Magicpaddler wrote on Jan 7^th, 2013 at 10:42pm:


MP,

For years I had toted my canoe around on a van using the standard dealer roof racks.  No problems.  Since I put about 4000 miles annually carrying a canoe, I decided to purchase the Yakima Q towers, bars, strap kit, and the wind fairing (?) at Copia 3 years ago for my Toyota Corolla.  Total cost was about $400 with the discount.  They were kind of a pain to get them set up correctly, but once that was done, it's very easy to put on and take off.   Compared to how I hauled the canoes in earlier times and worried about things while on the highway, I am very happy with how the Yakima racks have performed to date.

If you already have a "rear" rack as you mentioned in your first post, you could just buy 2 Q towers and a bar to put near the windshield.

What I presently have is a pair of Surco R6200 rails with my own risers and cross rails.

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These are straight and need to be bent to fit the roof. My roof is curved in two directions making it difficult to keep them parallel.  Once on these have worked so well I am spoiled. 
MP
I agree with you about ropes.  Ropes are the best and ratchet binders are the absolute worst. 

"It would be nice to have a system that worked well, had a cross bar near the windshield, and I did not need to start drilling the roof of my newly acquired car."

you could go "hybrid" and use the factory roof rack for the back and purt a Yakima rack up front wherever you want it - Q towers and Q-clips don't require any drilling and the clips are customized for a particular vehicle, so you could check availability before buying the car.  That's what I use on the cab roof of my dodge dakota - the clips are mostly held in place by the closed doors - unless you drive down the highway with your doors open, they will be solid - you'd need a cross bar also, of course.  That would be much better than foam blocks, though I have used them and if you put some sticky shelf liner under the block, they don't move around - but its a lot more fuss to tie the boat to the roof using blocks vs a rack.

I notice that a lot of cars nowadays have a very curved roof line - putting a cross bar way up front too far may not work if the roof slopes down too much - might not be enough clearance to keep the boat off the roof ?

one other point - many factory roof racks are more for looks than function and aren't at all strong - double check with the manufacturer to be sure they are strong and functional.  I have seen reports of factory roof racks flying off of cars and have seen one personally being very loose as the bolts worked loose on a Honda CRV - you could lift the front left corner up an inch or so before it got repaired.  Bow and stern tiedowns help hold any rack to the roof.

MP
These work great, at least from my perspective.......I have had 3 boats on them.......2 day travel times for many years, never had an issue. Easy on and off.

Of course I have ropes from bow to front of vehicle as well as rear and just for good measure one around the middle. Ropes are best IMO.....no damage to vehicle or to canoes.......straps are for people who don't know how to use ropes (don't get mad at me, it's an old saying  ).

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BTW......look around, this price seems a bit high to me......

I have some foam blocks and they are OK for short trips but would not rely on them cross country.  I had to duct tape the pads to the canoe because the canoe teneded to slide back and forth within the pads.  And the lateral support was not great.

I do use one pair now with my pickup.  I have a T support that fits into my trailer hitch and I use the pads for the bow.  With the T I get the secure attachment point so the less concrete attachment of the pads is not a concern.

Magicpaddler wrote on Jan 5^th, 2013 at 12:56pm:
I find myself looking at the roofs/rails of SUVs and crossovers while driving around. It looks like the rails on a lot of new cars are shorter and to the rear of the roof. I had a '97 volvo wagon (now my daughters') that has great rails. An FJ Cruiser would fit you nicely.... Curious what you come up with for a solution MP.

You could bypass the idea of a roof rack altogether and use something like this:
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The non-slip foam pads sit directly on your car roof, and the tie-down straps should provide all the lateral stability you need.

Azalea
My present car has 2 rails I bought and bent to fit my roof that a t nut fits in.  I have a way to fasten 1X6 boards across when I need them.  They work great take 5 minutes to install and remove.
DD
My boards don’t make noise now that I know how to cut the front and back edge.  Round bars are terrible.
It would be nice to have a system that worked well, had a cross bar near the windshield, and I did not need to start drilling the roof of my newly acquired car.

There is also the dirt cheap option.  When I had a caravan without a rack, I found a couple of brackets that attached to the roof line to which you could attach a 2x4 which served as the cross beam.  The system worked fine (I drilled holes in the 2x4 and put eyehooks through creating two lanes for two canoes.)

Kerry wrote on Jan 5^th, 2013 at 3:09pm:

This strategy (removable rack) has the added advantages of a quieter ride when not carrying a canoe (almost all racks make some type of wind noise) and eliminating drag (to improve gas mileage).

For me, I also had to go this route because my pickup is sufficiently tall that it won't fit in my garage with the rack on.  I use 3 lateral bars spread over the length of my vehicle because of the length of my haul.  The middle bar is more for backup, one of the other bars should fail for some reason.  In addition, I run a safety tether from the middle bar to the middle of my canoe (thwart or seat).

dd