I’m a novice canoer with a very basic question. I have a 15 foot kevlar canoe and a tubular bar roof rack. The canoe fits the bar with room to spare. Do I carry the canoe inverted or right side up? Does inversion catch more air and increase wind resistance and strain on the canoe?
Inverted (gunwales down)
Strap the canoe directly to rack bars (gunwales down) and hold in place with cam straps. Special bracket attachments are also available that brace the canoe gunwales firmly in position on the bars.
Front and rear tie downs are also a good safety precaution too.
Happy paddling!
Strap a thwart to a cross bar
It is hard to convince yourself that the canoe really does have to be THAT tightly strapped down at first, so you often drive off and make it a short distance to see the canoe bow wobbling all over the place. If you line up a thwart with one of the cross bars and strap the two securely together, you have a little extra protection until you learn to strap it down tightly enough.
Also, for the canoe I usually do a triangle from one hood bumper strap to the other with a knot in the middle for the bow line. I don’t have the chucks to hold it from wiggling side to side, so making sure the bow can’t slide side to side is helpful.