Putting a canoe on the roof rack. How?

TN4x4Xterra

Suspension Lift
Location
Knoxville, TN
We need a How-To on this one...

1) Buy/Rent a Canoe
2) Buy 2 ropes for bow/stern tie downs
3) Park your X in a level spot
4) If your muscles are strong enough to lift a 50lb canoe....you may proceed..if not, I suggest finding help.
5) Flip canoe over
6) Place cloth over the hatch edge to protect paint
7) Lift canoe with the tip towards the Xterra roof rack higher up
8) Walk very slowly towards X, not losing your balance....unbalanced+canoe = busted hole in hull!
9) Once the tip reaches the rack, stop and lift the other end and slowly slide it on
10) Tie both ends down to front/rear bumper, check for tightness.

To Unload Canoe, please reverse steps listed above...

If anyone needs a how-to on this one in video....we can certainly produce our own XN How-To video on this one! :D
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
3) Park your X in a level spot

That's one that's easy to overlook...

About 12 years ago I was loading up our whitewater boats on my wife's three month old X after a solid day of paddling Brown's Canyon outside of Salida Colorado. We were pretty tired and I guess I didn't notice that the X was parked on a slight incline. As soon as I set the boat on the slick powder coated crossbars, the boat slipped forward off of the rack, slid down the windshield, then took a healthy bounce off of the hood. Everyone but my wife thought that it was hilarious; good thing we we had only been married for a few years back then or she might have left us with our boats looking for a ride.

I guess I had grown so accustomed to the plastic covered crossbars on my Yakima racks that I didn't think that they could slide off like that.
 

TN4x4Xterra

Suspension Lift
Location
Knoxville, TN
XNCanoe.png


There's a book out for this...
 

Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
So I was just looking at my roof rack and realized wtf that plastic basket and wind deflector. also on all of these tutorials there is an overhang of the cross bars perpendicular to the length of the X. The roof rack does not have this. so what do I tie it to?

xterra_rack.jpg
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
You can still wrap the cross bars... just not on the outside of the tower like most do when using Yakima or Thule type racks. Sometimes it's a bit more secure to run the straps inside the towers (front to back rails on our factory racks). Put something soft between the canoe gunwales (rails) and the crossbars before you tighten the straps. This will allow you to really crank down on the straps without worrying about tweaking your rack or canoe.

I'll see if I have a pic of our X with a canoe on top...

-Rok
 

Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
Okay I'm picking up the 14' Coleman tomorrow at 1 pm so as much input as possible before then would be great including pictures and what not

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Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
Got er to my friends house going 35 MPH should I move it forward in the future?

407e3e49-aa52-3a9d.jpg


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rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
You may want to run another strap over the hull next to the rear foam blocks. That will help to keep the canoe from sliding around.

I can't tell from the pic, does the strap in the middle loop all the way around the canoe or is it doubled back over the top like this: http://paddling.about.com/od/paddling101/ss/kayak_roof_rack.htm

Doubling over the top helps to pull the boat down on the bars more firmly than looping all the way around.
 

Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
It goes over the top of the canoe and under the rack between the middle pillar of the rack and the basket.

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rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
Sorry, I'm not doing a good job of explaining this while the others have done a really good job illustrating their thoughts.

All of the suggestions in this thread are solid, commonly used, tried and true methods. I just wanted to add that whenever you are strapping almost anything to your rack you want to arrange the straps so that they "clamp" the load to the bars. If the strap loops under the boat, you probably aren't getting the most out of your straps. I'm too lazy to throw a boat on the rack right now but here's a pic with a strapped water bottle to better describe this:

IMG_0101.jpg

IMG_0102.jpg

readytogo.jpg


This setup is one of the strongest and fastest methods that I've seen over the years. It works with canoes, kayaks, stacks of lumber, sofas... you name it.

-Rok
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
One more trick to make things easier.

Try to arrange the strap buckles so that they can be tightened by pulling DOWN on the strap tail (see how I did it on the first water bottle pic). This will allow you to tighten the straps from the ground, without having to climb up to be able to pull upwards on the strap. It's also nice to be able to check your straps out on the road with a quick downward tug on each of the straps.
 

RATTFINK

XN OG Admin.
Founding Member
Location
Conroe, TX
ALSO, not seen in those pix...

Twist the straps before you pass them through the buckle. This reduces/eliminates the buzzing and humming when going down the road.

Twist clockwise* at least two times if you are on the driver side.
*Twisting the straps going toward the rear of the vehicle works best.

I've been canoeing, taught canoeing, kayaked , and have surfed for years and this is a must.
 

Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
I've heard lay them flat? Twist like make them corkscrewish?

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RATTFINK

XN OG Admin.
Founding Member
Location
Conroe, TX
Twist.

Yes, like a corkscrew. The twist will lay on top of the canoe.

Think of the strap against the canoe bottom as two blades of grass you would blow through to make a noise.

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Silver dude

Sliders
Founding Member
Yeah hookless straps are the best when working with the xterra roof rack. Use them a lot with my kayaks and hauling construction materials. I keep my yakima straps in the truck full time. The rubber coated buckles are friendly on the paint. Idk why I didn't include them in my pictorial last night. I guess I just figured the average joe has the hook straps and at the time I had my canoe all I had was hooks. But, hookless cam straps are the ticket and best option if your buying straps for the xterra.
 

Le Loup

Bought an X
Location
Fort Knox KY
I've carried two ocean kayaks on my X several times using cinch straps along with a bow and stern line tying them off front and rear just to be extra safe. Caution about using cinch straps: If you tighten them too much you can damage the hull of your boat! So don't over tighten Also be careful unloading your boat/s. We had one of our kayaks slide off the side while we were unloading once, boat was fine but my X ended up with some scratches. :(
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Speaking from experience as a truck driver, follow Johann's advice to put a twist in the straps. That buzzing in the wind is super annoying but it will also tear up the straps eventually. I typically just put 1 180º flip in each strap, so the strap is still flat on the load but has a twist in it on each side of the load where the strap angles away to the tie-down point. I guess on a big enough boat like a canoe, the twist will be against the boat at some point, but it won't hurt the strap or the boat to have a twist.

This also works if you have a power boat with a bimini top. Put a twist in the straps to keep them from buzzing. :)
 

RATTFINK

XN OG Admin.
Founding Member
Location
Conroe, TX
Speaking from experience as a truck driver, follow Johann's advice to put a twist in the straps. That buzzing in the wind is super annoying but it will also tear up the straps eventually.

Aye! :kewl:

Canoeing and surfing for over 17 years will learn you a thing or two :)
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
Wow... those look really nice. I'd get a set if I didn't already have a bazillion cam straps. Yakima stuff is always top notch.

-Rok
 

Cameron23

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
Kansas
I've carried two ocean kayaks on my X several times using cinch straps along with a bow and stern line tying them off front and rear just to be extra safe. Caution about using cinch straps: If you tighten them too much you can damage the hull of your boat! So don't over tighten Also be careful unloading your boat/s. We had one of our kayaks slide off the side while we were unloading once, boat was fine but my X ended up with some scratches. :(

Damage how?

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