Hello all, I stumbled across this sight when I was searching for a canoe.
Now that I’ve bought a canoe, I’m curious as to how to secure the bow and stern when transporting the canoe.
My canoe (mad river adventure 14, same as the adventure 16) has grab handles that are attached to the canoe with bolts. I don’t want to risk pulling the handle out of the canoe but I do think it is necessary to use front and rear tie downs.
Any suggestions?
three choices:
#1 - you can subscribe to the beliefs of a vocal minority on this site that bow and stern lines are not needed; or,
#2 - you can drill holes through your bow and stern which you could attach a looped lanyard; or,
#3 - you can use the carrying handles provided.
For a short time I had a rotomolded Old Town Ojibway and found that the carrying handles were quite effective at securing the tiedowns. The only problem – aside from lifting the heavy blankety-blank of a boat onto the roof – was that the bolts occasionally worked themselves loose on longer road trips, but a little dab of lock-tite took care of that.
three choices-
Well we agree on this- #1 isn’t going to sit well with me.
As for #2- I hate the thought of drilling holes in my brand new canoe, though I’ve read about it here and really can’t think of any logical reason not to.
As for #3- I’ll probably examine the handles more closely and try to figure out how well anchored they are. If they look suspect, I may reach for the drill.
Thanks!
Handles as Bow/Stern
I’ve had the mad river adventure 16 for quite a few months now - the handles hold up well for a while, then will need replacement. I had no problem with using them for bow/stern straps until they broke. Mine had a lot of hard use before breaking. When they broke, the straps gave plenty of signs they were getting ready - splitting and unraveling.
Easy…
Start at rear bumper or trailer hitch, with one long rope, tie a half hitch around the entire boat, run tag end of rope to bow, tie another half hitch, then down to the front bumper. Put a taught line hitch on each end to cinch it all up. Quick, secure, easy, and one rope. Clove hitches work fine too but tensioning is trickier.
had not though of that
Thanks Dryer, I hadn’t thought of that