cartopping noise--and yes, i have checked the archives
 

i have a jeep cherokee, with which i cartop a 14' royalex mad river
adventurer. i use the oe bars, with two nylon ratchet straps across the
body of the boat. the boat itself is supported by foam attachments against
the bars.

i have tried "twirling" the straps, using various tensions on the tie
downs--and nothing works. above 40 mph, this ceaseless, loud droning noise
permeates the car's interior.

surely there is some simple solution. after all, when i left the dealership
with the boat on top, i drove about 75mph for an hour to my destination
without a sound--and the damn straps were absolutely flat.

help! or do i just pop for those thule thingies...?

wayno

Have you tried changing the straps? If you are using ratchet straps,
try rope instead, or some other kind of strap. It is possible that the
noise is not the straps at all.

Richard



Wayne Harrison wrote:
i have a jeep cherokee, with which i cartop a 14' royalex mad river
adventurer. i use the oe bars, with two nylon ratchet straps across the
body of the boat. the boat itself is supported by foam attachments against
the bars.

i have tried "twirling" the straps, using various tensions on the tie
downs--and nothing works. above 40 mph, this ceaseless, loud droning noise
permeates the car's interior.

surely there is some simple solution. after all, when i left the dealership
with the boat on top, i drove about 75mph for an hour to my destination
without a sound--and the damn straps were absolutely flat.

help! or do i just pop for those thule thingies...?

wayno

surely there is some simple solution. after all, when i left the
dealership
with the boat on top, i drove about 75mph for an hour to my destination
without a sound--and the damn straps were absolutely flat.

help! or do i just pop for those thule thingies...?

It IS the straps vibrating. I've been thu all this before as well, even to
the extent of no noise on the first trip home with the boat !!

Keep twirling the straps on every length exposed to the wind. This includes
the lengths at the side and especially underneath the roof-rack. You'll get
there in the end. It took us some trial end error but we travel in peace and
quite now, well, except for the kids fighting in the back !

J

"Wayne Harrison" wrote in message .com...
i have a jeep cherokee, with which i cartop a 14' royalex mad river
adventurer. i use the oe bars, with two nylon ratchet straps across the
body of the boat. the boat itself is supported by foam attachments against
the bars.

i have tried "twirling" the straps, using various tensions on the tie
downs--and nothing works. above 40 mph, this ceaseless, loud droning noise
permeates the car's interior.

surely there is some simple solution. after all, when i left the dealership
with the boat on top, i drove about 75mph for an hour to my destination
without a sound--and the damn straps were absolutely flat.

help! or do i just pop for those thule thingies...?

wayno

Wayno, have you tried setting up the straps both around the boat and
around the roofrack in such a way that there is hardly any place where
the straps are not touching anything?

I find that straps are only causing sound when they can vibrate, i.e.
when there is air on both sides of the straps and when the piece of
strap able to vibrate is long enough. Therefore (when carrying only
one or two boats at the same time) I always try to tie the boats top
down, so that the straps lie against the entire underside and sides of
the hull. Then the only place where they could vibrate is between the
boat and the roofrack, and by carefully placing the straps around the
roofrack, you can usually limit the distance that they have to be
unsupported.

HTH.

Wilko

"Julia De Silva" wrote in message
. uk...
surely there is some simple solution. after all, when i left the
dealership
with the boat on top, i drove about 75mph for an hour to my destination
without a sound--and the damn straps were absolutely flat.

help! or do i just pop for those thule thingies...?

It IS the straps vibrating. I've been thu all this before as well, even to
the extent of no noise on the first trip home with the boat !!

Keep twirling the straps on every length exposed to the wind. This
includes
the lengths at the side and especially underneath the roof-rack. You'll
get
there in the end. It took us some trial end error but we travel in peace
and
quite now, well, except for the kids fighting in the back !

J

Can you switch to ropes? We use ropes with ratchet hooks now and there is no
noise at all.

Wayne Harrison wrote:

i have tried "twirling" the straps, using various tensions on the tie

downs--and nothing works. above 40 mph, this ceaseless, loud droning
noise
permeates the car's interior.

surely there is some simple solution.

Wayne, try adding a vibration damper to the straps. Something like an
old tenis ball with a slit on two sides. Run the webbing strap through
that. Or, more accurately, those...probably two per strap, one for each
side of the boat where the straps aren't touching anything and can
thrum at hughway speeds.

Even a chunk of ethafoam would probably work, just something to dampen
the straps ability to vibrate.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Wayne Harrison wrote:

i have tried "twirling" the straps, using various tensions on the tie

downs--and nothing works. above 40 mph, this ceaseless, loud droning
noise
permeates the car's interior.

surely there is some simple solution.

Wayne, try adding a vibration damper to the straps. Something like an
old tenis ball with a slit on two sides. Run the webbing strap through
that. Or, more accurately, those...probably two per strap, one for each
side of the boat where the straps aren't touching anything and can
thrum at hughway speeds.

Even a chunk of ethafoam would probably work, just something to dampen
the straps ability to vibrate.

folks, i really appreciate your responses. i will try all and sundry,
and report back.

wayne harrison

Wayne Harrison wrote:
[some stuff about cartop carring a canoe being too loud]

Get a better car audio system! :-)

John Kuthe...

folks, i really appreciate your responses. i will try all and
sundry,
and report back.

wayne harrison

Skip all sundry and use ropes. I use straps and ignore the noise most
of the time but the flad straps give a reid effect. Remember getting a
piece of grass puting it between your thumbs and blowing to make a
shreaking inhuman racket. That is what God is doing on the lid of your
Jeep.
Just get a nice round cheap rope and learn to tie a truckers hitch if
you don't have that one down yet. You will be happy.
I am not trying to be sarcastic, Hell yes I am .
Ropes are the sollution and they also have untold other uses.
Have fun
Alex.

in article ,
at wrote on 4/18/05
10:44 PM:

folks, i really appreciate your responses. i will try all and
sundry,
and report back.

wayne harrison

Skip all sundry and use ropes. I use straps and ignore the noise most
of the time but the flad straps give a reid effect. Remember getting a
piece of grass puting it between your thumbs and blowing to make a
shreaking inhuman racket. That is what God is doing on the lid of your
Jeep.
Just get a nice round cheap rope and learn to tie a truckers hitch if
you don't have that one down yet. You will be happy.
I am not trying to be sarcastic, Hell yes I am .
Ropes are the sollution and they also have untold other uses.
Have fun
Alex.

Agree wholeheartedly. And you can get ropes with ratchet systems that work
just as nicely as straps.