I am glad no one got hurt. It seems on the face of it that there
were generally adequate precautions and something probably broke,
but as others have said a front tiedown would have helped greatly.
Once over 50/80 mph/kph I have to say that IMHO nothing as long as a
boat should be carried without that line. I limit myself to 60 kph
around the neighbourhood with top lines only on a canoe. Like Dave
says below - just do it.
Primarily a canoeist, I find that many kayakers are not so aware of
the "windiness" of boats on roofs. I can pass along a few
observations/stories from my experience (including the lessons of
numerous others in my canoe club).
- Most common way canoes fall off cars: not tied on. One of
mine came off this way once when some very experienced friends
had borrowed it for an expedition. Tsk tsk. These people are
generally teaching others! Fortunately this was the ww
expedition boat and so it is mostly fine.
- Second most common: flies off forward when the driver hits the
brakes. Usually this just dents the hood because the line at
the back (you do use one, or better a pair to the sides) pulls
it up short). As described elsewhere, if the boat is not
secured against squirting out, it can torpedo the car in front -
right through the glass. This is harder for kayaks
- I use a short hidden line or strap underneath to tie the
canoe to the rack, just to prevent any forward motion, and
limit backward. In fact you can do this and the canoe looks
like it is not tied on at all!! I urge all of my paddling
friends to use these - they can save your own hood or
windshield.
- V-shape lines front and rear on canoes (less vital on kayaks)
serve less to hold down than to limit twisting from cross winds.
Hardest blasts are from passing trucks. If the cane starts to
twist, then work other lines loose, it can come off in a hurry.
- Thule makes some little whatsits that are pieces of strap
attached to short bits of rubber tubing. These tubes can go
under the edge of the hood on each side, and the loops peep
out through the crack. I don't trust these for holding down
great force, but they do stop the twisting.
- Note that in any tie-on assembly, if one line breaks then
there is usually a sudden shock to the next.
- Same but less applies if a line slacks or loosens. Bungees
are always susceptible to stretching and giving some load to
the next line.
- Stop to fix the load if you have any suspicions.
- Bungee cords may be stronger than people think, but the steel
hooks on the end are weaker. A frequent-paddler at the club has
seen a couple of canoes in the weeds with regular bungee hooks
havng been pulled straight by the force of the wind over the
roof pushing on the canoe.
- Note that the bungee hooks are dangerous. Father-in-law of
nephew was semi-retired and working as a tour bus driver.
Unlaoding luggage, bungee someone had around their bag came
lose and snapped up to hit him. Took out one eye completely.
(Not an internet story. This is family.)
- Rain gutters (I still miss my 1993 Caravan) were lost to
aerodynamics in the quest for fuel economy.
- Talk with your car dealer's service department or body shop to
find out how well the factory rack is secured. Some are not very
well attached. From what I found, few are structural and so it
comes to how large the washers/patches are under the sheet
metal. In the 1980s and 90s these could be quite small,
although most are better today.
- When I bought the aforementioned Caravan I was considering
another vehicle, which should be considered as representative
of the era, including the Caravan. I called and spoke with
the Ass't Service Manager to ask about its factory rack and
using it for canoes. He was clearly an older man with some
years in the business, and spoke with a gravely and slightly
whiney voice. "Weelll, you could do that I suppose,
yes you could. The weight is not a big issue." And what about
the wind, I asked? "Yaass, you have to take care to tie them
down to solid parts of the car. That's for sure. We had one
in last year. Wind got under the canoe and pulled it right
off. Pulled the roof rails out like zzipperzz, yup, just like
two zzipperzz. Had to put a new roof on."
- I do use the factory rack (with bars added) on my current
vehicle. I use lots of tiedowns, but I still worry.
Safe driving and paddling to all.
GaryJ
On 15/09/2014 11:02 AM, Dave Kruger
wrote:
Several years ago, Dan Millsip, of West Coast Paddler lost
two boats when the factory installed roof rack tracks ripped out
of the roof of his minivan, at speed, outside of Vancouver, BC.
Some damage to boats, no injuries or damage to other vehicles
or people despite traffic. The culprit? No bow or stern ties.
He reported this on WCP. Thereupon ensued a raging debate
about the need for bow and stern ties, with about the same
content as this discussion.
List serve filters prevent me from using the pungent language
this idiocy deserves: get the bow and stern anchored with
freaking ties, gol darn it!
Good fortune seems rampant in these descriptions, inasmuch no
one has reported injuries to people in following vehicles. Or,
maybe ... paddlers whose flying boats decapitated someone, or
punched a hole in someone's chest are too shy to speak up ... on
the sage advice of their attorneys, of course. ;)
--
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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Received on Wed Sep 17 2014 - 06:29:45 PDT