite end of the SquareBar, and bolted to the Fit Kit boot on that side. At this point the bolts can be tightened, and one SquareBar is secured. The second SquareBar can be attached in the same way.

Next the 2 Hullavator Base Plates are attached to the SquareBars by 4 round bolts on each Base Plate. There is a hole in the end of each base plate, which has to go just past the end of the SquareBars to allow the Pivot Pin to be inserted through the holes.

Next the swing arm is attached to the base plate, assuming it is already assembled, as mine was from an earlier installation. The graphic below shows how the swing arm is attached to the base plate with the pin. The orientation of the pin is critical to safety. This is kind of a two man job, as the swing arm is a bit heavy.

Wiggle and rock the rack, bars, and Hullavator, to make sure all the bolts are rock solid. Lastly, the 4 cover plates can be attached to the Podium Feet. This setup is pricey, but makes the kayak usable for a one man loading.