Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Thank you! That is the best explanation I have seen on how/why to tie a boat
down. I have seen some nightmares out on the road. --- Some of them were mine - I have worked it out to more or less what you describe, but it took many tries and stops along the road to fix loose ropes to work out what you have explained well in a few short posts.. Ken "riverman" wrote in message ... "Michael Daly" wrote in message ... On 11-Jan-2005, "riverman" wrote: Be sure, for aerodynamics, that the canoe is centered over the wheels, not over the hood. I'm trying to figure out why this should be so. Hi Mike. When the car is going straight with a direct headwind, it *is* irrelevant. But having the boat far to the rear, as many people tend to do instinctively when they center it over the cockpit of the car, gives you a 'sway' if you have a sidewind, or if you get a blast from a passing tractor-trailer. If the canoe is centered, you only get a lean. It also distributes the weight evenly on the car: otherwise you ride like you have a loaded rear end. **This line should be hauled tight enough to lift the stern of the canoe up off the back roof rack about 6 inches.** 4) Go around back and tie a line from the back of the canoe down to the center of the rear bumper. Haul down on this line. This should pull the canoe back down onto the rear roof rack, and provide enough downward force to 'lock it down' onto the roof racks, and 'lock down' the roof racks onto the roof of your car. The results of this arbitrary 6" lift will be highly dependent on the amount of stretch in the line, on the distance between the rack crossbars and on the type of canoe you're tying down. Stiff lines on a light canoe mounted on closely spaced crossbars could break the hull while soft lines on a WW canoe with widely spaced bars may have little effect. Yes, you are completely correct. 6" is an approximation of what I used with my boat, but your response shows that you perceive the situation clearly. I should have said 'enough tension to raise the stern of the canoe a small amount, so that when you tie down the stern, it tightens the bow line significantly." --riverman Mike |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
"No Spam" wrote in message news:M5_Ed.9595$eb.6206@trndny01... Thank you! That is the best explanation I have seen on how/why to tie a boat down. I have seen some nightmares out on the road. --- Some of them were mine - I have worked it out to more or less what you describe, but it took many tries and stops along the road to fix loose ropes to work out what you have explained well in a few short posts.. Just for reference, here are a few pics of how NOT to load a canoe on a car. These folks all centered their boats over the cockpit of the car, or centered them over the roofracks. You can see that it moves the boat way to the rear, makes for a very unaerodynamic load, and leaves both endlines running forward; perfect set-up for the canoe coming loose when the driver puts on the brakes. http://www.dawsonfamily.ca/John/notkids.shtml http://www.ericandjoan.com/worldtrip.../auschp10.html http://www.keithv.com/scans/canoe.jpg http://www.mohawkcanoes.com/transport.htm (and this one is even on a site by Mohawk Canoe, explaining how to tie on a canoe!!) http://www.softopper.com/products_rack.html Conversely, here is a pic of a canoe properly centered over the wheelbase of the vehicle. These will ride more stably, not cause a sway if there is a sidewind, and most importantly, the endlines are pulling equally in opposite directions so the boat will not shift around. http://www.sfu.ca/~dlpress/paddling/09_Canoe_Car.JPG --riverman |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
On 11-Jan-2005, "riverman" wrote:
gives you a 'sway' if you have a sidewind Gotcha. It also distributes the weight evenly on the car: otherwise you ride like you have a loaded rear end. Ditto - but in winter with many cars, that's a good thing. 'Course paddling when there's snow and ice is only for us crazy folk. Mike |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
If you drive around with the roof rack or anything else on the top of the car you'll use more fuel. I even keep the boat tied low to the roof to reduce drag. My roof rack consists of two pieces of rolled up carpet. In this case the strap actually holds the boat to the car, not to the rack. I would not pull the front of the canoe down 6" and tie it off as described. It might crack or distort some canoes. I'd just make sure it was tied on snug. I use only the straps to drive along residential streets over to the river, 1 mile away, speed limit 35 mph, but tie the ends down when going further and faster. When tying down the ends each is tied with a 12 foot length of 1//4 inch rope. One end is tied to one end of the bumper (actually to the ring under the bumper they used to tie the car down on the boat from Asia where it was made) with a bowline knot, passed up and through the ring on the bow of the boat, then down to the other bumper ring where it is snugged up with a trucker's hitch. Same on the back. When the boat comes off the roof of the car the two lines are tied to the ends as painters. There are photos on my website under "Boats" (Dogskiff, Loonie, Delta). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
"William R. Watt" wrote in message ... When tying down the ends each is tied with a 12 foot length of 1//4 inch rope. One end is tied to one end of the bumper (actually to the ring under the bumper they used to tie the car down on the boat from Asia where it was made) with a bowline knot, passed up and through the ring on the bow of the boat, then down to the other bumper ring where it is snugged up with a trucker's hitch. I found that, unless I actually tied off at the bow ring of the boat, the boat was free to slide back and forth along the rope. I tie off at the bow ring with a bowline, run the line down to one end of the bumper, through that tie down point, across to the other end, then back up to the bow. --riverman |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
riverman wrote: I found that, unless I actually tied off at the bow ring of the boat, the boat was free to slide back and forth along the rope. I tie off at the bow ring with a bowline, run the line down to one end of the bumper, through that tie down point, across to the other end, then back up to the bow. And then when you tie the stern probably the best way is with a trucker's hitch. The coolest knot ever. Be careful though, you can break stuff with a trucker's hitch by tightening it too much. It's like using a pulley. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message oups.com... riverman wrote: I found that, unless I actually tied off at the bow ring of the boat, the boat was free to slide back and forth along the rope. I tie off at the bow ring with a bowline, run the line down to one end of the bumper, through that tie down point, across to the other end, then back up to the bow. And then when you tie the stern probably the best way is with a trucker's hitch. The coolest knot ever. Be careful though, you can break stuff with a trucker's hitch by tightening it too much. It's like using a pulley. Correctamundo on all four points. :-) --riverman |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
I can speak from experience. It was only a three hour cruise... er make
that a three minute transport from shore to storage. I was tired and only tied on with lines over the hull. At first stop, I was horrified to see my kayak launch out over the hood of my van, like a bar of soap coming out of your wet hands. The Overflow luckily is used, plenty of scratches, and 40 ft of sliding on asphalt did not hurt it any. The thought of causing a serious accident did get my attention! However the worst was having to get out and pickup the pieces and put it all back together, with all those other folks pointing their finger, and gauking at me! They had a good laugh! Be sure and use the bow and stern lines, :-() Sheepish me, TnT |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
rec.boats.paddle sea kayaking FAQ | General | |||
rec.boats.paddle sea kayaking FAQ | General | |||
rec.boats.paddle sea kayaking FAQ | General | |||
rec.boats.paddle sea kayaking FAQ | General | |||
rec.boats.paddle sea kayaking FAQ | General |