Car-topping

[Oldsparkey]

DON'T PANIC...... Take a deep breath and RELAX.

YEP........... We all have had your problem and even came up with some good answers......... Here is just one of them.

All of them will work in Kym's truck. Plus they are easy to make and don't cost a lot. They can even be used for the storage of your canoe when it is not out on the water....... DOUBLE DUTY.

http://www.neilbank.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=263 On southernpaddler.

By the way if you click on the search item at the top of the page on the http://www.southernpaddler.com/ forum for will find a lot more , just enter ........RACKS. We have a lot of good information in there ... if you can find it.

Some more of the same........ From Andrew. From PVC Pipe and not wood , like the above one.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/110 ... 3850pvvPKz
http://community.webshots.com/photo/110 ... 4023uTdUHh

In case you decide to make to many boats and have no idea where to put them.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/110 ... 4317HuofNU
http://community.webshots.com/photo/110 ... 4482MCIRvZ

Chuck.

[jem]

oh oh oh...I thought you meant you didn't have something to anchor from the car.

Didn't realize you meant the canoe.

[jcubero]

Good stuff, Chuck. I should have thought about searching your forum!

Matt - I probably didn't explain myself well. That's important too, though. I was under my car today looking for good anchor points. I've got a plastic bumper, so I can't tie down to that! There's a couple goos pots in the front, but the back is going to be tricky. I'll make something work.
Longer term, I think that PVC rack is perfect, and I can store my canoe on it when it's not in the water. Awesome idea.

[gpratt]

Javier

If you make the PVC rack it wouldn't hurt to put some wooden dowel rods in the horiz. pipes. Square stock cut to fit th ID of the pipe may be better.

Unless you use the bigger sizes of pipe they may sag in the heat with weight on them. I've ran into this problem when making PCV racks to hold up boat covers.

[Kayak Jack]

Javier,

Yes, both Thule & Yakima are expensive. And, my boats stay on my van.

To get tie down points on the front and rear of my van, I had to crawl under with four, 18" pieces of parachute line (1/8" hard-braid nylon line), and tie them onto something solid (left and right, fore and aft). Don't let them hang down so far they catch on something you drive over.

Then, I can run my bow & stern lines down the front/ rear of the van and run it through a ready made loop under the car. Turn it back up towards the boat & do a taught line hitch, and some clove hitches.

[dangermouse01]

Javier,
I have seen a way to make your own tie down point at the front of a vehicle. Get a peice of nylon strap, a bolt, two fender washers and a nut. Then open the hood (the bonnet for Mick ) of your vehicle, fold the strap over so it forms a loop. Locate it somewhere on the fire wall, dont make the loop to long, long enough that it is accessible with the hood closed, but not to long that it flops around and gets caught in a belt, or lays on the hot engine or exhaust. Drill a hole in the fire wall and thru the ends of the straps, attach with the bolt, fender washers and nut.
Then when you need it, open the hood, flip it up and close the hood with it on the outside, and you have an attachment point, when done, open the hood flip it back inside and close the hood and nobody knows its there.

Of course the bow and stern tie downs shouldn't be your primary way of securing your boat, just insurance to prevent your boat from taking off if you have a strap failure.

DM