I don’t know if anyone has thought of this so here goes.
Most of the roof racks I’ve ever seen have a limit to how far apart you can take the crossbars. I have a Pungo 120 and the best place to strap them is directly behind the cockpit and directly in front of the cockpit to avoid the gunwales. This is impossible as most car crossbars simply won’t go to the 63" point. I have a Jeep now and the rack I have expands to 41" putting my front straps straight across the gunwales. What I wonder is if anyone has ever put a block, cut to the contour of the keel, in the cockpit and under the gunwales to provide support and shape? I get a good bit of collapse under the hull at this point and would like to avoid it before damaging the kayak long term. Alternately, I’m thinking of going to J-hook mounts (Thule) to avoid some of this but even they would be spaced at 41" and likely still provide a good bit of pressure.
PUNGO
is wider than the Jeep ?
So far, all vehicles here had rain gutters, currently a Ford van with QuicknEasys. The complexity of roof mounting on a 'modern vehicle' ...
Looked at your baby in Google Images. Several J mounts. Does that system solve the coaming problem ?
If 2 fir No 1 2x3" bolt to x-bars at hull width, eyebolt at bow/stern coaming then strap thru eyebolts n over hull in a loop.
Would also make more sense to use …
… an extension device of some kind. You can buy setups that provide mounting points for cross bars at much greater spread, and you could save a bundle by building such a thing. If you envision how it is that roof-top bike racks are set up to support a bike regardless of the spacing between the cross bars, you get the idea how an extension device works. For boats, you’d need a pair of lengthwise bars which are supported on the main cross bars. These bars are long enough to extend beyond both cross bars, and they in turn support a second set of cross bars having greater spread than the cross bars of your current rack. The lengthwise bars need to be pretty strong, at least if you set them up for a fair bit of extension, since they are supporting the boat in cantilever fashion.
Get stackers
Those put the boat onto what is actually a stronger point from most plastic boats, their side. Straps are still going over the cockpit, but in a rec boat like the Pungo it’ll be hard to avoid that.
second the stackers
For what you’re trying to accomplish.
carry the boat hull up
Flip the kayak over and rest the cockpit coaming on the crossbars. The rolled edge is more resistant to defomation than the hull. I always carry my kayaks upside down even though most are Greenland style with a pronounced upward curve to the decks. Your boat is almost completely flat on top and could easily be loaded that way. Even if you have the “dashboard” some Pungos come with, that portion should clear the cross bar if you center it right.
Oil-canning from rack pressure is such a common problem with rotomold boats that I don’t understand why more people don’t protect their hulls by racking the boats hull up. In my case, my standard sized coamings fit perfectly between the closely spaced crossbars on my Mazda CX5 and this provides an extra level of stability in hauling
Thanks!
Thanks for the input. I don’t like the idea of hull-up carry because I’m not sure the strap still wouldn’t pull / flatten the hull but perhaps not. Also, Jeeps are rather tall so getting it up the is a bit easier hull down. I had been using Yakima Sweet Rolls but the crossbars on my rack are not exactly fitting it. I may have a remedy for that but even the Sweet Roll’s “pads” will indent the bottom a little.
I have thought about an extension and this I may do. My rack is a Hitchmount Rack and is made of square tubing. I think I can easily construct an extension and tail it off the back. I need about 22" to but at the right length.
What I was originally envisioning is a jig of sorts that would preserve the inner contour and curling at the strapping point. I guess this would have to be custom because where you strap might vary greatly. So maybe an extension is the best way if sticking with hull-up. That or J’s.