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RE: Canoe by car

KevWhit — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:33:50 GMT

Thanks for all of the information, and yea I will probably only be traveling 5-10 miles max at around 55 or so. Thanks for the info again and I will have to make the trip to a yak store to look at the canoes of course and get thier advice.

RE: Canoe by car

krash — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:01:41 GMT

I used to carry a 16' canoe on top of an '91 Honda Accord, and now carry a 15'4" kayak on top of my '01 Honda 2dr Civic. The lady at Mingo entrance toll-booth always laughs because the yak is as big as the car, my buddies laugh and ask how do you see out.

The canoe sat on foam gunwale blocks, BPS/BoatersWorld/WestMarine/WallMart. Make sure you secure it with a line in the front and back. The foam blocks will slip and in a heavy crosswind the canoe did once slip over the side. Make sure you secure it over the center somehow.

The kayak I use a soft surfboard rack, webbed straps that go through the car with foam on the top the kayak sits on. Open the doors run the straps through tighten, and close the doors. The surfboard rack is made for 2 boards and the strap for the boards fits nicely over the center of the yak. Works great execpt in a heavy rain the webbing wicks water into my lap. A line in the front to the convienent shipping tie down loops down-under the bumber and one in the back also. I travel at 70+ with no problem. I have a friend that got a couple webbed straps made that attach to two bolts inside the hood area, she opens the hood flips out the straps, closes the hood, and attach's a line to the front of her canoe through loops in the strap, pretty slick idea, when not transporting the canoe open the hood and flip them back inside out of the breeze.

The person with the straps inside the hood has a Matrix and carries 2 14' canoes on the roof top. She has Yakima racks on the roof, a strap over the canoes in the middle, the line in the front and another in the back. Another buddy has a Scion xB, Yakima racks, strap over the center and additional lines front back.

RE: Canoe by car

CooKnFish — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:11:25 GMT

Start with figuring out how big of a canoe you need. 14-16 ft is about average.
I have seen racks mounted on top of small cars but that can run near $400. You can use a soft rack for surf boards for padding or foam blocks they sell for transporting canoes. The boat rests on the roof upside down. You will want to run straps over the canoe as far forward and back as you can. Assuming it is a 4-door, you can run 1 strap through the front doors and 1 through the back doors. Because it is such a short roof, you will also want to run tiedowns from the front and back of the boat to the bumpers.

Your absolute best bet is to visit a local canoe shop and talk to them about your options. They can show you tried and true ways to secure your boat to the roof. nothing sucks more than having your float come lose while driving down the road. If it doesn't wreck your ride, you [b]are[/b] responsible if it wrecks someone else's'.

Canoe by car

KevWhit — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:02:02 GMT

I have a Toyota Corrolla 2003 and I wanted to get into canoe fishing. I was wondering what is the biggest canoe I could put on top of that if at all and how would I go about tieing it down to the car. Thanks for any information you might have?