Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Not much of any update as I have barely touched the CT since the return of my trip almost a month ago. I am now getting prepared for a week long trip at the end of this month and would like to take the canoe along.

Is anyone carrying a canoe on the roof of their CT?

I have a 12' 6" canoe that I would like to take on this upcoming trip. After pricing out various roof rack systems and or a bed mounted system for my Dodge RAM TV, I am still in deep sticker shock, especially just after purchasing 4 new TV tires. 17" LT rated tires are not cheap...

My CT does not have roof racks but I have been thinking of crafting a simple, 2 cross bar system that can then be screwed/bolted to the side of the trailer where the trim is already screwed on as I really don't want to bolt through the roof. Behind this trim is the square steel tubing which runs the length of the CT on each side and would provide plenty of material strength.

The front of the canoe can be tied down onto the CT hitch. The back of the canoe can be tied down to the back door cam lock bar. The canoe can also tied up top to the cross bars. I am not too worried about weight as the canoe is only 33 lbs. Also on this particular trip, I am not too worried about the extra height in terms of clearance or extra bit of fuel economy loss.

Any ideas or advice is appreciated.

Here is photo of the top side trim. Not the best but should be good enough to get the idea across.

Could easily construct your own "ladder rack" system. All they are are 1" square tubing uprights and cross members with a gusset welded in the corners, and a piece of flat welded to the lower end. At the shop we screw the flat stock to the trim just as you pictured. For ladders because of the weight we put a rack every 4 feet. Nothing gets bolted or screwed through the top of the roof. Good luck.

Jake

My cargo trailer has a rack on the back half.
The dealer set it up for a contractor and then the contractor decided not to buy it. My CT is a 7x14 Wells Cargo Road Force.
It has a single bolt that goes from the inside to each of the 4 points the rack attaches to, which is a small 4 inch long c-channel piece of metal.
Each of these 4 c-channel pieces has 3 nuts welded to it. The bolt on the inside goes through the frame and into the center nut. They are mount over a vertical stud for the added support.
On the outside it has another c-channel piece that the rack it welded to with a bolt on each side of that that screws into the other c-channel piece bolted from the inside.
The rack itself is two upright pieces of 1" square tube for each side with a 1" square tube that is welded between them. It has held ladders and other building matter too long to fit in the trailer.
I will try and take picture this weekend for a visual.

I have carried two canoes strapped down to the top of my CTC's cargo rack. The rack came from the factory far as I know as I bought the trailer used.
It is bolted to the steel wall frame and the cross piece is welded on both ends. The cross piece is round 1" tube. uprights are 1" square tubes.

One canoe weighs 67lbs.. the other weighs in at 89lbs. both are about 14'9" on a 12 foot roof.
When I'm just carrying one.. I usually strap it to the top of my explorer using it's rack and two ratchet straps.

I would love to see pics, if anyone has some

I made a homemade roof rack which worked very well. Used to carry pole vault poles. Two containers with 10 to 12 poles in each so the weight was more that a canoe. I'm going to try to post a picture but in the past I've not had much luck get pics on here.

Howdy All;

I made a move from Southern Md. to Southeast Ohio long ago,
used a U-Haul and needed to carry my 14' jon boat. Wrapped
two 2X4 's with some scrap rug inserted some eye-bolts and used
some ratchet straps hooked to the fenders. Some rope to sung
the boat in place, bow painter to the tongue, stern line to the
door latch. Worked find.

hank

Sorry no pics, but I hauled my 14' canoe on top of my teardrop with foam blocks on the gunwales (car top carrier kit by yakima) ratchet straps across the top in 2 places attached to frame and one strap at bow and stern. Piece of cake and stayed put at 80 mph

I've been thinking on welding some of that material like what they floor open trailers with just to have a place to strap down items on the roof.
I'm thinking if I weld up and bolt on a middle carrier... I don't see why I can't do that then weld the floor metal on. Maybe even a metal ladder from the front tongue to get up easier.
Might make a nice place to sit too like they do on the toy models I've seen at races. suntan even at the campsite.

Or nothing permanent. I have used foam block canoe racks in the past http://www.amazon.com/Malone-Standard-B ... B000SXN90C

It has been awhile since I have posted to this forum and surprised to see this thread on the front page still..

Since my initial posting, I have sold my canoe and now looking for a 12' aluminum boat for fishing. Anyone have any experience in building a CT roof rack to carry this type of boat. I was thinking of building my own and using an electric winch setup to pull the boat up onto the roof rack.

Any ideas?

Years ago we had a boat that we put on a rack above a pickup cab and bed. The back bar of the rack we made out of pipe and then put a slightly larger piece of pipe over it to act as a roller. In the front we had a post with a pulley on it. We were younger and stronger then, but it wasn't too bad to push and pull up there. A winch would definitely be better, but that roller bar on the back sure helped.

I drew this up for a heavy canoe, never got around to making it as I sold the canoe and built lighter kayaks instead.
http://www.instructables.com/id/the-boa ... -any-boat/
If the width of the boat is an issue making it over the corner onto the roof, make the ladder legs arched instead of straight.

The Turtle Expedition carried a 15' aluminum boat on top of a custom truck camper for a while years ago. Pictures here http://turtleexpedition.com/vehicles/the-turtle-ii/ About halfway down the page you can see their loading set up with a brand name. Not sure if it's still available but you may be able to copy it. I hope this helps.