Re: [Paddlewise] Transporting Boats (was: Cradles/rollers for EuroVan racks)

Michael Daly wrote:

> Erik Sprenne wrote:
> > > My only caution of having multiple bars on the roof would be not to
secure
> > > the kayak to more than two bars at a time.   Two supports is
statically
> > > determinate and the kayak flexing is independent of the vehicle.
Three
> > > or more supports could, in theory, put undue stress on the kayak.
> > >
> > Depends on the vehicle (and the boat :-).
> >
> > I drive a Mitsu pickup, and on this vehicle the truck bed 'flexes' and
moves
> > independantly of the cab of the truck.
>
> Another not so obvious problem is if the case where the three bars are not
> quite level with each other.  In that case, you'd be bending the kayak
over
> the bars.
>
True, but I'd like to think that paddlers would be aware of how tightly they
are tying/strapping/attaching their boats to the transporting vehicle.
Ideally, one should strive to attach the boat loosely enough so that there
are no induced stresses imposed on the boat, but tightly enough so that the
boat will not fly off the rack at highway speeds, even in the instance of
sudden braking, or (heaven forbid!) a collision with some other moving or
inanimate object.  As with paddling itself, transporting the boat involves a
risk assessment, and a choice of whether or not to use bow/stern lines and
possibly extra attachment points.  There *is* a learning curve to be climbed
in transporting boats.


> I'm not so sure unibody construction is free of problems.  I've seen some
> pretty flexible van roofs.  It would depend on how your rack is attached
to
> the roof.
>
And how tightly one ties/straps the boat to the racks/saddles/etc. for a
given vehicle.  Plastic boats can generally be tied tighter than fiberglass
boats (unless you own a British 'heavy' <g>), as plastic will deform and
recover its shape without permanent marks, while fiberglass boats will flex
only to a certain degree, after which they will suffer irreversible damage.

Not only do new paddlers have to learn how boats handle on the water, they
also have to obtain a feel for how hard they can crank down on the
attachment points when transporting the boats.  The key thing is to *not*
let the boats fly off the vehicle during transport.  If one is
tying/strapping a fiberglass boat to a vehicle and hears cracking noises,
it's best to let up a tad on the attachment point, and possibly set up a
backup/redundant system.

e.g. - in transporting canoes on my truck, not only do I tie a rope over the
canoe on each crossbar, I also tie the thwarts to the crossbars, and
sometimes (for solo FG canoes)/always (for the tandem ABS boat) use bow
and/or stern lines to the bumper(s).

Many years ago I got stopped for speeding with a 17' canoe on my Honda
Civic.  Besides informing me that I was outside the bounds of the law, the
police officer started lecturing me on the dangers of having a canoe fly off
a vehicle at 'excessive' driving speeds.  After I showed him that there was
*no way* that the canoe would fly off the vehicle, he softened his stance on
the danger of flying canoes, but I still got a speeding ticket


Erik Sprenne
on the Prairie Coast

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