Best Place for Kayak - Fuel Economy

[sean882]

Hi, I'm just finishing up a rebuild of a small teardrop (~5 feet tall, 8 feet long, 4 feet wide) that I'll be pulling behind a Silverado 1500. Obviously fuel economy is never great. I'm looking at a cross-country drive with a 17' kayak, and am trying to figure out the best place to put it. Options, as I see it, are...

- On ladder racks above the truck
- Sticking out of the bed at an angle (tailgate up)
- On top of the teardrop (I did include provisions for mounting a roof rack to the trailer)

If I keep the drag low enough, the engine will run in 4-cylinder mode and get even better fuel economy, but I suspect that's probably out of the question.

Does anyone have experience regarding the relative fuel economy impacts of the different options?

[lfhoward]

I think the best method would be to secure it to a rack on top of the truck or trailer. A 17 foot kayak sticking out of the truck bed at an angle just seems like it wouldn’t be secured easily and I wouldn’t want it to incur any damage on the trip. As for which would be better, fastening to the roof of the truck or trailer, I would go with whichever is lower profile. If the trailer is taller than the truck, put it on the truck and vice versa. That would minimize the air drag and fuel usage.

[wannabefree]

If all you are concerned about is fuel economy, I suggest you keep it in the garage . Sorry, I couldn't resist. I don't think it would make a measurable difference, but you could do a test run if you think otherwise. If one option is significantly better it should show up pretty quickly. What you are looking for is an aeronautical engineer. One of those guys will know for sure.

[Pmullen503]

I've hauled canoes and kayaks on both the minivan and the TD. I got better mileage with the boats on the minivan than on the TD. But a pick up without a topper might be different. You might need to do a test, a couple hundred miles on the truck and a couple hundred miles on the TD. The difference might be obvious with a much shorter test.

[sean882]

Thanks all, sounds like I'll do some tests. Regardless, rest assured that it will be secured very well - always redundant straps to redundant tie-down points.

[GTS225]

Just by my "eyeball engineering", you need to strap it to a rack on the pickup, upside down. If you already have a rack up there, it's disturbing the airflow over the top anyway. The bottom of the 'yak is much more aerodynamic than the top, and the airflow is already disturbed next to the truck roof, so you can only make it a bit better with the 'yak bottoms-up.
With the length of the 'yak at 17', and the camper only 8', that's a terrible mismatch. I would try to match the bow of the 'yak with the leading edge of the truck roof for best over-the-top airflow, not that it's that great to begin with, on a pickup.

Good luck.....Roger

[Ottsville]

I'd put money on the best option fuel economy wise being having the kayak on the trailer rack with the bulk of it sticking forward over the bed but as low as possible to keep it near the top edge of the cab, but that presents several issues for driving/towing.

Interested to hear what your tests show. But hey, gas is cheap right now.

[swoody126]

once the kayak is factored in the difference in drag is not likely to keep you from having a meal off the Dollar Menu at the infamous Golden Arch Club

¿ if you mount the kayak on the trailer how will you take it back n forth to the "creek" if not camped directly on the water's edge ?

if it is mounted on the truck you can set a base camp and go to and from the "creek" at will

bite the bullet and throw in the cost of a couple McDoubles in the fuel allowance and GO CAMPING!

ALL PERSONAL OPINION

sw

[kmack67.km]

Hi,

I have hauled many canoes, kayaks, hang-gliders and wind surfers in my time and I don't have any data to prove any of this, but you can kind of feel how it works in the gas pedal.

My first thought is how to reduce the profile drag, i.e minimize the area of the whole rig when looking at it from the front. For this, I would put the boat upside down on the lower of your truck or trailer as others have mentioned, but weigh that with other factors like the length of the boat vs the trailer.

My second thought is how to slip the wind gracefully over the front of the whole rig. To that end, when I have a boat (or 2 or 3) on my truck, I try to slide them as far back as feasible to avoid trapping wind between the hood and the boat, like a parachute (A rear bumper mounted canoe-leg or equivalent really helps if you dont have a topper). Also, if the bow of your boat is taller than the stern, consider mounting it upside down and stern forward.

My third thought is how to fill in the gap between the back of the truck cab or topper and the front of the trailer. Sliding the boat on the truck back, and boats on the trailer forward helps with this, but make sure to leave at least a foot or so between them in-case you need to drive through a ditch or over a speed hump or similar.

All of the above assumes you can strap them on safely in any of those positions. You should also check local road rules to see how far over the end of your vehicle your boats can extend, and add a reflective flag to the ends that do extend past your bumper. Also, if you do strap it to your trailer, tread carefully in cross-winds until you get used to it. The extra sail area up high on the trailer can really pull you around.

I hope this helps,
Kevin

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[rowerwet]

More than one person has found better MPG while towing, with the kayak on the TV roof.

[Shadow Catcher]

Our experience is that there is effectively no difference in MPG with the canoe on or off and it is 18' 4"

[MickinOz]

A canoe is designed to have low hydrodynamic drag.
It should also have low aerodynamic drag so long as the angle of attack is OK.
Referencing Shadowcatcher's picture, as long as any air that comes up the windscreen and enters the body of the canoe can travel through and come out the canoe behind the car, all should be good.

I've noticed in the few fuel economy posts I've read that few speak of the most obvious solution.
Slow down.
Dropping from 110 kph (speed limit on a lot of highways here) to 100 (68mph to 62 mph) makes a significant difference to fuel consumption on my truck.

[PCO6]

I carry our kayaks on the trailer. I built a rack with a view to keeping them as tight as possible to the roof and lid of the trailer. I've towed with and without the kayaks and there's no significant difference in the gas mileage. I could be wrong but I think the mileage would be worse if they were on top of my vehicle.

One down side to doing it this way is that when you are camping you are limited to kayaking close to your site. I'm currently building "short distance" racks for my tow vehicles (I tow a Jeep Wrangler too) which will allow us to load the kayaks on the vehicle(s) and take off for the day to kayak at another spot. Packing up the trailer for a day trip is NOT something we want to do.

20-07-06 6b.JPG (237.68 KiB) Viewed 1405 times

[Ottsville]

I've noticed in the few fuel economy posts I've read that few speak of the most obvious solution.
Slow down.
Dropping from 110 kph (speed limit on a lot of highways here) to 100 (68mph to 62 mph) makes a significant difference to fuel consumption on my truck.

Yes! Wind resistance has an exponential effect as speed increases that gets overlooked. Another thing that many people overlook relating to speed is that many states here in the US have(sometimes significantly) lower max speed limits when you are towing.

[Woodstramp]

I've been an avid kayak fisherman for 7 years. Hauling them, especially big ones can be problematic. I trailered them for the first few years. That can cause other issues, like parking, at restaurants and lodging places.

My best solution was building a custom "ladder" rack that could handle two large fishing kayaks, side by side. Most stock racks were not wide enough. If you have a single craft, then stock ladder racks would seem a good solution, just as long as the stern end does not hit your camper.