I have never driven the turnpike at 70+ mph with my kayaks racked on the roof rack of my van. I have “J” racks mounted on a secured (mounted to the roll cage) rack on my van. Rack was secured with #10 SS screws at eight points. The rack is stable and the yaks are well secured but I can never remember seeing anyone else driving the turnpike with yaks.
Is it safe to go that speed with yaks racked on a carrier? Does anyone here do it? Any advise would be helpful.
throw a
bow AND stern line down to the bumper (for 100% security) and let her rip. I do 80+ all the time.
steve
Do it All the Time
Just got back from TX and I had one kayak on Hull-a-port, one flat. 20-30 mph sidewinds both travel days. I not to get too close to the back of 18-wheelers because the draft from them will move you arround a bit. I also, throw an extra strap arround the belly of each boat for long trips and use bow tiedowns as flatpick suggests. WW
Tie downs are a good idea…
…but I’d also be a bit concerned about your mounting hardware. If you mean the rack is secured only with 8, #10 screws total, I’d say that’s not very secure. You’d better off with 1/4-20 or 1/4-28 screws; #10’s seem rather small for the stresses involved.
transporting yaks
We had 9 kayaks varying from a 6 ft ww boar to a 16 ft tandem tied on the roof of our 15 passenger van and were flying down the interstate between 70 75 mph no problems
also watch the factory attachment points
saw a 91 transport van with loose mounts to the body. Some may never come loose but it could. Hate to see a kayak on the freeway.
No problems with self-mounted Thule
system on three hour trips. Before the Thule, I used foam blocks. One hot day, I tightened everything up too much. Had some interesting (alarming at the time) dents in the hull. They all popped back out.
How many of you lock your boats to the rack or vehicle on long drives? I’ve got a long road trip coming up and am concerned about motel parking lots. Considering ground floor rooms and bringing the yak in at night - don’t want it to get lonely nor do I want to lose it. It might not be of much value to would-be thieves (poly boat with several years on it), but you never know what someone might take if it’s an easy target. Planning to strap down the rubber hatches for the trip. Anything else I need to think about? Thanks, Laura
Speeding along
Do 70-80 mph all the time. I use vertical stackers on my rack with two straps on each boat. I usually carry 3 kayaks, no problems at those speeds. Sedna, I use a wire cable lock to secure my boats when stopping on the road. No thefts so far. Of course a determined thief could take them if he had bolt cutters. It will stop opportunistic theives.
Locking down
My buddy locks his down all the time. Several ways to do it. This guy’s yak has a small bar built into it specifically for that purpose. I believe there was a thread going about using “The Club” as a type of lock down at one time.
yak on roof
I put 2 plastic yaks on the roof of my minivan and regularly do a 3 1/2 hour run up to cape cod, with a good part of it at 70mph. The yaks are on foam blocks and i use 2 straps on each, one each fore and aft of the cockpit. The straps loop under the crossbar on the center on loop under the siderail on the outboard side. I’ve never used bow/stern tiedowns–and obviously no problems thus far. (I used the same tiedown pattern with windsurfers, which are about the same weight, and never had any problems with them either.)
I am very rigorous about checking tie down tension–driving for a few miles after loading and then rechecking. I also recheck everytime i stop.
Stretch wrap
If you have access to stretch wrap; or have a buddy who works in a distribution center that uses the stuff to wrap skids of product together.This stuff works great for hatches and covers,and then one band of duct tape to keep it from unwraveling. Or wrenoldswrap.