Hi all,
I am purchasing two 12 foot Hurricane Santee kayaks and have some questions about transporting them. I currently have Yakima racks that I use for my bikes but wondered if any of you have favorite Yakima mounts for Kayaks.
In addition, the biggest concern is how best to tether the bow and stern without damaging the car from contact from the strap to the paint. I see where some folks use a short strap that is connected to a bolt within the engine compartment and then tuck it in when not in use. Does anyone out there have a 2011 CRV or thereabouts that is using that approach? Or, any suggestions on the bow and stern would be great.
I am in the process of lining everything up, straps, mounts, storage racks for the garage before I get the boats.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.
Ed
where are
you parking ?
Honda Element and All of Mine
Here’s some pics:
http://www.pbase.com/ozarkpaddler/image/160343425
http://www.pbase.com/ozarkpaddler/image/90551992
http://www.pbase.com/ozarkpaddler/image/140851525
http://www.pbase.com/ozarkpaddler/image/160343424
Strap bolted in or
Tie a loop of rope around a frame, same idea.
Or take a piece of rope, slide it through some rubber tubing, make a loop out of it, then close the hood/ back hatch on it and the tube keeps it from coming out.
I have twisted polypropylene line under my hood and I noticed the other day where a few years of use have worn the paint of the edge of the hood but that’s with years of heavy use. My truck has rubbed up against more than one tree so it’s not really an issue for me but you may want to use something less abrasive than the polypropylene.
Civic
I have the bolted loops under the hood of my Civic. No complaints. Just don’t forget to put them back when you’re finished. I’ve run many an errand with those loops hanging out 
dirt is the enemy
surfaces at the potential paint rub area need be kept clean and lubricated with silicone wax and silicone spray.
adding a rub protector, a cut section of gallon water jug bent and fit isolates the rubbing strap from paint.
I have a blacknose Ford van with center bow guys running off a long eye bolt into the bumper. The cord passes over the plastic grille on a piece of blue Walmart sleeping pad.
Cords running off eyebolts on bumper near the leading wheel well edges are wrapped longwise with 3M electrical tape. The soft vinyl expends itself rubbing on paint leaving paint intact. Lay tape longwise against the cord then fold over on itself: tape sticks to tape.
Run Your Straps Back To Your Rack
Don’t bother running them down to your vehicle. The shape of your yak will keep it in place. It’s not like a canoe. If you want Make sure it doesn’t slide forward or back secure the bow and stern to the rack.
Around here people travel hundreds of miles with kayaks on racks. You never see straps running down to the vehicle.
Here We Go Again
Racks can and do fail. Just like wearing your seatbelt, you can go a lifetime without wearing one and be fine. But DON"T COUNT ON IT. As for me, over decades of paddling I've seen racks fail. I don't want to be the one whom causes an accident or injury because I'm too lazy to secure it.
Running Lines Down To The
Is a waste. A scenario where a rack is going to fail at all points at the same time isn’t
really worth considering. The amount of play with lines attached to bumpers and such doesn’t offer all that much security. If you’re worried about your rack flying off ask yourself why is your rack so crappy?
Bow and stern straps hold the boat down only. Lateral movement is still possible.
Bow and stern straps hold the boat down
That is just plain wrong. And I can tell you from personal experience that a bow line WILL prevent the boat from moving side to side.
Don’t tie the bow down
do make sure you have multimillion dollar liability coverage or are fiscally ready to be sued.
Straps
I use the Thule straps secured by bolts in the engine compartment of my Santa Fe. They exit to the sides of the hood and I’ve seen no paint damage in 3 years of use.
For the rear, I use braided rope loops tied to D rings on my trunk floor. They protrude by about 6" or so when I close the hatch.
I don’t use metal S hooks, preferring just loop to loop connections for the lines.
Eyeost, you really need to ignore this
bad, bad advice from hikerkayaker49. Yes, you see kayaks without bow and stern lines often. That doesn’t make it right. It’s very dangerous. We need to have respect for other people on the road and not put them in danger.
A’mighty bad advice…
Please use bow an' stern lines to de vehicle. Runnin' dem ta de racks be useless. Main poypose is as a backup in case o' rack failure.
FE
Why Isn’t Hwy 89
North out of Flagstaff littered with broken kayaks and racks along the road to Lake Powell? Especially when you consider the dust devils that smack your vehicle and knock them sideways a bit. That stretch of highway gets very windy. Yet the locals don’t feel they need bow and stern lines to secure their kayaks. Why is that? Is it because Flagstaff is a university town and all those college kids don’t know what they are doing.
Racks designed to hold kayaks do just find without bow and stern lines. That’s a hold over from when people were using canoes. Remember canoes are shaped differently than kayaks. They can slide out of straps.
My advice is absolutely sound. I’ve driven thousands of miles, in very windy desert conditions, without bow or stern lines. Then I have SOTs and run my straps through the scuppers. Use bow and stern lines if you feel you must. They aren’t mandatory.
Straps Break…
…and racks break whether securing kayaks or canoes. And I was not advocating ONLY lines at the stems, you have to put straps or ropes over the “Belly” of the boat also. I advocate this not for the owner of the boat, but the people whom may be injured or killed BEHIND your flying boat. But, that’s it, I “Give.”
No! Straps Don’t Break
And neither do racks. Factory mounted racks are very secure. Just keep an eye on the sets screws. Unless you’re using some cheap add on rack don’t worry about your rack breaking. Why would anyone put a kayak on a cheap rack anyways?
Give people credit for being able to recognized straps ready to break. Instead of making blanket statements about racks and straps breaking tell us how that can happen. How would a rack suddenly fail at all points where they are secured to the vehicle? Wouldn’t that level of failure require a collision?
Tie downs
You *do* need a pair of side lines securing the boat to the rack, as well as bow and stern lines securing the ends of the boat to the ends of the car, in order to safely cover all forces your boat can encounter on your car roof.
The side lines resist lateral forces. They are normally the tightest as well, snug down until *before* the hull warps.
The bow and stern lines resist longitudinal forces (i.e. the bow line resists acceleration and the stern line resists deceleration (braking)). The bow line also keeps the bow from "wandering" under any unbalanced wind force from the vehicle speed. These are normally tightened just until there is zero slack, not cranked down to the limit.
If all these lines are in place, so long as none of them break or loosen dramatically, the boat really can't go anywhere, which is the goal, of course.
Ropes or straps, either should work if decent quality and properly applied.
For anchoring bow and stern lines, I use the Thule quick loops which just use a reinforced rubber hose that you drop into the bodywork channel under the edge of the hood/trunk. Some people claim the hood will just bend or the hose will just squeeze through a gap of a few mm, but having examined this stuff, I can't see how that end will yield, before the fasteners on the hull that I have tied to at bow and stern would yield - i.e. the screws through the composite hull are actually the weak link in the same line, so the precise force needed to make the quick loops fail is not relevant. Works for me, but use what you are comfortable with.
No worry - I will use bow and stern line
Figure, better safe than sorry. Better to have 'em and not need them then need 'em and not have them.
Thanks everyone for some great information.
Ed