Carabiner tie downs ...

That and they are quite beautiful machines …

Are you familiar with loop straps? I use them for strapping down the dry box and cooler on my raft but they’re also handy for tying down boats in a situation like yours.

I made something similar but didn’t sew any loops, just tied a small bowline knot at the end of the strap instead. I would imagine that the bowline knot would be a lot stronger than the sewn loop. I made a tow strap for my side by side atv winch out of 2" wide, 6 ’ long web strap with a bowline on each end. Hooks up in seconds, has no problem pulling out stuck atv’s or trees fallen across the trail and then unhooks fast.
Kayak_Ken

Yeah, I might tie up some prototypes and get some biners to use. Maybe if i lay it all out and see what works and what doesn’t, i can then take the straps somewhere to get sewn. I need to get the lengths figured out so the hardware isn’t directly on the boats …

Not sure what is meant by “loop straps” … are these like you might use tying down a motorcycle? That is what I call those things anyway. They are just short loops that then get the hooks thru them

thanks for the ideas

Loop straps are two piece cam straps with a loop on each piece. They allow you to unstrap without having to remove the strap. Here’s a link. https://www.nrs.com/product/1444/nrs-1-loop-straps

ah … ok. Thanks for the link. These would still require me to thread the end thru the buckle each time … or loosen them up and try to slide the kayaks out from under them … which was the original problem. There would be one less portion of the strap each time though so these would be an improvement. And would shorten the straps considerably. I might have to try them

Duece … i looked at those a little closer. They look like they could be useful for a lot of things that I have to tie down. Only thing that MAY be an issue (for me anyway) is the length of the strap on the buckle end. The way my trailer is setup right now, it would end up having the buckle behind the top of the boats while in the J-bars … or I would have to pull upwards to tighten if I reversed it, which is a little awkward. Worth a shot though for sure. Thanks for the advice

Or maybe that is what Kayak_Ken was referring to with his tied loops … i could always just tie my own loops and adjust the lengths as needed. Sounds like a plan.

Have you tried the tied loops yet? If so, how did it work?
Kayak_Ken

Unfortunately not yet … have too many other things going on. We try to get in hiking and camping and even some fishing in between all the rain that we got this summer.

I hope to try it soon and I will post some results