I finally got my roof rack installed and found a boat on Craigslist that I want. Here it is, I'm picking it up tomorrow.
http://pensacola.craigslist.org/boa/5533255435.html
It's roughly 2 hours 15 minutes from me and it will be my first time hauling a boat so I'm a little nervous about having so far to go. One concern I have is that my bar spread on my thule rack is only 26" for a 17 ft boat. I bought the kind of straps that it seems everyone uses in all the videos I've watched, the kind that the strap tightens as you pull it though the clamp with a push button release. Ive got pads on my crossbars, ill be securing directly to the bars. Also per research on this forum I got 3/8 poly rope for my bow/stern tie downs. Thule under hood straps for the front, going to tie to both sides of the hood to,prevent lateral movement. The back hatch on my toyota matrix has metal d rings on either side of the trunk. I plan to tie a rope to each and just shut the hatch on them and tie them off. That will,give me Teo points in the back to prevent lateral movement. Does this all sound right to you guys?
will be fine, although
arrange if possible bulkhead section of kayak over racks. This areas have higher resistance to deformation as it sounds like you do not have shaped saddles, just foam padding over cross bars. Cam straps snug, not enough to crush. Beware too much tension on bow and stern lines as this too can put pressure on that end’s rack to hull point. You will notice wind noise and possible howling at different speeds. Long spans of strap should have a twist or two so it does not behave like a reed instrument. At all stops, give bow and stern a tug to verify integrity of lines/straps. Breathe deeply once home and get that beautiful kayak wet as soon as possible.
Sounds good to me…
…and that’s a beautiful boat you’re picking up.
The only thing I’d add is that when you start off with the boat on your car just drive a short distance - maybe a mile or so - then find a place to pull over and check all your lines and straps as if anything slips or moves it will probably happen in the first few minutes.
Good luck with your new kayak.
No problem
Just make sure the straps go down to the cross bars and not flaring out to side rails. You might consider making a clove hitch with the strap on one side of the kayak so that side to side movement is limited. I've seen some cloth covered bar pads move side to side in high winds. If these are minicell foam pads less likely to shift. If these are regular round pads letting the kayak rest on one bottom panel or the other is better than contacting just on the keel. Angled minicell pads have enough v to sit straight up.
The wood/glass boats are very stiff and resistant to crushing compared to a glass boat.
Wrt your Chesapeake 17 make sure after paddling that the compartments can air dry. I've made quite a few and seen some mildew develop in the wood when stored closed up. Water vapor can penetrate tiny holes that liquid water won't . Many folks tend to build them with sharp edges and pointy bows. Don't freak out when it gets dinged up, unless you're looking for a wall hanging it's supposed to look used.
I can't tell if you boat has thigh braces or not, if not get the big wedges CLC sells. Hard epoxied ply doesn't feel good and flat minicell won't help connect you to the kayak as the deck curves up. Again can't tell if you have hip plates installed or what kind of seat you have there. $.02 look for a Necky minicell seat or carve your own.
Nice Kayak! Congrats! NM
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
fb.me/theriverconnection
Thanks
Thanks all. My only other issue is where to tie the bow and stern lines on the kayak. The only thing I can see is to go through one of the deck rigging eyes. Not sure how much force one of those can withstand buts it's all that's there.
Bow/Stern Lines
Make sure you DO NOT over tighten them!
buy saddles for pickup
Thule Glide and Set saddles (or comparable) will help cradle the boat safely and you will happily use them for years to come. If you do transport with just padded bars, I recommend transporting upside down to avoid any deformation of hull.
Tie loops…
…maybe 9-12" or so in diameter in the ends of your bow and stern lines. Secure the ends of the boat with these loops, passing part of the loop - if at all possible - through the deck rigging.
I didn’t explain that very well but the loops will hold the boat, and the deck rigging will just stop the loops from moving backwards or forwards.
Maybe a photo of my boats will help…
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/16699525017_4e5cd43426_b.jpg
wood/fiberglass won’t deform
His new boat is a CLC fiberglass reinforced wood model. no plastic deformation issues.
Jbrady: Beautiful kayak, comgratulations! I have several boats without sturdy handles or hardware to tie off the ends. What i use is a tied loop of rope or narrow webbing about 3 feet long run through a pad eye or rigging so it doesn’t slide and then cinched around the circumference of the boat with the tie-off rope then run through the free end of the cinched loop. That distributes the force around the hull instead of being all on a piece of hardware.
I concur with the suggestion to pull over after a few minutes to check and tighten the fasteners. They can loosen a bit at first, especially
true if it’s raining.
If the cockpit coaming is shorter than the space between the rack crossbars ( probably not in your case) carrying a boat hull side up is more secure because the lip can’t slide forward or back past the bars.
bow and stern lines
The number one concern with your bow and stern lines is that you are especially careful to use a knot that will not come loose by itself. I know of instances where the bow line came loose at the connection to the vehicle and consequently was run over and broke the boat.
congrats
Tiedown has been pretty well-covered here. Keep her clean and dry when you can.
Nice boat! Now get some use out of it! 
Perimeter lines
From the pictures it doesn’t look like the kayak has deck perimeter lines. looks like just bungee type cord cross ways. I would ad deck perimeter lines so re-entry is possible. Looks like a nice kayak. Good advice from others about transport. I would eventually buy some type of kayak saddles rather than just padded bars to make it easier to load.
Yeah
Unloading was a little tough being my first time. Good news is that I made the two and a half hour trip in the rain without a hitch. The folks I bought it from were nice and told me to keep their phone number and email in case I have issues when building my first boat later this year. The kayak has never seen the water. I still have to install the foot braces which they already drilled the pilot holes, I just have to enlarge the holes and buy a few stainless bolts. What kind of silicon or sealer should I use to make the foot brace bolts water tight? I also have to install the seat and knee braces. They gave me some foam and a wood back brace to complete this although I’m not against buying other material if it’s worth it. I got them down from 950 to 825 and I’m happy with that. It’s well below the price of the same clc kit.
Saddles not needed
The flat panels are so effing rigid that laying at an angle or on an angled minicell block is sufficient. J racks might be another option but conventional saddles designed to conform to curved hulls is a mismatch for a four panel hull. Yakima Sweetroll saddles are nice.
No silicone
It'll make more labor later on to clean it off when revarnishing. You really don't want silicone anywhere near it. Best option is to fill holes with epoxy then redrill thereby sealing the wood. Put blue tape on one side then fill hole a couple times as core draws epoxy in. Most epoxying is done in steady or declining temps when sealing is the goal. You might double check the deck rigging screws to see if any came through the sheer clamp below or are stripped. Okoume is wonderful stuff but the center core will easily take up water if the sealed edges are dinged. It's purely cosmetic but a bother. You can use a sealant if you want but water won't migrate under thet screw head if it's tightened down.
Wrt knee braces use the wedge shaped pieces not a flat piece of minicell.