I was driving up highway 4 south of Aurora on the fishing opener and saw an aluminum canoe fly straight up off a car ahead of me and crash in the south bound lane.  Luckily passing cars were able to avoid the debris.   I’m sure most people here know how to tie a canoe to a car, but some novices might take note.  The canoe had been tied with heavy-duty orange cargo straps to the SUV’s car top carrier, but was not tied with ropes to the bow or stern.  The wind had enough force to actually rip the car top carrier right off the vehicle.  Live and learn. :(

starwatcher

Yikes!  That is one of my greatest fears driving to/fro Ohio on the interstate and highways.  So far so good...knock on wood.

Yikes indeed!  Some factory roof racks are cosmetic.  Some are good for lashing your skis to, but not much more.

In addition to ensuring the canoe is connected to the actual frame of the car there is also the concern of opposing forces.  If your bow/stern ropes are running more parallel than intersecting then those forces are pushing the canoe towards to hood or the trunk.

Having girdle straps that are fore & aft of the widest point of the canoe and tight to the contours of the canoe will also keep it from sliding.

I'm never happy about a canoe that's not tied to the frame of the car.  Once I've car-topped my canoe I grab and shake, right & left, forward & back.  Do this from the mid-point & ends.  If I can pull the canoe off the car it's not safe.  If the car's a rockin' I'm ready for the road.

Open fields & lakes can whip up gusts.  Watch the trees & grass & crops & waves for winds.

Occasionally stick a hand out the window & measure how far the canoe has shifted.

Along with double bow/stern lines, I would tie canoe to carrier/roof rack, then take a good cam lock strap and pass thru rear seat side windows and go over canoe and snug tight.

Tie a piece of string/twine on strap where it meet the closed side window, and if it rains the water will run down string and not leach into cab.

You might lose one bow/stern strap and the rack might loosen or brake free, but with the added top strap the chances are you'll have a chance to stop before a possible tragedy happens

One of the problems is it can be difficult on some vehicles to find a convenient place to tie a bow/stern line to the car frame.  What I have done on the front of two vehicles now is get a short (18") piece of wire covered with a plastic coating, get a doo-dad that allows me to turn it into a loop, and I attach to the frame in the engine compartment.  I have enough clearance in the seem of the hood, that when I want, I can extend the end of the loop through the seem between the hood and the fender.  To tie down the bow, I just tie the bow lines to that loop.  (Under normal conditions, the loop just sits inside the engine compartment, out of the way of anything.)

Oh and watch the muffler!  Once I looked out the rear view to see the rope trailing in the wind.  Melted through because I wrapped it around the muffler.

Interesting thread....I'm curious if there's any difference between putting the tie-downs over the canoe, or looping them over the thwarts, before strapping the canoe down. I always loop them over the thwarts, but I'm willing to change. :)

We tie the thwarts to the canoe rack, AND cinch ropes over the top of the canoe.  Nothing like belt and suspenders.

prouboy

carmike1 wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 2:54am:

Interesting thread....I'm curious if there's any difference between putting the tie-downs over the canoe, or looping them over the thwarts, before strapping the canoe down. I always loop them over the thwarts, but I'm willing to change. :)

Not sure if that's good enough; the outfitters CCC  that I use tie it over the canoe and the thwarts.  That's the way I learned and I've always done it. Also, I don't like to take chances and tie all sides, front and back to the frame; and I like preacher's advice; to make sure it's secure enough to rock the car.

Azalea,

I have the same set up on my chevy suburban. The ropes when not in use tuck into the frame inside the engine compartment.

I built a rack last year to help hold two canoes on the roof more securely. It has blocks on the outer edges to prevent the canoes from shimmying off the roof rack bars. Then two ratcheting straps go over the canoe/s and have bow tie down (mentioned above) and rear tiedown to the trailer hitch.

My first solo experience started off with massive tie down problems. It seemed no matter how tight I tied everything, the canoe was still dancing on the roof. Cross winds were blowing 20-30 from Ely to Int'l Falls. I had to stop every 30 minutes or so and re-tie. Most of my problem was not knowing how to properly secure the canoe to the roof. That experience taught me a lot.

When I worked commercial construction, I learned to tie things down from roof top racks to flatbed trailers.
Those ratcheting straps are a God send  and make the job much easier for people with limited experience.

Not everyone has them and IF you don't have them or those flat nylon canoe straps with the cam lock buckles, your going to be going old school and use ropes alone.

Whatever you do, don't tie your expensive canoe(s) down with cheap clothesline rope that stretches when wet and doesn't have enough load strength to do the job. I see people using Para-Cord becasue it's rated #550 in the military spec style but that's a poor choice as well. It's strong as hell, but it stretches under load and you don't want that.

Buy some decent rope at the Home Depot and check it's load strength and just as importantly whether it will stretch significantly. Most rope sold precut has a chart on package that tells you what it's good/bad for, pay attention to it.

A great knot for bow/stern lines as well as a line(s) over the canoe, is the Trucker Hitch. It's simple to tie and re-adjust if needed and you get a mechanical advantage with it. That means when you snug it up and tie it off you don't lose tension like you do on many other styles of knots.
It's popular for a reason. Everyday truckers secure loads with it and trust it.
Something worth learning IMHO.

Excellent around camp for guy lines/tarp ropes, just about any camp application.
There are other knots better for specific tasks, but for an overall knot that is easy to tie and untie, the Trucker Hitch is hard to beat.

Drewfus wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 5:08pm:

Azalea, I have the same set up on my chevy suburban. The ropes when not in use tuck into the frame inside the engine compartment. I built a rack last year to help hold two canoes on the roof more securely. It has blocks on the outer edges to prevent the canoes from shimmying off the roof rack bars. Then two ratcheting straps go over the canoe/s and have bow tie down (mentioned above) and rear tiedown to the trailer hitch. My first solo experience started off with massive tie down problems. It seemed no matter how tight I tied everything, the canoe was still dancing on the roof. Cross winds were blowing 20-30 from Ely to Int'l Falls. I had to stop every 30 minutes or so and re-tie. Most of my problem was not knowing how to properly secure the canoe to the roof. That experience taught me a lot.

I had the exact same thing happen on my first solo trip.  Frankly, I figure I was lucky that nothing bad happened...just a very long and very tedious drive that raised my blood pressure immensely.

When traveling any distance with my boats, I have always used  Thule or Yakima racks with the canoe  brackets.  Once the brackets are fitted to the gunnels and strappend down, those boats don't budge. The canoes brackets are worth there weight in gold! I then tie them down at the bow and stern.  Solid as a rock.  They have gone over the Mackinaw Bridge and the Duluth Bridge in high winds and don't even budge.   

On the other hand, I don't paddle aluminum canoes.  If I did, I probably wouldn't care as much if it came off the car (as long as it didn't hurt anyone).  From the way I see people drag those boats over the rocks in the back country, I'm surprised people don't just drag them home behind the car.   :-?

Like Paddle Guy, I have a Thule rack with the canoe brackets.  The under hood attachment points with some cordage are great ideas.  Thule and other suppliers actually sells some devices for use under hoods/trunks/rear hatches that can be temporary such as these   (You need to Login or Register or ones that you can bolt underhood thru a grommet and leave permanent and out of the way when not in use as suggested, like these   (You need to Login or Register .  They look easy enough to make on your own with a bit of craftiness and some handiwork, althought the price isn't out consideration, weighing the potential consequences. 

Nice thing about those aluminum canoes....you can always get some money back out of them from the recycler no matter how bent up they are!  ;D

pd

great idea, and you're right,   (You need to Login or Register are simple enough to make

I've made the grommet type, but eventually they can break,,,,UV exposure I guess. So replace them every once in a while.
I had one give out again recently. I should have replaced it, since the other side did it earlier,,,duh.
Anyway since I didn't have a grommet tool, I bought a set of the Thule temporary ones $$$ :P. I notice it can pull on the hood sheet metal. So IMO the grommet type is stronger. Just inspect the strap periodically.

People, canoes, and cars are so various that it's hard to describe a system that will work for everyone. On the truck I use to carry my canoe I finally broke down and drilled holes in the ends of the bumper and mounted stainless steel eye bolts. That gives me some great tie down points to secure the canoe at the bow and stern. Along with a loop that goes around the belly of the canoe and is secured at each end to the forward shackle of the leaf springs. What ever system you come up with I would suggest that you try it out at home, put the canoe up there and drive around a bit. Let the wind and motion of the car play with your lashings and then pull over and check things over. It's always surprising to see what you thought was a bomb proof system starting to unravel, but it can then be improved with out much strain. When I'm on the road for real I do the same thing at every rest stop, just for insurance.
I have a good old truck that is pretty much dedicated to canoe camping, I wish I knew of a paint shop that specialized in making a truck look like a leprous piece of junk. Something that no one would covet. In fact so bad looking folks would park far away just on the off chance it was catching!
Best Wishes, Rob

And then there's this method, spotted in the parking lot of the French Lake Visitor Centre about 20 years ago...

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Wire loop attached under hood ...

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Oldie Moldy,
You are right.  Drilling a hole in your bumper for an I-bolt works great.  I have done it on 4 of my vehicles.  I haven't drilled holes in my current vehicle, a Honda Odyssey, because I have a trailer hitch in back and a tow hook in front, plus there is a lot of plastic on the bumper which gets in the way.  But I thought several times that I should drill a hole in the front bumper because it gives such a great tie down point.
Westwood

I like the under the hood loops idea but my hood fits to tightly. I did add an eyebolt to the frame using an existing hole to provide extra distance from the muffler. ;)  Don't all vehicles have tow hooks front and back as an integral part of the frame?

I have plastic bumpers so I use climbing runners (webbed nylon loops) to spread the pressure on the bumpers. Spring snap chain links attach the runners to the tow hooks and then it's a trucker's hitch to the canoe. The bumpers will move as I cinch down the canoe but the airbag hasn't deployed, yet. :D

Can you do ropes on the front only? I have to balance tension front to back but with a two-door, my rack only has a ~30" spread at best.

I strongly agree that you should be able to rock the car without the canoe pivoting or shifting on the rack whatsoever. Do it half-assed and you could kill people which could easily cut your trip short.

Phoenix wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2012 at 4:52pm:

And then there's this method, spotted in the parking lot of the French Lake Visitor Centre about 20 years ago...

That should be a postcard btw.  ;D ;D

That loaded canoe pic is hilarious, but I'm sure the person who did it thought he/she had come up with an ingenious system wondered why no one else had thought of it ;D

Even if it rode okay, can you imagine what would happen if you hit some heavy rain :o

Yeah I was wondering about rain too!  There's a show up here, Canada's Worst Drivers.  One of the tests is for smooth start & stop.  On the roof of the car is a tank of water that will drench you if you don't stop smoothly.


One buddy has these for putting under his hood when car-topping.  Works nice & easy for him.
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