Just bought a new Wilderness Tsunami and noticed when loading on my roof rack that the carrying handles are different from my other boats that have the handles bolted directly to the boat. I can put some pressure on the handles of my other boats and they don’t have much give, but on the Tsunami handles have a lot of give. I always tie down my boats to the front of my car as well as the back, and am just wondering if someone else has suggestions on this matter. The Tsunami handles are attached with some sort of bungee cord that stretches and I don’t think that I can tie them down very secure.
I have a Tsunami 140
– Last Updated: Mar-22-08 6:24 PM EST –
The design is meant to stop the toggles from banging around while your are on the water.
If your toggles are like mine, there is a loop of line (rope) that is attatched to the toggle handle. The other end of the loop has a loop of bungee that pulls the toggle against a stop that is attached to the deck. When you pull on the toggle, the bungee stretches until the loop of rope hits the stop that is attached to the deck. This makes it so the bungee is not providing support.
For the front I made a loop of line about 2.5 feet long. I thread the loop under the decklines that come to a point near the toggle. I then tie a knot in the loop so that I have 2 equal length loops that hang down on either sid eof the bow. I use these to attach my bow line. Because the bow line angles forward to attach to the car, the loop is pulled forward and is jambed against the point where the deck lines come to a point.
The stern is a little difficult becauseon my boat the stern toggle is offset to the port (left side when sitting in the boat) side and I have a rudder.
For the stern I again use a loop of line that I attach to the loop of line that is attached to the toggle. I attach this in FRONT of the stop. Because the boat overhangs my bumper, the stern line is angled towards the front. This in turn pulls the toggle against the stop so no pressure is put on the bungee. Although it is not ideal, I only run the loop on the port side of the stern because of the placement of the stern toggle.
Whew... I hope this is clear, if not ask away!
Art
tie 'em up
and drive away.
you are over thinking it.
the bungie will only stretch a little. the toggle is secure.
steve
Not Too Tight…
…does the trick nicely.
We use bow and stern tiedowns, set up so they are just snug - there’s no need to apply any real pressure, since they are there mainly as a safety measure should a strap/rack part fail. With my wife’s Cape Horn 15, any significant pressure on the bowline quickly puts a nasty buckle in the hull - it does come out again, but we don’t like stressing it more than we have to. The stretch in the toggle’s bungie shouldn’t matter if the bow tiedown does suddenly come under real strain.