Roof Racks

[Dixie Viking]

My 2008 Forester came with installed roof racks and a warning about
them giving me the impression that they are of little value UNLESS I
buy and install another roof rack apparatus that will attach to the
one already there? Is that right? All I wanted to do was to haul my
canoe about.

 

[Todd H.]

My 2008 Forester came with installed roof racks and a warning about
them giving me the impression that they are of little value UNLESS I
buy and install another roof rack apparatus that will attach to the
one already there? Is that right? All I wanted to do was to haul my
canoe about.

You need a canoe rack. Having the roof racks makes that
cheaper/easier to build up than otherwise. Look into the mighty mites
(?) clamps and then the associated canoe mount from Yakima.

It's kinda confusing to figure out all the stuff you need, but not
that hard. For me and my roof bike rack, I needed 4 mighty mounts
for the Subaru (car specific) to provide mounting points on the cross
bars, then the bike rack screwed to those.

I suspect the canoe mount is quite similar. Check out Yakima's web
site, tell em what car you have and what you wanna carry, and select
the mighty mount option for attachment, and off ya go.

 

[Dano58]

My 2008 Forester came with installed roof racks and a warning about
them giving me the impression that they are of little value UNLESS I
buy and install another roof rack apparatus that will attach to the
one already there?  Is that right?  All I wanted to do was to haul my
canoe about.

Can't you simply put it upside down on the crossbars and tie/bungee it
in place?

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[Richard]

That's what I do with my kayak.

My 2008 Forester came with installed roof racks and a warning about
them giving me the impression that they are of little value UNLESS I
buy and install another roof rack apparatus that will attach to the
one already there? Is that right? All I wanted to do was to haul my
canoe about.

Can't you simply put it upside down on the crossbars and tie/bungee it
in place?

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[mred]

That's what I do with my kayak.

"Dano58" <(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message

Can't you simply put it upside down on the crossbars and tie/bungee it
in place?

This works fine for short trips. I bought Yakima fittings when we
driving 700-800 miles or more. They're more secure at highway speeds.

 

[Bob Noble]

You can easily use the racks you have if you do a thing.
I use pipe insulation on the cross bars with tie wraps.
The main thing is the racks are mounted not sturdy enough to depend on them
to hold the canoe. What you need to do is put a bow line to the tie down
hook under the car in the front and the
ba-------------------------------------------------------------------, oops
cat problems, anyway, and the back. With the front and the back tied down
and ropes or straps across the racks you can take it anywhere. I put three
kayaks on mine at times.
Don't depend on bungees. You can use them, but back them up with rope or
straps. I find rope the best, but I was a good scout and can tie knots. You
need to learn a couple simple knots for the ropes. The most important is a
truckers hitch or what I call an oakie truckers hitch which is easier to tie
in my opinion. The truckers hitch allows to to tighten down the rope in a
controlled way.You must learn this or it's variant. That's why some people
use straps.

 

[nobody >]

You can easily use the racks you have if you do a thing.
I use pipe insulation on the cross bars with tie wraps.
The main thing is the racks are mounted not sturdy enough to depend on
them to hold the canoe. What you need to do is put a bow line to the tie
down hook under the car in the front and the
ba-------------------------------------------------------------------,
oops cat problems, anyway, and the back. With the front and the back
tied down and ropes or straps across the racks you can take it anywhere.
I put three kayaks on mine at times.
Don't depend on bungees. You can use them, but back them up with rope or
straps. I find rope the best, but I was a good scout and can tie knots.
You need to learn a couple simple knots for the ropes. The most
important is a truckers hitch or what I call an oakie truckers hitch
which is easier to tie in my opinion. The truckers hitch allows to to
tighten down the rope in a controlled way.You must learn this or it's
variant. That's why some people use straps.

For a good tutorial on a truckers hitch:

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/14327_knot-trucker.htm

I've been using it for years without knowing it had a name.

It wasn't a kayak, just a bright yellow 25' canoe I hauled on top of a
'70 Duster back in the early 70's. No roof rack, just a packing blanket
folded thick and rope to the bumpers using that knot. I made one rope
run from the front bumper to the back end of the canoe to keep it from
sliding back as it overhung the front by a couple of feet.

As there was no daytime speed limit and gas was cheap, I'd drive it in
excess of 100 mph at times for over 300 miles (spend the time on the
water, not driving was the name of the game). No problems keeping the
combo together, but I did get some real funny looks from people I passed.

 

[Bob Noble]

You make an excellent point.
One doesn't really need all this fancy expensive stuff to carry a canoe or
kayak.
One does need a little common sense to tie it down properly though and I
suspect that's a lot of the reason a lot of people have to get some of this
real fancy rack stuff. And watching people try to secure their boots on the
car at the boot ramp indicates to me, maybe it's a good thing these things
are available.

 

[Bob Noble]

Sorry about the boot instead of boat.
I do too much computering. :O)

 

[Bob Noble]

One doesn't really need to learn the truckers hitch.
You really only have to do the loop part.

Here's how it works.
Run the end of the rope though your tie down point after securing the other
end first to a tie down point.

Now reach up above the tie down point of the rope and tie some kind of loop
in the rope, high enough above the tie down point to allow the rope to cinch
up.
I like a single loop slip type so it comes undone easily. But anything will
do.
Now run the end of the rope though the loop and pull the end of the rope to
tighten your load. Tie off the end of the rope anyway you want so your rope
stays snug.
This is the secret to tying things down as you can cinch your load down. If
you just tie a rope off without cinching it down, you can't snug your load
and things can come apart.
Boat's need to be snug, but not overly tight or you may warp them.