How often do you use bow/stern lines?

Thanks

Regarding noise, by the time you have a boat or two up plus straps let alone items like Hullivator cradles or Jbars or stackers, there is some noise at highway speeds. What bow or stern lines might do to alter that is pretty insignificant.

Noise is mostly a function of the shape of the car and the roof line. Having been thru enough various cars to realize that. What individual rack or components or tie downs do to alter that is not much of a factor.

I have towed and hauled enough to know that a strap can make a ton of noise on the highway.

@mike93lx

I didn’t say the stuff doesn’t make any noise. I did say that just the strap or a component is less of a factor than the shape of the car roof overall. Thru 6 cars of three different makes.

And I would rather turn the radio up than have a kayak fly off the roof.

Of course noise is better than damaging cargo.

I simply asked about noise levels because they are a concern of mine. You appear to have a different take, that’s fine

Using straps for bow lines can be noisy, ropes not so much, all things considered. At least that’s been my experience. As Celia points out, the factors contributing to overall noise is complicated. Even different canoes have different noise levels.

Had not occurred to me that anyone might use a strap rather than a rope for the bow line.

But if people are using the stuff that comes in the kits, I suppose maybe. A strap is thicker and could easily be noisier than a rope.

If you put a twist in the strap it stops some or the vibration. We always done this when strapping loads.

1 Like

The most noise I hear from my set up is the whistling noise from the j cradles, and that can be mostly eliminated by taping over the small holes in the underside. I use straps front and rear, have not noticed any noise from them. I do give them a twist, but not to reduce noise, but rather to reduce flapping in the wind, which can cause the extra strap length to become undone at times. That is my experience.

ALWAYS use bow and stern…Plainly put I don’t want to kill anyone following me. Rack failures can always happen.

Same here

This is always such an emotional topic. There are lots of good systems and some redundancy/overkill is always good. The system I use depends on the boat I am carrying, the rack span, the gunwale brackets or load stops, the speed I expect to travel, how windy it is and how far I’m going. For my neighborhood put-in that means load stops, grippy gunwale protectors and one strap. For bringing a new boat home from far away it means a rack with a long span, load stops, wide straps with double straps on front, grippy gunwale protectors, and bow and stern lines but that system is serious overkill. With my canoes I can always see the bow to check for movement. I always carry extra bow lines and extra straps in case I need to make my system more secure.

1 Like

I figured it would be. Certainly the gamut of responses

I have never considered using less than 2 straps at a time, to be honest. With any load tie down, I want at least 1 layer of redundancy.

That’s a good point. I do the same in case of a rope/strap failure etc.

I always have a pack of 4 cam lock tie downs in a ziplok bag under the passenger seat. Never know when they’ll be needed

Yep, I sure wouldn’t recommend using one strap to anyone but when I’m going less than 10 mph for less than 1/2 mile on a local farm and the boat is also trapped by the load stops it works just fine. Just trying to say that like so many things it depends. :wink:

Agreed. Lots of variables.

Never. 20 years, from Hudson, NH to Kittery, White Mountains, Camden Maine, Bar Harbor, etc…I have always used just four tie down straps but no bow/stern tie downs…Thule crossbars are way superior to factory (Honda for example) no flex, big difference. LIncioln Ilse of Haute, Necky Lookshah Sport, WS Pungo 140, Prijon Calabria,

One small thing, my second strap at each location on the boat always ran around the rail too when I had cars with raised rails. And on the Hullivator cradles it wraps around that once so it takes some load off the latch that holds the cradle to the cross bar.

I have come full circle, am on the second car with a base screwed into a recessed rail as it was with the old Taurus/Sable station wagons. It is where most of the manufacturers have gone so it is what it is. I am not entirely convinced this is as secure as the other arrangement was with footpads secured on a factory raised rail but time will tell.

I have Yakima round bars and gunwale brackets for my canoes. My general rule for bow and stern tie downs: 35 mph or 5 miles, whichever comes first. So pretty much I am using the bow and stern tiedowns most of the time.

I have seen two rack failures over the years; and I have had a strap failure personally.

No harm in keeping others and gear safe…

2 Likes