leaving kayak strapped to car roof

hello folks, I commute to work by bus and was thinking i could might as well leave my perception expression strapped to the car roof bars in the garage while I am not using it during the week. simplifies storage & saves time & lifting.

i reasoned the coming( which is in contact with the bars) is the strongest part of the kayak, the bars are padded with 1 inch foam, & the straps will be slackened. i use it every weekend,

anyone else do this? any opinions welcome

thanks
r

I kept a Romany (fiberglass) ‘stored’ on my roof for years when I lived in Kirkland, WA.

  • loosened straps when parked (don’t forget to tighten before driving away)
  • lasso lock (it was left in apartment parking lot, with yours in a garage it should do well)

I ‘think’ a plastic boat - with loosened straps would be ok

Lots do. As above, with a plastic hull you may want to leave the straps a little loose, the hull is the softest part of the boat. That is why a lot of people carry their plastic boats on the side, with the greatest pressure on the seam.

I think it also might depend on what temperature your garage gets up to in the summer months.

In cooler weather it would be fine but the hotter it gets in there the less I’d be inclined to leave them strapped up.

You might also look into a rope, pulley and sling system in your garage right above your vehicle. Sourcing parts from somewhere like Harbor Freight you can do this quite cheaply. There have been more than a few threads on the forum on how people have done it.

Carrying the boat inverted, as you seem to be indicating you do since you say the coaming is resting on the bars, should keep it from being deformed by any heat softening. So I think you’ll be good. Though, as suggested, using stacker bars to mount it on its side might be better if you live in an area where your garage could get over 100 degrees inside during the day.

As long as you loosen the straps and there is no pressure in any weaker parts of the kayak you should be ok. As @kfbrady mentioned keep an eye on the temperature, you definitely don’t want the warm sun to be on for an extended period of time.