Linda's post, and Swedge's reply got me tho thinking about this.
For those of you who cartop your boats, and have an overhang problem, do you hang a warning flag off the stern? My QCC500 hangs about four feet over, so I girth-hitch a length of orange 1" webbing from the rudder. This helps me keep from bumping my head, gives me feedback when backing up, and (hopefully) will prevent an inattentive person from smacking my boat.
I wish I had a cannon… mounted in my rear window the other day.
I was on the interstate coming home from picking up my J-190 eighten foot canoe on my Ford escape, and there was a jack-ass in an eighteen wheeler that decided to play games with me and see how close he could get to the overhanging canoe.
There was three lanes, and I was in the center travel lane going about a mile over the speed limit. I moved in to the slow lane and he moved right in behind me.
I figured that I didn’t want to play his silly games so I put on my right signal and pulled into the breakdown lane and as he went by I at least had the pleasure of giving him the one finger salute.
That is the first time in my life that I wish that I had a cell phone. I would have called the HP.
call the company most truckers are very good drivers … but when i encounter a dumb one, i take the phone number off his truck (usually on the drivers side door) and call the company. the company doesn’t want to have insurance issues with you or anyone else … calls work to get these kind of butt heads off the road.
Red flags If I’m not mistaken the law here in Michigan is that a flag is required if the object overhangs more than four feet from the farthest point of your vehicle. That said, I use one on my kayak and canoe at all times because some people just aren’t that observant. For the kayak I went to Lowes and grabed one of those cheap plastic red flags that they keep for customers by the exit and tied it to a novelty carabiner, I clip this to the grab handle.
I use the red mesh bag that my paddle float and bilge pump came in! You know the one I’m talking about right? Nothing on it to damage the boat and it’s super lightweight. I am fairly sure it does not meet the legal requirements for a flag but ‘tis better than nuthin’.
