I agree, I have Mako saddles that use 2 straps around the saddle plus I use both bow and stern tie downs but I'm going to add an extra strap over the boat to tie it into the main factory rails as well. The extra 30 seconds is worth it.
One note on the straps around the saddle is my local paddle shop taught me to take remainder of strap left after tightening it and loop it under cross bar to the front and back of boat carry handles. That ties it into cross bar nicely but adding an extra strap to tie into main rail can't hurt.
Mako Saddles are different! You have 4 saddles per boat where you only have 2 of the J-type bars per boat. It is very unlikely that the 2 front saddles would break due to a defect at the same time. Plus there are no moving parts in the Mako saddles - they are made of one big piece of plastic, that I would bet would be extremely hard to break.
It is more likely that the strap holding the boat to the saddles would wear and tear or that a plastic bracket holding the saddles to the bar would break than the Mako saddles breaking off.
Still, a good idea to have something holding the boat to the car other than the saddles (e.g., a front/rear tie downs or a strap through the rack).
Strapped it both ways today Used the J rack today and ran the straps over the boat and aroud loadbar on both sides of the boat. Also took a piece of rope from the top of the J rack over the boat and tied it to the bar on the outside - this way the boat is strapped tight to the bar AND it won’t tip over off the J rack if a strong crosswind hits - Belt and Suspenders I guess. Looks a little like an Everst expedition - all I need are a few carabiners and stuff - but at least no one is going to get hurt by a flying boat!
lines yes I don’t know who it all came loose, but it was tied all around boat, over crossbars per the mannual. that’s how I learned to tie down step by step. but when the saddle broke on the bottom, all lines came loose and off. the weight pulled off the stern lines.
the the saddle broke on the bottom completely in half.
I have factory racks and all Yakima straps. I like the idea that seems to keep coming up about NRS straps only… straps on this came loose when the saddle broke. All good info… you never know how to prevent until you experience something like this.
For the severalth time in this thread... a bow line would have kept the boat from immediately flying off the back even if it was floating loose within the straps around the boat.
I am beginning to think that what you are trying to say is that when the saddle mount to the cross bars broke, the boat was sitting loose under whatever straps and basically slid out off the back. Your description isn't entirely clear yet whether the there was a strap that went around the cross bar at two points, one on either side of the boat, or just on one side like the (really silly) instructions that someone above mentioned.
by "factory rack" and "Grabber tower". By factory rack do you mean the rack that came on the car (OEM) or the Yakima rack? Also what method do you use to tansport your boats?
All I know is if I'm driving behind that car I want as many ropes on that boat as possible and I'd like to think if someones wife or child were behind that car they'd feel the same.
I can live with being called names but I got too many things left to do to be disabled or killed by a flying boat.
I see too many para- and quadriplegics everyday and really don't want to end up like that (or do that to someone else) because a boat was not tied down properly.
I cannot get how the straps can come off if they were strapped around the factory rack - unless the factory rack came off too! This could happen when you don't use bow lines (very important) Those bow lines help hold the pressure off the rack and roof bars with the wind that will attempt to lift the boat up.- did the strap break? and the factory bar? Still cannot understand the story on this!
Ironically last night i watched the bowdown demo on the internet and don't care for the open "feet" but it did show wrapping around the bar also. We use Malones mostly and wrap around the bars also.
Would not trust factory cross bars… but many front to back rails are just fine since they sit over and/or are very soundly attached to a structural part of the vehicle.
Oper keeps trying granted, but seems to be unable to make it clear exactly how the straps were run and what components of the rack system (side rails, towers if used, cross bars) were factory or third party.
I’m with ya this time I trust the factory rails depending on mfr. and an inspection. But I don’t trust the factory crossbars and the towers and other boat-specific carriers. A set of crossbars and foam padding provide direct contact with less to fail.
just saw from your other post you use 2 sets of Thule J racks with Yakima towers and bars. I have the same setup except have Yakima all metal J racks (hullraiser) instead of Thule. Am in the same situation where I need to carry 2 'yaks with a canoe down the middle.