Disclaimer: I have been transporting shells on top of cars since 1995. Below are some tips that I've picked up over the years. However, I do not intend this page to be exhaustive and conclusive. Therefore, I claim no responsibility if you have an accident or have any damage to your shell while following these instructions. Many of the techniques are impossible to convey with a few words and a simple picture, thus much is up to you and your particular skill and attention to detail. While driving if you feel, hear or see anything strange or concerning pull over and check out your rig.
The first step is to use high quality roof racks. The best are Thule and Yakima. Typically, the roof bars provided by the manufacturer have too much bounce (too springy) in them and this has the potential to put a lot of strain on your shell. I've personally had luck with Yakima racks. They use a round bar versus the square bar used by Thule. The round bar is very stout and I've never seen it flex. At many regattas, I've seen Thule racks with a slight bow to them, which I presume occurs after years of use and heavy loads. My Yakima bars are from 1994 and still straight as an arrow.
The one potential downside of round roof bars is that u-clamps usually fit better with the bolt ends facing the shell. If possible you want to avoid this because the bolts can wear through your boat cover or into the gunwale of your boat. If you put the flat piece of the clamp on the round bar you risk bending your clamp. I trust my own attention to detail so I usually save the clamp and watch out for any rubbing.
Another tip I like to do is alternate the direction of the clamps on the rack. You can see in the left photo how the clamps face the opposite direction as they span the rack. In strong cross winds I've had the rack slide across the roof bars when the clamps are in the same direction.
Here's an example of how the rack clamps can rub through your nice, new boat cover. Whenever you attach something to the roof of your car try to anticipate the strains and stresses that will occur at 70mph. In this case, Burnham made the boat cover with extra fabric around the cockpit. At 70mph the fabric will flutter and hit the ends of the clamps making a nice hole. A quick fix is to simple hook a bungee cord around that area and the cover can't hit the sharp clamp.
I see this all the time... Someone drops their boat off at the race course then heads to the hotel with their rack still on the roof. However, without a shell in the rack the nylon straps flutter at 70mph. Nylon doesn't hold up well at that speed so I'd suggest simply winding some electrical tape or a bungee cord around the slings. As you can see I just used electrical tape and it stays there whether there's a boat or not. I use electrical tape as opposed to other types because it doesn't leave much glue residue, is flexible and is relatively UV stable.
The supplies you need to attach the boat are pretty straight forward. I use two boat straps in good condition -- no fraying or partial cuts. The straps are used to attach the boat to the boat rack. In really bad conditions, I'll sometimes use another one or two straps. I'll use these extra straps to wrap around the hull and the roof racks themselves in the middle of the hull. I then use a couple guide ropes made out of thick clothesline to stabilize the boat. The wrench is used to tighten the u-clamps for the rack.
I've had more issues with boat straps than any other. Getting the straps right seems to be more art than science. The boat straps are your primary attachment mechanism for your shell. Other things can go wrong and you'll still have enough time to pull over without severe damage to your boat. However, if a strap goes you may be calling your insurance company. My methods may not work for you, and I don't guarantee that they will either.
I make one loop around the hull in a manner that allows me to pull down on the strap to tighten. The rack usually has a little give so being able to put my weight behind pulling down seems to help. I then wrap the excess strap around the rack toward the front of the car. Remember at 70mph the excess strap will want to slide down the rack toward the rear of the car. On the last loop I tie the strap on itself and pull as tight as I can.
I usually make my straps pretty tight. A problem you can have with tight straps is they can vibrate when the car is moving fast. It's like a piano string at 70mph. I've had the vibration wear into the painted surface of the boat. I nice trick I use is to tie the last few inches of the strap onto the portion opposite the buckle. This extra mass on the tight side will dampen the vibration. You'll also notice that the knot faces up. It's a little tricky to wrap the flat strap around itself to get a flat, tight knot with little excess. If you hear anything vibrating as you drive pull over and check your straps. They may be loose.
I would recommend that you never transport a shell without guide ropes in the front and rear. On most cars the roof bars are only spaced 2 to 4 feet apart. It may sound obvious that a single or double is much longer than that. Most roof rack systems are rated for a couple hundred pounds which is plenty for a lightweight boat sitting still. But at 70mph on a bumpy highway the long lever sitting on top of your car can generate tremendous forces. The guide ropes help prevent the shell from rocking frontwards and backwards. You do not need to put much strain on the hull by pulling really tight. Just nice snug ropes will work fine to avoid the boat pitching much.
I wrap my guide ropes around the hull and tie them off to something permanent and solid on the front and rear bumper. I tie a knot in the rope to create a loop then place the rope along the hull perpendicular to the ground. In the rope shown, I've even put the rope inside of a piece of clear plastic tube to help prevent rubbing. However, I've since been using rope without plastic tubing with no ill effect. If the rope is taught enough it should not vibrate or rub. If any of your straps or ropes vibrate while moving please stop and check out your rig. You should also ensure that the length of the rope is long enough to tie the knot, but not too so it does not get caught in the axle or tire if the knot comes undone. Many boats have been snapped in half by straps or ropes that work loose and wrap around an axle or tire.
To tie the guide ropes I use a version of a slip knot. Above are the steps I use to tie the knot. Make sure the knot is tight around the sliding rope. Once it's tight around itself, you can slide the knot up toward the boat and make the guide rope very taught.
Here's the finished product. The left portion of the rope slides. You can hold the right portion of the rope and slide the knot up until it's tight. Every time I stop while travelling I verify the tightness of the guide ropes and knots.
When attaching oars to the roof bars I just use two good quality bungee cords. However, when transporting with oar bags, I usually like to secure the oar bag handles. Burnham includes some nice nylon handles that like to flutter wildly at 70mph. To counter the fluttering I simply run the bungee cords through each end of the handle as shown. Not perfect, but seems to work so far.
If you do not have oar bags, I usually place the sleeve on the front rack. The flat spots on the sleeve when held down with bungee cords help prevent the blades from twisting at highway speeds. Always place the spoons toward the rear of the car. If the blades face the front of the vehicle they will catch the wind and will mostly likely sway back and forth or just get pinched to something sideways.
And the finished product... Travel safe and good luck at your next regatta!
© 2009 Doug Rathburn