Can anyone tell me if I bought straps at Walmart to tie
down my canoe are they going to be good straps?
Cargo Zone, Lashing strap, Light Duty
200 lbs/91kg, 13 feet long, 1 inch/4m x 2,54cm
No they won’t
Much better for not much more$
http://www.nrs.com/product/1440/nrs-1-hd-tie-down-straps
http://www.strapworks.com/Metal_Cam_Straps_p/cs1d.htm
Second NRS
I wouldn’t trust my boat to the straps you mention. Spend only a few more dollars to keep your boat from becoming a glider at highway speeds. The people driving behind you will be thankful. Sometimes going cheap is false economy, especially with safety items.
I’ve used those.
They worked. If you are going to be a strap person might as well buy the nice ones. My advice get handy with rope, way better. When I paddle I leave my rope and pads(cut and split bits of swim noodle) on my car rack. Unlikely to be stolen and I always have more rope somewhere. Once over the learning curve rope is better, just as fast, less hassle then untwisting feeding the cam buckle then retwisting to stop the highway buzzing. And if you lose rope there is probably more nearby. So you never truly lose rope.
problem with rope
The problem with rope is that not everyone knows how to tie the types of knots that are effective in securing a kayak.
I agree I would NEVER use the flimsy straps that are sold at discount stores and hardware/tool stores.
Buy Thule or NRS straps. They only cost a few dollars more and are twice as strong, also have a rough texture that makes them hold better and well-cast buckles with rubber covers that protect the boat and the car finish.
I have had one of my pairs of Thule straps for over 12 years and have used them hundreds of times for hauling everything from kayaks to bundles of steel pipe and lumber on my roof rack. Spend the $23 for a pair – it’s a small investment to protect a costly kayak and to protect people driving in cars behind you.
Also always tie your bow and stern separately to your car bumpers. Just two straps are not enough to securely haul a kayak on the road.
And load your kayak upside down on the roof rack to protect it from having the hull deformed by the rack in hot weather.
Thule Straps
As a former sailboat owner, scuba diver, fly fisherman, etc., I know dozens and dozens of knots. For my kayaks I use Thule straps and their bow and stern lines.
I would equally be happy with NRS straps. Walmart, not so much.
Wake up Maggie…
– Last Updated: Aug-22-16 11:09 PM EST –
I think I've something to say to you............
Get a pair of NRS 12 foot straps. They should fit your Solo 13 or Flashfire & your rack.
Put your name on them. Don't let Terry cut them, or use them. He'll forget where he put them when you need them, or he'll lose them. You know how he is!
Wally World rope for bow & stern painters is like buying underwear from Kmart.
Kmart sucks! Just ask the "Rainman".
BOB
Not Forrest…
… “Rainman” Raymond says K-Mart sucks.
My faux pas…
My faux pas has been corrected.
BOB
Who has had cheap straps fail on them?
Yes, there are better straps than what you might get at a big box store. I’ve used some I got from Home Depot ten years ago, have used them this year, and no boats went flying.
I also have straps I got with my Thule saddles (Thule straps). They are much more robust, obvious to the eye and to the touch they are better/stronger. Yet, the Thule straps hold a boat on the same as the ones from the Depot.
Most of the time, I use rope. It’s much faster, and for some reason I don’t mind customizing the length of rope to the boat. With straps, for some reason I am reluctant to cut them and it is a PIA to find something to do with the excess length of strap. But that’s my problem, not a problem with straps, just like people that can’t tie knots are the problem, not the rope.
I think, as a general rule, rope is rated for a load that is a lot less than the maximum the rope will hold. I suspect it is the same with straps. So, your straps rated for 200 lbs are probably stronger than that. Even so, 200 lbs is plenty to hold your boat on. I would worry about wear, which you can monitor, and sharp edges, because that then strap will be a lot easier to cut or rip than the thicker stuff.
Kmart is a typical low cost outlet, which means service may be lacking, and they stock less costly products. But the name brand product you buy at Kmart is the same name brand product you buy anywhere else. Do you think Eveready has special poor-performing batteries they only sell at Kmart? The Jockey underwear at Kmart is the same as the Jockey underwear at finer shopping emporiums. The product is what it is. If you can’t judge the product, okay, stay out of kmart.
I can’t believe I’m sticking up for kmart. I’m really drifting here.
What I really want to know is who has had a strap fail on them.
~~Chip
I had one break
but it was my on fault. It was old and frayed in lots of places and I should have replaced it.
There was no harm done and it was when I was pulling it tight
I agree with you that most of the straps are all the same quality, and just have the name of the various suppliers on them.
Looking at that Wally world one, I would be more concerned with the cam lock buckle. it looked cheap !
If they are used constantly around salt water, the cam lock buckle should be lubed every so often, since they will bind up from the salt corrosion.
jack L
cheap straps are emergency only
such as you are between paychecks and need a strap in a hurry… BUT… they are one-use only.
Harry used dollar store straps because he was poor. Until they snapped on him.
So he upgraded to Wal-Mart straps… which lasted a few trips then failed.
I finally gave him some good straps as I am a collector and have three ammo-boxes filled with decent straps.
Although I have never had a dollar store or Wal-Mart strap fail, I can attribute that to the fact that I double-strapped my boats and checked them every 20 miles. Then tossed them as soon as I could get better straps.
Assume that a Wal-Mart strap will last a few trips but not a season.
Some things can be skimped with, others should not.
Like I can use the Wal-Mart silicon-collapsing mug for $1.44 over paying $10 for the S2S version. But I always assume that the Ozark Trails tent sold by Wal-Mart will fail after a trip or any good wind so prefer a better brand.
And a strap that fails on the freeway turns your boat into a missile. And the internet is filled with pics of kayaks and surfboard resting through a windshield because of a failed strap.
good point
If the product is the same or comparable it doesn’t matter where it’s sold.
store specific brand name products
– Last Updated: Aug-23-16 12:55 PM EST –
Actually, Chip, many manufacturers make completely separate lines of their name brand products specifically for large volume discount retailers, particularly Walmart, which is notorious for demanding that brands produce items that meet Walmart's price point requirements regardless of quality. That pack of Hane's men's underwear from Walmart is NOT the same quality as what you find in the same package from a non-discount department store. If you look carefully at the small print on some of the packaging you will see "made by XXXX Corporation for Walmart" .... or Sears/K-Mart or Costco or Home Depot.
I know this to be a fact because I've made comparisons. Going back to the underwear equivalency -- I generally avoid patronizing Walmart but it was the only store anywhere near where my out of town ex-BF lived out in the boondocks so at one point, when I was staying with him a little longer than I had packed for, I picked up the usual 3-pack of ladies undies from Fruit of the Loom that I had been buying for years. Subsequently noticed that all 3 pairs began to disintegrate within a few months -- holes appeared in the fabric and seams popped open. I had at least a dozen pairs of the exact brand and model I had purchased over the years from other stores -- some were several years old and had been washed and worn hundreds of times the same way as I was handling these new ones. So, wondering if it was simply a case of Hane's cheapening their production overall, I bought another package from Walmart and a package of the same style (from a Target store) and weighed them. The ones from the package from Walmart were 30% lighter than the ones from Target. It was also obvious that the elastic in the waistbands was thinner in the WM garments and the stitching was not as tight.
I'd previously won arguments with my uncle who swore that shopping at Walmart was the best way to make his budget go farther. In just one case I showed him that the "cheaper" packages of name brand cookies he got at Wally World were a few ounces lighter and had measurably less icing in the middle than what visually appeared to be the same package that I bought at an Albertsons grocery store. We also compared men's socks and found that the same brand and style at stores other than Walmart were substantially thicker yarn and about an inch longer in the foot portion.
Speaking of roof rack straps -- I was caught short on straps to haul lumber on one trip to Home Depot and ended up buying a set there. What junk! Such flimsy nylon and so slippery I had to tie off the ends because I was afraid they would slip through the buckles -- speaking of which the buckles started to corrode almost immediately. I got rid of the crappy things by using them to tie up some scrap from demo for the trash men to collect.
Walmart is notorious for this -- using their market share dominance to bully manufacturers into reducing the quality of their products to meet prices set by Walmart itself. There was a venerable family-owned manufacturer some years ago that refused to meet Walmart's price point demands and cheapen the quality of their product and Walmart refused to carry the line any more, seriously cutting into the company's sales nationwide.
http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart
In the end, apparently the company relented and licensed its name to inferior Chinese-made copies of Snapper brand mowers that are now available at WM.
This is one of many reasons I won't give Walmart my money (besides treating their employees poorly and driving small businesses to bankruptcy in small towns and rural areas nationwide.)
Caveat emptor.
enjoyed the walmart-snapper article
but in many rural areas walmart is the “high cotton”, one tier below that is family dollar, and then you have the true $1 dollar stores and goodwill. I’ve shopped at all those places…but my straps come from nrs.
Ropes and 2x4s can come in pretty handy as well when you got to transport a lot of boats, especially canoes. Being able to open car doors is sometimes a luxury on a shuttle- especially when more than two canoes and rope is involved on just one vehicle.
All the drama of strap quality is…
eliminated by learning to use rope. Get comfortable with rope and there is no need for emergency use cheap straps. It ain’t that hard.
NRS SEATTLE FABRICS
THESE HERE: goo.gl/AjbqlH
yes OK I have a set…soft feel straps right ?
mine are from 2006-7. worn out now.
lube cams with bicycle wax lube.
NRS or DIY Seattle fabrics are tops. if your rig costs 2500 n up at 75 mph thru the night then skip Wal n move to top end.
remeber, adding rack bar gunwhale stops for canoes n specific at hull cam strap hooks for yaks is one step better than straps only.
those Wal straps are no longer available on shelf here in Bass River, only straps with hooks. ?
Walmart ruins small town economies
I know from friends and family members in small towns across the Northeast and Midwest what Walmart has done to their downtowns. Places that used to have several locally owned and smaller chain grocers, a few hardware stores, locally based pharmacies and opticians and even car parts stores, now have main streets with little but check-cashing “marts”. cell phone stores and boarded up buildings because a Walmart “superstore” opened in the area and drained off all their business. I’ve also seen what Walmart has done after it kills off the local competitors – the quality and quantity of their goods goes WAY down since they now have a captive audience.
I first encountered Walmarts when I briefly lived in the Midwest a couple of decades ago – I did buy things there and thought the quality of their clothing and foodstuffs was reasonable. But on more recent stops at the chain in the past few years (inevitable when you travel since in many remote areas they are the only game in town) I can’t help but notice how lousy the merchandise is – limp, half-spoiled produce; flimsy and badly cut clothes; aisles so badly stocked it looks like the place is going out of business; rude clerks and filthy premises. But what do they care? People in those areas have no other choice.
It’s a common business ploy – come into an area with cheap prices that undercut the competition (even if you have to take a loss at first) and decent goods, then once you’ve killed all the other vendors, abandoned all pretense of keeping the store up, cut back staff, stock it haphazardly and jack up the prices.
We have a dominant local grocery chain in my own city that does the same thing. In fact they even buy up the leases on the buildings of competitor stores in target neighborhoods once they’ve driven them under to keep the locations empty. In the district where I owned my first house there were 5 grocery stores, 2 of them small locals, within walking distance when I bought the place. Within 5 years, the big chain (Giant Eagle) had opened a store in the middle and artificially dropped their prices. Within a few years all 5 of the other stores closed up shop and have never been replaced. Now that Giant Eagle is the only option for many low income people who have to walk or take the bus and the prices are outrageous. This chain has displaced 3/4 of the groceries within the city limits and have substandard fresh foods in the poorer neighborhoods. Fortunately, the Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s chain is starting to give them some competition with better prices and products.
Unless…
…you buy your rope from Walmart!
are they good straps?
“Can anyone tell me if I bought straps at Walmart to tie down my canoe are they going to be good straps?”
To answer your question, in my opinion they are okay, but not great. Obviously as all the other posters have noted, there are much better straps available for securing your canoe. But would these straps work? Certainly.
For cheep cam straps, I like the ones from Harbor Freight better. The straps aren’t so slick and the buckle gets a better grip on the strap.
I have a couple sets of the NRS straps sold by a local shop with their logo on it and they are far superior to the cheep straps. But I also have some cheep backup straps too, and they would do the job just fine.
I’m guessing the cheep ones would probably wear out more quickly, so in the long run the higher quality ones might be a better deal.