View topic - Tying a canoe

I have a similar issue with my solo boat on my car. The solution for the denting of the roof is slide the foam blocks to the frame sections. So just above the windshield is strong, also right at the back near the back window is strong. If you dent those spots your pulling too much.

Problem is that the roof is curved, meaning the canoe will start contacting the roof in the middle because the foam blocks are at a lower point. Maybe pool noodles or bigger foam blocks would help with that, but I'm not so sure.

Thanks for all the reviews also.

I've got friends who carry a canoe on the roof of a VW Beetle. They use roof racks.. Curvy roof to the max.

I know what you mean, I have one car with more of a curved roof and it just touched in the middle. To fix that I use a set of larger foam pads in the rear. If it still isn't high enough use larger foam blocks for front and back. Sold everywhere that would sell such things.

Maybe buy a WW canoe with rocker enough to match your roofline? OK, not helpful.

If you have a trailer hitch, you could add a T-bar to support the "stern" while the foam blocks support the "bow" as far forward as possible on the roof where it is strongest.

Something like this ...
https://www.amazon.ca/Reese-Towpower-7018100-Canoe-Loader/dp/B0024FOTOW

Before I became a rack person, I had the same problem with foam blocks and the canoe yoke touching the car roof. So, I bought 8 blocks and trimmed and glued them together to make four extra tall blocks. Used contact cement. Placing them near the edges of the roof stopped the roof from crumpling. Still have those blocks.

just an idea --- what do you guys think if i go out and get some metal bars, and pass them through the canoe blocks. Canoe can then sit on the metal bars, and the blocks can sit farther out on the stiffer part of the roof. Thoughts??

I also like the idea of taller foam blocks. I might try out these 2 ideas before buying the rack

Cheers

Taller foam blocks may be hard to come by.. I don't know.. What has happened some times is that the bar goes right through the foam causing it to split eventually

I would pass on that dubious investment and do as Pinecones did.

I am starting to find this Thread frustrating, to say the least. There's always the "Bill Mason" route - buy a beater car just for canoe trips.

Seriously, how about giving some thought to all those people on the highways with you?? What happens to them when your Rube Goldberg devices fail, and a canoe goes through their windshield at 110 kph ??? And, what happens to you for that matter?? Failure to secure a load, public liability and property damage, lawsuits, soaring insurance... long list....

It's a few hundred dollars. Probably less than your insurance deductible. Please do the right thing.

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In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

see the other thread about the Thule Box. I was glad that I was in traffic going slow and that thing when it got loose would not kill us.

at speed I'd have been nowhere near it..

I happen to have a shot of my glued together blocks...

I used contact cement, then covered the seams with duct tape. They are still together after many uses. You can see that adding just a couple inches of height is all that I needed to get the canoe to clear the rooftop.

Good luck!

I don't know littleredcanoe, but I'm one of those people who drives around with canoes on a VW Beetle. Here's a photo from my graveyard lunch site in Kapuskasing on the way north of Longlac a couple weeks ago with my solo boat. I also sometimes carry a tandem that's 17 feet long- about a foot longer than the boat on the car in this photo.

Roof racks can often be purchased used on Kijiji or elsewhere if you watch. I just got this (new) set last month for $100.00. My older identical set was rusting away after 10 years on the car.

Once you get the gear sorted out, can you tie a Trucker's Hitch?

It's the knot you need to get things tight. (Many tutorials on the net.)

Ok, so post some pix showing folks how it's done!

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Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Seriously?? Thousands of how-to's all over Youtube, pretty much any canoe site anywhere, Rack sites, whatever... and we need one more photo?? Not.

_________________
In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain