Bad Start, Near Disaster

[mary and bob]

Last sunday we hit the road for a 200 mile trip to the Adirondaks of NY to try out our "new" Uhaul camper. Towing with a Honda CRV with two 12 foot kayaks on a Thule roof rack. About 15 miles out, just after we got on I90 the bolts that hold the Thule load bars to the foot pads broke and at 60 MPH off went both kayaks still bungeed to the rack. Quick pulled over, ran back, and got them out of the driving lane before any traffic came along. Removed the kayaks from the rack, secured them to the car factory rack and got off at the next exit. Left the trailer and kayaks in a police station parking lot, went back home, put on some Thule "J" style racks I had, back to the trailer, loaded the kayaks, hooked up the trailer and continued our trip. Kayaks got a few scrapes, but otherwise no damage to car or camper. Probably the mistake I made was that I bungeed the kayaks only to the Thule rack, if I had hooked the bungees to the car rack this wouldn't have happened. We have used this rack several times before with no problems, and can watch the kayaks thru the sunroof and have never seen any indication that they were affected by the wind. We're still joking about how lucky we were that there was no traffic near us at the time. Now I have to re-engineer the rack to be stronger.

[CliffinGA]

WOW ya'll we're lucky thankfully!! I've had nightmares about my yaks coming off the tryck with one close call but never when they actually came off. Hopefukky will be a simple fix for you.

Cliff & Sheri

[mary and bob]

Cliff: Somehow we seem to occassionally have just dumb luck, as in finding our teardrop, then the Uhaul, and now avoiding a disaster. You should see how I tied down the kayaks after that episode. Not only bungees to the car rack, but also three of the thule straps. I like the rack that broke as it is the cross bars with the saddles where the kayaks set upright [like when in the water]. The bolts that attach the bars to the piece that clamps onto the car rack are like a 1/4" bolt, only metric, and that seems to be the weak point. I will admit we do a lot of pushing & shoving putting the kayaks on the rack, so may have stressed those bolts too much. I don't really like the J style racks, but got them in trade for making a rear hitch on a popup for a bike rack, and they did save the day! Now I know why I've seen kayaks tied down with straps through the car windows. Bob

[Craig McCormick]

We have always tied our boats to the vehicle as well as the rack in anticipation of an event like this. Not just to the vehicle rack either.

AZCRAIG

[kirkman]

Glad no one got hurt!

[Shadow Catcher]

Our situation is a bit different as we are hauling canoes. I always use ropes, two from the bow and two from the stern to tie the canoe(s) to the car. This is on top of ropes tying the canoes to the rack using a truckers hitch. I never trust bungee cords as I have seen far too many of them fail and I replace the nylon rope every couple of years.

[Wolfscout]

I haul a 15'6" canoe on top of the car occasionally. I like nylon cargo straps with hooks... front and rear. Recently I upgraded somewhat to those nylon ratchet straps. It is a 1986 Gheenoe Canoe fiberglass and it's very heavy.
Too Heavy for us to pick up and put on top of the camper even though it has a rack that the previous owner carried kayaks on.
Happily I've never had it fly off. Being fiberglass would mean it would probably be road trash to have to clean up. What a mess that'd be.

[Dale M.]

Bungee cords are very iffie at best...... Would not use them to hold any serious loads...

Nylon strap with with hooks and ratchet binder are best way to go....



Also consider the aerodynamic of kayak and air floe over front of car, could have been lots of uplift there and really stresses bungee and bolting materials....

Dale

[Dale M.]

Cliff: Somehow we seem to occassionally have just dumb luck, as in finding our teardrop, then the Uhaul, and now avoiding a disaster. You should see how I tied down the kayaks after that episode. Not only bungees to the car rack, but also three of the thule straps. I like the rack that broke as it is the cross bars with the saddles where the kayaks set upright [like when in the water]. The bolts that attach the bars to the piece that clamps onto the car rack are like a 1/4" bolt, only metric, and that seems to be the weak point. I will admit we do a lot of pushing & shoving putting the kayaks on the rack, so may have stressed those bolts too much. I don't really like the J style racks, but got them in trade for making a rear hitch on a popup for a bike rack, and they did save the day! Now I know why I've seen kayaks tied down with straps through the car windows. Bob

Did you sent this situation to THULE as information or for advice?

Dale

[mary and bob]

Dale: I'm not going to bother with contacting thule, don't think it will do any good. I have to take at least some of the blame for the incident, kayaks not secured to the car rack, and I probably over time stressed the thule bolts. However I never really liked their method of attaching the load bars to the foot pads. It was definately a learning experience for us, and we hope it can be taken as a "don't let this happen to you" for others. We were very fortunate that at that moment there was nobody near us, no damages, and no injuries. A little farther into the trip the traffic became quite heavy due to the horse races at Saratoga. One of those things we can look back at and laugh a little, but still think how bad it could have been. Bob

[stumphugger]

I have used Yakima racks for over ten years. I have Hully Rollers in the back and Mako saddles on the front. The Makos have nylon straps that are held on by a notch and fit end thing, and the Hully Rollers use a single nylon strap.

The Hully Rollers will slide forward. You won't lose your boat because this usually happens during the tightening up of the strap. I have to kind of hit the right tension. Too much and my boat dents, too little and well, it will fall off.

I hauled a 17 foot kayak from Wisconsin to here on top of my Subaru. The only problem was when a strap developed a tear. I caught it in time. From North Dakota on through Montana, the winds were pretty nasty. I added a strap, and added some parachute cord to the front and back of the boat.

My kayak is thin plastic and got a bit droopy in the hot temps. But it popped right back into shape.

[JuneBug]

All whitewater boating supply places have cam buckle straps for just this purpose.
Northwest River Supply (for example) has a good selection. You can get them in many different lengths or order the strapping and buckles separately and make your own.

You just thread the strap through the buckle and pull; it holds. To release, just press on the buckle; it releases and never binds.

Once you have them, they are handy for all sorts of things and I've never had a buckle or strap fail either on the car or on the river.

[campmaster-k]

I only use ratchet straps for boats or anything really that I dont want to get airborn. Never had a problem.

[Larry C]

Probably the mistake I made was that I bungeed the kayaks only to the Thule rack, if I had hooked the bungees to the car rack this wouldn't have happened.

I think I see a major flaw in your method of carrying paddle craft. I have carried canoes and kayaks thousands of miles. I would NEVER trust any roof rack as the only attachment point for paddle craft. The lift applied to your boats while traveling down the road at 65 MPH is in tons!!
I have always used bow and stern ropes tied to the bumpers or frame. This is done in a triangle from the bow/stern to left/right bumper or frame locations.
I have heard of factory roof rack being lifted off vehicles while carrying boats. They simple shear off the small screws that attach the factory rack to the roof, taking boats and rack back to whoever is following!
Bow and stern lines to frame or bumper will help prevent this from happening.

$.02

Larry C

[mary and bob]

Our son in Maine sent a news item from WMTW in Portland. This past saturday a 68 year old woman on the maine turnpike lost two kayaks off the roof of her car causing a multiple car crash. Reminds us of how lucky we were that there was no traffic near us when ours came off.