Getting it there: Cartop Canoe Carriers

[houlibar]

How do you transport your canoe? A lot of vans and SUV’s come with luggage carriers or rails on the rooftop. But these all run parallel with the length of the rooftop.

Obviously you can’t transport a 16′ canoe crossways on the top of a vehicle! :p So what type of cross members, carriers, straps or whatever, is available to secure one or more canoes to your vehicle lenthwise?

Does anyone have experience transporting canoes on a pickup truck with an overhead rack intended for lumber, pipe or ladders?

[OneBadApple]

no experience with a lumber hauler type rack athough i believe thats what this one guy was using for his last time we were on the huron river it even appeared he just had it tide down with rope! when we bought our canoe it was like “now whatta we do” a 16’6″ canoe aint gonna fly in our 5 1/2 foot f150 fx4 screw bed so we hit the local dicks sporting goods and bought the riverside universal canoe carrier kit for 40.00 it has worked out great for transport. We are planning on buying my little womens bosses boat trailer (he deals with repo boats and used ones on the side) and are thinking of somehow mounting the thule 78″ bars on there so we can haul a couple canoes around here and not have to flip the canoes up on the truck..but for now with one canoe the 4 foam blocks are working great even a 200 mile trip went well..
OBA

[pjannette]

I don’t have any experience hauling canoes but do know that Yakima and Thule make racks designed for full-size trucks.

Checkout these links:

Yakima: The Dry Dock and for multiple canoes, the Outdoorsman
http://www.yakima.com/Product.aspx?id=51

Thule: The Goalpost
http://www.thuleracks.com/product.asp?sku=997&dept_id=10

[Canadienne]

If your vehicle has the parallel running rack already mounted you can make a very cheap rack that could fit two canoes if needed.

All you need is a couple of 2×2’s from your local lumber yard cut to the desired length (a bit larger than the width of the vehicle) and attached to the existing rack with a couple of these.

Work as well as any rack I have seen. The wood offers a forgiving surface that won’t harm your canoe.

[houlibar]

Thanks for the links to the truck carriers. I would like my next vehicle to be a crewcab type truck and something like that would seem to work very well.

The muffler clamp/2″x4″ carrier is a great tip. I would definately do that if the car already had a roof rack.

We used the foam block type carrier to get the canoe back home to the camp. It worked pretty well and once I’d driven a few miles I had some confidence in it. Even with the winds gusting along the lakeshore.

What discourages me from using it is trying to mount a 72 pound canoe on the car without dinging up the car real bad. Even with two of us mounting it, it’s difficult to get it centered and balanced on the roof without the blocks pulling of and necessitating removal of the canoe to put the blocks back on the gunwales.

[houlibar]

OBTW, here is a photo of the new canoe mounted on the foam blocks type carrier:

Foam block cartop carrier

[houlibar]

Well that link only worked a short while. :rolleyes: The forum software doesn’t seem to want to take any uploaded jpg images. The previous one was 91kb. I resized it again to 18kb and no more than 280 high. It’s still not imbeding itself in the post the way it should. 🙁

[Preacher]

Foam blocks and a webbing tie down kit has worked fine for me 5+ years and counting. Best $70 I spent considering they charge a flat $10 for one when renting.

Often I have to chase after the guy when I return the rental. OI! MY STRAPS!

[canuckcamper]

Foam blocks, ratchet straps, s hooks and some rope. Its scratched the crap out of the roof of the crapalier but it works!

Kirk

[shizzy]

I used the foam blocks, ratchet strap and rope to haul my 17’er on top of mY Car last summer. It was nice that the car was a beater since I did put a few scratches and dings in the roof. It rode real nice even on such a small car.

I sold that car and now I have a much nicer truck, so I am going to get a utility trailer and just haul the canoe behind

[woodenpaddle]

i use the foam blocks and haul it on my car.

[hmilesjr]

Wow great photo shizzy, how did you even see to drive like that? I bet the truck makes it a lot easier.

I have a Chevy truck. I have a small canoe as most of what I do is local rivers here in SC.

[Sweeper]

I found these great pieces of square packing foam with tall corners that molded great to the kayaks above and canoes below.

I like rope. I use a Cove Hitch around the boat and tie it off to the rack with a Travelers Hitch.

[Gregory]

I agree with sweeper, I use foam block, and rope tied with a truckers hitch. Haven’t had any problems with my kayaks or canoes.

I also use pool noodles to wrap my rope to keep it from rubbing my truck or car.

[Anonymous]

Wow, pool noodles are a great idea!
For anyone from Western NY state there is a guy on Craigslist selling the foam block kits (with extras thrown in!) for $10 new. I got my set from him and it works great on my little Honda accord. I was surprised that it didn’t shift around at all. I used two over straps wrapped around the seats on each side, over the top and cambuckled inside my car. Then the two sets of straps on the ends. I made a V in the front to each end of the bumper but there is only one center towing ring to hook things to in the rear so I went straight down the middle and was a little worried. it worked good though driving home in a windy rainstorm.

[Author]

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