https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article254047523.html
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That’s why my car will come loose before my boats do.
There was an ad on Craig’s List a week or so ago, I think in the northeast, where someone was posting about a stolen kayak. But his explanation was that it flew out of his pickup truck on the highway and it was gone when he went back for it, therefore it was stolen. No sympathy from me on that one.
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Victim’s family should sue the dweeb who didn’t properly secure the kayak for everything he owns.
BOB
P.S. Would love to see copy of police report…
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I used to know a guy who refused to use bow and stern lines, and also didn’t make sure his racks were tight every so often. Rack and boats came off on the highway, and landed behind him. Luckily, nobody got hurt. What pissed me off was that he was more concerned about the damage to his car than to the possible damage it could have done to others.
I’ve had bow lines save my a$s once. They kept the rack on the car long enough for me to pull over and tighten the rack back on the car. When they suddenly get super tight, you know you have a huge problem.
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The kayak was on a trailer. I gotta wonder why the driver didn’t keep an eye on the kayak now and then, by glimpsing at the rear view mirror. It sounds like the kayak was on a HIGH trailer, or simply stuck in a little utility trailer with no tying in whatsoever.
I’ve seen people transporting kayaks in the back of pickup beds, with one end propped up on the cab roof or sticking out a bed corner. Sometimes the boat is tied in. Sometimes not. Worse yet, sometimes the tailgate is also down, leaving absolutely nothing but friction to keep the boat in place. I guess they’ve never seen a large object fly out of a bed upon hitting a bump. It happens. I once barely missed being clobbered while cycling, when a 55-gallon barrel jounced right out of a truck bed after it passed.
People who don’t secure loads are thoughtless or lazy or cheap. Or all three!
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I agree with the above it could just as well been a lawn chair or a garbage can or anything else people haul around in trailers and pickups. In this case it was a kayak and I see it all the time around here. Toss 5-8 rec-kayaks in the pick em up truck and maybe a bungee or two tailgate down and go. Same people toss a mattress and box springs in and go. Until they cracked down you would see kids riding in the back and as a kid I often rode in the bed of a truck it was that or walk.
My pet peeve is leafs and grass and brush people haul uncovered blowing out as they go.
There is a secondary problem with securing loads and people that really don’t think too hard about what they are doing. It becomes a case of how good is good enough and education.
Couple years ago I bought a huge roll of 4” drainage conduit and I thought about how I was going to haul it. I put the bike rack on and when I went to load it the guy said hey slow down partner. After I speared the center hole with the bike holders and wrapped 4 cam straps around the bundle and to the post he tugged on it and said dang that’s the way to do it. I told him when I got home I was going to drive along the ditch and un-spool it with another persons help like a spinning reel.
A lot of people don’t seem to be able to look at problems and determine a safe solution. In high school I had a friend lose an eye. He was behind a pickup that the guy had built his own cap cover for the bed out of plywood. The thing blew off and exploded when it hit my friends car and a piece came thru the windshield.
The rule should be if you don’t know what you are doing don’t do it. The problem is everyone thinks they know what they are doing.
I built my own rack to haul 2 canoes and I have thought about this a lot. Like am I more responsible than if I had bought a rack. I feel mine is well designed and I employ an alternative system of straps (belt and suspenders). But and it is a big but if something happened would I likely be in more trouble as mine is DIY and the law would use that as a loophole. If I bought a made in China deal and it came lose they would view it as equipment failure? I personally see mine as even safer or I wouldn’t use it, but how the law works is another thing.
I’m sure the suit was filed.
I think a bit weird. I wonder what the poor guy was doing the minute the kayak was starting to be molded?