I’ve long recommended using a vice or other means to close those open hooks and then use a carabiner or other fastener to attach the bow and stern lines to your vehicle.
I’ve written Thule criticizing their use of open hooks. Interestingly, they seem to have manufactured their bow and stern tiedowns with both open hook and carabiner terminations. I don’t know if these are manufactured at different plants or if one is current and one is an older design.
I don’t feel the ratchet design increases the risk of overtightening. It’s not like a lever ratchet and proper tension is easily felt when using them. They just need to be snug.
Always use them, both. Tie the front lines to straps at each corner of the hood, they are bolted to frame under the hood. Tie one line in the back to the trailer hitch.
I would feel horrible if the boat came off the car and injured or killed someone behind me - a life changing event. the 5 minutes it takes to tie these ropes is nothing compared to a lifetime of regret and years of the certain lawsuits or criminal trials.
No one has ever given me 1 good reason NOT to use these safety lines. the only reason I can think of why people don’t use them is laziness.
If you have a good reason for NOT using them let’s hear it.
Either way works as long as you use both bow and stern tiedowns. We have 16’ and 18’ boats and tow eyes under the bumper. Our lines are nearly vertical.
For long tiedowns, avoiding the use of open hooks is critical. They can easily bounce free on rough roads and get caught in a tire destroying a boat, breaking a windshield, or otherwise damaging the car.
Agree completely with Celia. I also don’t use stern lines. In case anyone missed it in my previous comment, I referenced this video I made about the importance of secure tie-downs. Flying Kayaks - YouTube
Agreed. I’ve seen plenty of problems with the ratchets. My personal opinion, honed over 50 years of transporting canoes and kayaks is that simpler is often better. Three straps over the canoe or kayak and bow lines running to both sides and secured to under-hood mounted nylon loops. If you know how to tie a simple trucker’s hitch or just a figure 8 loop, you can tension any line and don’t need anything more complex. That said, the ability to tension a line is critical.
Bow line always. There are good reasons to do it, and no reason not to. I’ve got strap loops bolted under the hood. Takes me less than 2 minutes to pop the hood, flip the loops out, close the hood, tie a rope to one strap loop with a bowline, run the rope through the boat handle, down to the other strap loop and finish off with just enough tension to take out the slack.
There are a lot of answers here but I will add my thoughts. I have given up on the bow lines. I don’t think they are needed in my particular case. Vehicle is 2016 Mazda CX-5 with top of the line Thule rack and good J-cradles. My kayaks are two 2021 Pungo 120s. They are 12’-2" long and 29" thick in the middle. After close to 20 highway trips I am convinced that I don’t need anything up front. I do keep using stern lines just in case I have to slam on the brakes. If I had longer, narrower boats then I’m sure bow lines would be needed to hold things steady. I load the boats with great care and bring two step stools along for the ride to ensure I have enough reach.
If a forward strap is forgotten or fails on a car driven at highway speeds, the wind can pick up the bow with enough force that the entire rack can be torn off the car.
That’s the case in the above picture where a strap was forgotten and no bow line was present. . Here the rack and kayak were retrieved from the road and are leaning up against his van. Note that the kayak is still strapped to the rack.
Without bow and stern lines I can yank my boat any which way as hard as I can and all that happens is the car bounces on its suspension. Bow and stern lines are just for insurance against killing someone if something goes massively wrong up top.
What happens if a strap breaks, guessing you are only using one at each point, at 60 mph? What happens if something unexpected loosens up with a J-rack?
Can you see the front of your boats up there well enough to catch the wobble and pull over before a potentially fatal accident or at least one which alters your insurance costs for a long time?
Most people who weighed in here have been hauling long boats on rooftops similar to myself - for 20 years. Passed 20 trips a long time ago. And in that time decided that boats need to be secured to protect others at least as much as the boat.
No bow lines mean you have given up the ability to do anything should there be a strap or equipment failure. Strap failures are not common but DO happen.
Stern lines can be a different debate, but the bow lines are a constant in-you-face indicator to the driver of what is going on up there.
As Kevburg says, bow/stern lines are about insurance against hurting others.
I drive the same vehicle (CX5) with the same Thule rack. Also have Thule j-racks but don’t trust them on high speed highway trips: too many potential part failures and off center wind stress on the loads. For highway travel both boats are deck down directly on the rack with bow AND stern lines, always. And that is whether I am hauling my 13’ canoe and 12’ kayak or an 18’ and 16’ kayak.
You say you “don’t think they are needed” and “I am convinced that I don’t need anything (bow lines.)” “Think” and “convinced” based on what? Your suppositions based on 20 trips are magical thinking, not logic or realistic safe practice. I have driven nearly 1 million miles in my life on tens of thousands of car trips and I still fasten my seatbelt every time despite having never been in an accident. I neither “think” nor am “convinced” that therefore I need not bother clipping in my carcass. Yet you are using the same false “reasoning” that seatbelt denial would entail.
Even though I am rigorous in my standard routine of attaching my boats to my vehicles (and don’t allow anyone to help me to make sure no step and inspection is missed) I have had a few occasions out of many hundreds where a rack or strap misbehaved. This happened once when in haste loading in heavy rain I failed to notice a strap had not looped around the crossbar on the inboard side before I snugged it – as soon as the car accelerated onto the highway ramp 5 minutes down the road I could see from the bow line that the boat was being torqued sideways off the rack – only the bow and stern lines kept it from wrenching off and possibly damaging the car and anyone behind me. Have also seen j-racks loosen and allow boats to be radically shifted off center. Each time this occurred the extra lines meant I was able to safely reach a pull off area to make the necessary corrections and I was damned glad I had those backup safety lines.
I don’t think most people appreciate the fact that the loads on your car roof on the highway are being hammered by Beaufort Scale Force 11 “violent storm” wind speeds (64 to 72 mph). 73+ mph is Force 12 Hurricane level and it is not unusual for the wind pressure on a moving vehicle to exceed that. And you have significant turbulence built up inside the boat hulls, especially when side mounted on j-racks, that are acting like an angry giant intent on stripping them off the car and flinging them through space.
Don’t be lazy. Get a couple of pairs of hood loops and some extra straps or strong rope and tie off the boat ends EVERY TIME. Only takes a few minutes once you get a routine set up. No excuses. I will NOT follow any vehicle on the road that doesn’t have front and rear lines on roof racked boats.
I have all the gear, so yes, I will start using ropes out front again. They are new now but won’t always be. I have four hood loops, straps, ropes, and several python locks, etc. It’s the dead of winter here, so I won’t be paddling anytime soon. For those of you wondering, I am no fool. When I ride my motorcycle I wear all the gear all the time. Helmet, leather gloves, boots and jacket just to fill my tank up around the corner.
Apparently not. But for those of us from states that require it, saying you wear your helmet to get gas is on the level of saying you took the ignition keys. It is not extraordinary behavior.
