Hi All, Does anyone have suggestions on how to haul a canoe and kayak on the top of a Jeep Cherokee? Is it okay to haul a canoe vertically? What are the best rack systems to carry both? Thanks for your help.
Jeep Cherokee Sport or Grand Cherokee?
– Last Updated: May-15-11 4:24 PM EST –
Canoo vertically? Shazam, ah's gots ta see dat! Yer mean on de side?
Iffin' yer talkin' Sport (las' made in 2001) yer gots de best system goin' - welded rain gutters. Ah' kin use Quick-N-Easy towers an' make yer own crossbars or use TracRac racks an' Malone Autoloaders have an adapter ta fit these fer carryin' 'yaks on dem's sides. Canoes be no problem wit gunnels down or even leaned a bit agin' another boat but ah'd really, really want ta make sure ah' gots it tied down good with bow an' stern ties along with 2 belly bands an' then some. Ah' gots 60" stock TracRac bars goin' out ta 72" wit homemade extensions on my Cherokee Sport. Plenty o' room fer a 'yak an' a canoe side by side.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2374357700094647494HSzlHL
FE
Iffin' yer talkin' Grand Cherokee (no raingutters) - well thaar always be de Yakima or Thule road.
FE
In the woods, carrying a
canoe vertically may knock down branches overhanging the road. And don’t carry it crossways, or you may find your progress slowed on narrow forest roads to be slowed.
Seriously, though, if you go to the Yakima or Thule websites, you’ll probably see illustrations of vehicles similar to the Cherokee carrying canoes and kayaks. I could get one canoe and one kayak on 48" crossbars on my Honda Accord. I recommend you buy a set of gunwale brackets for the canoe. A kayak can be carried with its cockpit against the side of the canoe, using proper rope constraints.
Hauling a canoe and kayak
Thanks for your help. If I am understanding correctly - we should purchase longer crossbars, carry the canoe belly down and carry the kayak vertically with cockpit against the canoe (with a carrier that has the j shape)?
It’s pretty simple
You don’t even need especially wide crossbars to carry a canoe and kayak at the same time, but it is a big help to use cross bars that accept some kind of kayak-cradle system. You’re in luck if you have a “basic” Cherokee because the simplest cross-bar mounts you can get will attach to the rain gutters, and that kind is stronger than most kinds as well. Here’s a shot that shows how little space on the roof is actually needed.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2032415840052885347GGHlGi
With cross bars having the same width as the distance between your door mirrors, you can carry probably even carry two solo canoes and a kayak.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2432982250052885347HUvMLT
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2152660200052885347qkMTpn
If it was me
have a good set of cross bars, and then carry the kayak on a set of J cradles, and the canoe with the gunnels down and the hull up on the cross bars with a set of gunnel brackets or load stops.
Use two camlock buckle straps for the canoe with each one double looped over the hull and around the cross bars, and one camlock buckle strap for each J cradle over the kayak.
Jack L