Go Salty…
We use some cool super low drag aero wing strut material for our bars + ridgerest padding and thats it. One ply for local, two for distance. A light bump on the NRS straps holds the boats just fine @ California freeway speeds of – +
The pads are our seat pads for the boats so when we are done paddling we just dunk the pads and put on the bars clean and grit free.
No worries for 26 and 31 pound carbon boats.
Bad Experience…
Well I tried the upside down thing yesterday. It worked great getting to the water, but not so great on the way home…
I had cinched down the boat and added a bow line to provide a bit extra prevention from wobble. In strapping my boat to the roof with just the foam pads and hull down I never used bow or stern lines because it was so secure that I did not need them…held the boat in place to where ti would not budge.
I made it to my second stop sign when the boat (fiberglass boat) slid entirely off my roof, over the hood of my car, onto the ground, and continued sliding into the middle of the intersection and oncoming traffic.
I guess that one lesson here is to always use bow and stern lines, but that point aside, I will not be carrying my boat this way anymore. Probably some operator error on my side from not having done it this way before. I purchased some Mako saddles and will be using them along with bow and stern lines from now on with this new boat.
Not knocking the technique, only reporting my experience.
Luckily my boat was already pretty scratched up (bought a used demo boat) so I did not really care too much about the sliding on the ground part, and luckily it is a very tough British boat which I now have more confidence in the durability of!
The most damage was to my vehicle where it scratched up my roof and my hood pretty good, but it will be okay.
Interesting experience to say the least.
Matt
Holy Cow!
Matt, how did you strap the boat down? Unbelievable…maybe you need some experienced help. That’s a first for me. Is this a joke? This has to be a joke…
Strapping
Matt, I’m bothered by your experience and conclude that you had to have done something goofing with your straps. Here’s what I do…Take a long strap with buckle (NRS or Similar) Hold the buckle about 5" above bar near side of kayak. Toss long end over hull, or deck if right side up, tuck end under bar on opposite side, toss strap back over hull or deck, under bar near you and up to buckle. Go through buckle and snug down taught, not super tight. Now take excess strap and go under boat and around strap on opposite side, pull back to near side andgo around strap and pull back and half hitch. This later step somewhat cradles the boat with the straps. If strapped correctly there is no way the boat can fly off the rack. Did you use straps with hooks that go around the bars? Did you go under and back over the bars with the straps?
Straps…
Hi,
I had the straps right. I have been strapping my boat down like this for a long time, only with the hull side down rather than up. I used NRS straps and used the right technique as you described.
I am not sure what happenened. I think that the location where I had the boat positioned was obviously not optimal. As you know, the deckside of the boat is not as “clean” as the hull side. I think that the cockpit rim was on the bar up front. Maybe not the best positioning of the boat on my bars. I am not sure.
All is well that ends well. Although this did not end quite so well, I would say that it ended a lot better than it could have. I am very glad that there was not a car in front of me as the boat probably would have gone through their window, also could have caused an accident in the intersection. The worst was some scratches on my truck, but it is a 1997 S-10 so its not the end of the world.
Kind of a freak accident perhaps.
Matt
Matt
The only way I can think of this occurring was if you strapped the front strap at or very near the widest part of the kayak. How close are your bars? If you think about the kayaks shape, it’s incredible that the thing slid forward. One thing I have learned over the years as a climbing guide, kayak guide, not everyone is intuitive with rigging. We always went over tie downs that clients did, and ususally re-did them. My guess is that this is not so much an issue of rack type, rather a rigging error. Does make me revise my thinking a bit though to the notion that for some folk, they need the attachements! Glad no one was hurt, and I hope you figure out a system that works for you.
span
A big key to safe moving is lots of span and saddles are great. Ezeevee extensions are a neat option often seen at races. The clamps for my yakima bars are po riveted under the door frame or you could use stainless screws that will barely fir the small hole you drilled.
Load bar spacing & hull deformation.
On the glass boats I’ve seen (as well as plastic), the strongest places on the hull and deck are the bulkheads (if it has any) and immediatly front & rear of the cockpit.
So far, I’ve only carried my kayaks deck down with the load bars right in front of the cock pit and a few inches behind the cockpit. On my Pontiack Bonneville, I can only get the load bars about 38" apart. With the front rim of the cockpit up against the padded front load bar, the boat can’t slide forward.
For all of my small cockpit kayaks, I use a V shaped kayak pad. For the front, I sometimes use a V shaped pad and sometimes use just pipe insulation depending on the hull shape.
I’ve read so many stories about saddles denting the hulls of kayaks, that I’m not convinced that they’re less likely to deform the hulls than other methods mentioned in this thread. It does seem very obvious to me that the saddles are very effective at keeping the boat securely in place.
There is a lot of good information in this thread.
Systems that work for one boat/vehicle set up may not work as well for other boat/vehicle combinations. One size may not fit all.
Dang Bowler1 you are calm about
that… Well and gently put Salty. Points not everyone realizes about fat part of boat, strapping it down right is sometimes not enough.
Yanoer we do the opposite with straps if span is not too wide, keeping the aft strap on ‘tucked under’ the aft part of coaming just thinking about the boat migrating as it blows down the freeway.
I use bow and stern straps to reduce
fore and aft movement. Redundency doesn’t hurt and doesn’t take much extra time.
Yeah, using either the front or rear edge of the coaming can work, depending on the boat and load bar spacing.
For what it is worth:
I deleated from here on down and I apologize to the innocent, especially Bowler.
The thread was degenerating and I was one of the two that was causing it to do so.
Respectfully,
JackL
outfitters
most outfitters transport on a rack with bars wrapped in indoor outdoor carpet and foam of various sorts…mostly out of the size load being carried and the necessity of carring many many boats at one time to their destination…however , the boats show the wear, mostly because they are rental fleetes and they get quite a thrashing by the clientell, but also by the time on the road. No one that has a rental fleete has the notion that those kayaks or canoes etc will last for a long long time…rental has it’s rough times on boats…lots of outfitters have stories of the boat that they forgot to tie down or the one that got away off the trailor or the case of deer running into the side of the boats while going down the road…If you look at the owners cars tho, you generall find racks with saddles or J or some type of way to contain their boats when just hauling a few (if they deal with kayaks)(not canoe haulers) all racks and all methods of travel with boats do some damage over time to the boats being carried…there is no perfect set-up…I like to baby my boats as much as possiable while on the car, and save their beating for on the water…
Best wishes
Roy
Also apologize
I post here to share exerience and ideas that have worked for me. I provide some info on my background only to let the reader know that there’s experience behind the opinion. I also try to convey that my ideas are just mine, and others may opt for another approach. Fadered’s comments are true. Fleet boats do get turned over and abused. So the lesson here for me is that, though I, and many, have had great luck with my method of transport, clearly others have not. I believe there are many right ways. I’m stunned frankly that something as simple as transporting a kayak can evoke so much emotion. My hope is that however you choose to transport your kayak, you have many safe days/years on the water. I’m out.