How important are bow tie downs for sea kayaks with modern rack systems

I don’t use them when trailering because looking in the rear view mirror tells me if anything has begun to move. Plus, loads are not taking the full brunt of wind when in the slipstream of the tow rig.

However, for the rare occasions of rooftopping—bow and stern lines always, even with generous truck topper (or large SUV roof) crossbar spreads. I would not trust the lines to actually stop sea kayaks from moving if a strap broke or a rack piece failed, BUT the kayak would be kept from flying away from the vehicle like a missile and possibly hitting another car.

@RussSeese said:
Bow and stern lines. It’s only two knots.

Yes, but I must also attach the carabiners to the car. Despite the extra 17 seconds, I think it’s worth it.

Hurt someone and see if you think it was worth the time then. Hit someone at 20 mph and see what happens. Get hit with a lawsuit and see how it goes. Get a decent system it takes 10 minutes tops.

I know real world examples of racks coming off the car.

However, I have also learned that you should never only attach the straps to the rack - they should also be attached to the car, so they don’t rely on the rack being attached to the car. In a car with fixed, longitudinal roof bars, that means that you will tie the straps below these bars. In a car without, you will have to do something else - either routing the straps through the doors or using bow and stern tie downs.

Also, if the distance between the racks is so short that the ends of the kayak starts flexing up and down when driving, I would use bow and stern tie downs. With a small distance between the racks, this flexing will place some tremendous torque reactions on the racks.

Since I have longitudinal roof bars and a good distance between the racks, I never use bow and stern tie downs on my own car. But I will in the the situations I have described above.

I have the fixed longitudinal rails, and yeah the strap goes under them both on the saddle side and the Hullivator side. I add a second strap at each point beyond the norm for a Hullivator for any but the shortest trips and for any trip involving highway speeds.

But I still would not be without a bow line, crossed so it is in my line of vision, to have an early warning on anything going south on top.

Some people have smoked for 30+ years without any serious health problems. Carrying over this logic, continue what you’re doing because it works.

For what it’s worth, I’d much rather come up behind a rig with excessive straps than something that looks questionable.

This smoking analogy; the smoker is inflicting voluntary harm to .themselves . With a boat coming off a vehicle due to a failure and lack of bow lines; involuntary harm to others. If you question yourself, if your load is safe; maybe yor internal voice is telling you its not!

@Steveey said:
This smoking analogy; the smoker is inflicting voluntary harm to .themselves . With a boat coming off a vehicle due to a failure and lack of bow lines; involuntary harm to others. If you question yourself, if your load is safe; maybe yor internal voice is telling you its not!

The smoking analogy carries over to harm done to others as well.

true, not all smokers consider 2nd hand.

To the OP: Nobody “enjoys” using tiedowns. Come to think of it, nobody “enjoys” transporting long, unwieldy, heavy objects on rooftops, period. It is a necessary evil to get to the enjoyable part—paddling.

@pikabike said:
To the OP: Nobody “enjoys” using tiedowns. Come to think of it, nobody “enjoys” transporting long, unwieldy, heavy objects on rooftops, period. It is a necessary evil to get to the enjoyable part—paddling.

Well said

The take away is they aren’t important until they are.

The sky is falling !!!

These are important mitigations to various kinds of rack failures as well as a crash.

From a human point of view, if something went wrong, the kayaks would be restrained and there are fewer opportunities for people to get hurt

From a legal point of view, if you do not follow manufacturer’s instructions (find me one that says not to use bow and stern lines), it is instant negligence if something goes wrong

@JackL said:
The sky is falling !!!

Only if you are a Democratic Socialist.

And now for something completely different…
Do you always wear a PFD? Does this make you a fascist or a socialist? LOL, running and ducking for cover!

@tjalmy said:
And now for something completely different…
Do you always wear a PFD? Does this make you a fascist or a socialist? LOL, running and ducking for cover!

No comment.

https://abc12.com/content/news/Falling-kayaks-cause-rollover-crash-in-Clare-County-387324702.html

I use both bow and stern lines most of the time except when going only a short distance on the local rural roads. I do not use a single bow line to the bumper in front or back. I tie both the bow and stern lines in an inverted V with the point of the V in the line attached to the bow and stern. Each side of the V is tied to the corresponding side of the hood or bumper to prevent side to side motion. I have added strap loops each side of the hood and trunk or hatchback to tie the lines to. The bow and stern lines are in opposition to each other as this prevents movement forward or backward.

I once tied my canoe to the car using this system of bow and stern lines. I was diverted for a time before finishing by strapping down front and back across the rack’s crossbars. At that time I didn’t have the canoe brackets (load stops) added to my rack. I did the 3 1/2 hour drive home at highway speeds, and the boat never budged. It wasn’t until the next morning taking the boat off the car that I realized I had forgot to strap it down. In fact tied like this you wouldn’t need straps. Belt and suspenders as someone said.

I hauled loads of stacked hive of bees on a flatbed truck back and forth between South Florida and South Carolina. You can bet I took a lot of care tying down those loads too.

ExploreNE… once the legal dust has settled I would guess it could be about the same as driving after a DWI in insurance for the driver that lost the kayaks off the roof. But that is the easy part.
That is on top of probably paying out of pocket for the cars damaged and any personal liability. I suspect his/her car insurance outfit will say this is not a covered event.