My wife bought a quality inflatable and has the following question. When in Colorado using it daily can it be safely transported on the 4runner top? Would not be big high speed miles and lots of rough roads. Just wondering on the hazards.
Hi there. The hazard to transporting an inflatable on the roof is overheating and exploding. It cannot be transported like this at full pressure. I don’t know how much it needs to be deflated for safe transport, though.
Pro tip: Inflatables also can be deflated and fit into the car. That is actually the main reason to buy one over a hard-shall. Takes barely more time than strapping on the roof.
Thanks, makes sense. Never did think it was a good idea anyway but thought I would ask folks who know.
I had a pair of inflatables on a road trip to Yellowstone and Glacier a bunch of years back. If we were paddling within a day or two and not traveling far, we kept them mostly inflated (let out some pressure to reduce chance of over-inflation) on the roof. Worked fine and saved a lot of inflation/deflation time.
people regulary transport commercial ww rafts inflated. I even see a few on the top of cars but most are on trailers. Overall I guess I opt to deflate my duckies, not really a big deal for me to inflate at put in.
I think the problems with transporting iSUPs on roof tops is 1) they are thinner than rafts and overheat faster, and 2) there are a lot of cheap iSUPs that people are buying. There have been several reports on Reddit lately of iSUPs exploding. The users report that they are not over inflating them. One person had it inflated less than 5 minutes, was getting their stuff together, and it exploded in the parking lot.
And don’t forget that atmospheric pressure drops about 15-20% when going from 5,000 to 10,000 feet altitude. So you may want to release some extra pressure from the kayak if heading for a high altitude lake.
Thanks all, will just inflate deflate and toss it in the 4 runner. Not worth the chance as we will be up and down in altitude etc.