Carrying boat upside down

Is this going to do any harm to my glass Epic long term?

Can't reach high enough to put it into cradles because the car is so high.

Lots of people here carry their boats that way, but I prefer cradles for security. I also have a tall 4WD and I get the boat onto the cradles from the back of the car, instead of placing it on top from the side.

All you need to do is get the nose into the back cradle and then just push (watching out for venturis of course).

A friend insisted on carrying our skis upside down on a trip last year and he cracked the seam on his Fenn carrying it upside down on foam cradles. They needed to be cranked down so tight to stop the ski's moving around that the foam cradles compressed resulting in no shock absorption. On the return trip we carried them upright and the skis never moved at all using the same foam cradles.

Hi,

I also carry skis on a Landcruiser and the best solution I have found is the Thule Hullavator combined with foam
(refer: www.thule.com.au/details.php?p_id=267 ).

i have thuli racks. i always have my kayaks and skis upside down.
otherwise a cross wind can blow them out sideways

Lots of people here carry their boats that way, but I prefer cradles for security. I also have a tall 4WD and I get the boat onto the cradles from the back of the car, instead of placing it on top from the side.

All you need to do is get the nose into the back cradle and then just push (watching out for venturis of course).

If you cover the rear cradles with an old pair of socks and, if you have rubber on the bars, place some plastic on the bar between the cradles, you 'll find that the ski slips through quite easily.

I have heard of people using a towel on the back of the car to enable the ski/kayak to slide up there first.

Hey! A segue between this and the "how do you benefit from footstraps" thread: Early in my surfski days, a ski actually carried me upside down when I couldn't get out of them and I nearly drowned. Resulting in my not using them for a year and a half. When I resumed, my balance and power improved out of sight, overnight.

When I first got my ski, I carried it upside down like that.

I could never get it to stop moving on the highway without bow and stern straps and even then I had to crank the main straps down stupid tight.

My ski developed hairline cracks on the right side of the front of the cockpit at the sharp edge.
A lot of Epics get this but it doesn't seem to effect their strength.

I eventually got some proper racks.
The only way to go.
I never need end straps now and you barely need any tension for the ski to be secure.

I can't say that tying it down upside down contributed to the cracks or not and I suspect that they were more related to coming down off the back of waves going out.

But I think that all ski's benefit from proper racks.
If you cannot reach, put a milk crate in your car to use as a step.

Yes, in the same way but I prefer put prow on the other side even if is heavier (you can balance load) because you have a natural stop of ski on carry bar - back of sitting point. This is important in panic stop (instead you can control acceleration). The main problem with kaiak and more with surfski is the risk of slip. You should make a rope from prow and bow but unfortunatelly you don't have handles.
But you can pute a rope around rudder and/or to footstraps.

For more frequent transportation (for me it's seldom happens) I suggest to buy two couple of supports for V-shape boats, e.g. www.thule.com/en/IT/Products/Watersports...e-Kayak-Carrier-874-



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Only on the sea you are really free (Eugene O'Neill)

JonathanC wrote: Is this going to do any harm to my glass Epic long term?

Can't reach high enough to put it into cradles because the car is so high.

Get a lower car?

Have to say I agree with RAB. I'd get a 'proper' rack and stick a folding footstool or something in the car for loading and unloading.

I drive a Ford 150 4WD with a camper shell on the back. About 80 or so inches to the top. My setup is hullyrollers on the back end, kind of a rack with flex mounted wheels, and a mako cradle with straps on the front. loading the boat from the rear you just get the nose started, then 'roll' it forward, until you've got the boat more or less equally distributed between the two securing points. Only drawback to the rollers is that they have a tendency to 'dig' into the boat hulls profile if the boat is up there for too long. I just add additional padding back there. The real key thing is to keep the mounting points as far apart as is possible, thus limiting the amount of movement your boat might be subjected to while driving. I've seen guys up here with brand new OC1 boats sitting on top a small Acura SUV, can't imagine what the nose of the boat must be doing when driving along the road at 50 with a 25 knot crosswind.. Yakima makes the setup, and the stuff can be found reasonably on Ebay.. Buddy of mine saw some guy on the side of the road towards Maalea the other day, brand new OC1 boat sitting on the side of the road. Something either came undone or the boat wan't tied on properly....... That would kind of ruin your day.

Aloha from the land of the drugged out big wave surfers

I've made a webbing loop up that slides over the nose of the ski. Two cords run back to the roof racks to hold it tight onto the ski as the ski widens and two cords tie down onto little stainless steel saddles I riveted onto the front bar. Lucky to have a big old walking foot Pfaff sewing machine in the shed, it will sew anything!

Lets me relax the tension on the straps on the roof racks, doesn't even need to be that tight to make a huge difference when its windy. Found a huge length of the white webbing at a truck loading bay, the truckies discard it when it gets worn, its perfect because its old and soft.

SS@Bermuda7 wrote:

JonathanC wrote: Is this going to do any harm to my glass Epic long term?

Can't reach high enough to put it into cradles because the car is so high.

Get a lower car?

I did, but my daughter just recently got her drivers licence and she commandeered the little car so I'm back to reaching up high and driving the 11 yo Cruiser

This ski has been riding on this car upside down for 3 years (er...not constantly , it has been in the water too ! ), no problems and includes rallying about the 405 at typical SoCal highway speed (75-80 mph).Da kine cordura covered bar pads , two point anchored bowline tied to a "nose loop" and cam straps at the bars. I have seen the bowlines tighten right up on one side with a crosswind, have never felt it so radical that I felt the need for a stern line. bout a 36" spread between the bars affixed to the factory anchor studs in the door frames. Pretty darn solid and did the same with an evo before this boat , no problems.....

JonathanC wrote: I've made a webbing loop up that slides over the nose of the ski. Two cords run back to the roof racks to hold it tight...

Good idea!

Sandy wrote: This ski has been riding on this car upside down for 3 years ...Da kine cordura covered bar pads , two point anchored bowline tied to a "nose loop" and cam straps at the bars. I have seen the bowlines tighten right up on one side with a crosswind, ...no problems...

... if ski exceed ahead car lenght, as in your picture, you should have problems in some countries (e.g. italian laws doesn't allow that loads exceed car shape, in front).




__________________________________________
Only on the sea you are really free (Eugene O'Neill)

I have a Chevy Silverado long bed 4x4 (8 ft long bed) with sliding racks. I do not trust my V12 on just the 8 ft supports... too much ski sticking out beyond both supports for good, high speed support. I've made my own support system that has 10 ft between supports. This has dramatically stabilized the boat while driving at 70+ mph. Strap tensions are also greatly reduced. The boat is mounted bottom side skyward… I figure this will preserve the bottom from pressure points. I have had no issues with stability of the boat in flight.
I use a collapsible aluminum bench (weighs about 15 lbs) which greatly helps in safely loading/unloading the boat.

Don't feel guilty about driving an SUV or truck... You're family will appreciate that you've good steel surrounding you on your trips, rather than some chinsey little skate-board-of-a-car that would be a real risk to your life in a small accident.

Don't feel guilty about driving an SUV or truck... You're family will appreciate that you've good steel surrounding you on your trips, rather than some chinsey little skate-board-of-a-car that would be a real risk to your life in a small accident.

When your petrol prices catch up with the rest of the world, you might rethink that.
But yes, the big car always wins in an accident between two vehicles.

Johnathanc, If I had to go through all that just to load my ski, I'd go for a run instead.
Put in cradles, snug up straps, drive away.
Why would you do it any other way?

Only use the 'harness' thingy when it's super windy, normally the upside down on the roof thing works fine, the racks on the Landcruiser are widely spaced and very rigid. I can reach doing it that way, just the cradles make it that much harder. My other addiction is stand up paddling and having cradles on the racks would be a pain.

It's actually a turbo diesel Landcruiser and quite economical, open road it uses about 10 l per 100k and around town 12 point something. Better than an awful lot of 'cars' out there so no guilt there, it will easily do well over 1000km on a tank. Tonight I towed a trailer with 400+kg slasher in it, ski and SUP on the roof, two big dogs inside, my son, a G size bottle of argon and a mountain of gear, maybe there is an issue with people driving trucks for no purpose, we use it around our property, constantly tow with it and use it for off road holidays.

Thanks for the Elastoplast code, bought some today and set the paddle up with it, man that's grippy $h1t! I'm in Oz by the way.

Wow, whats gets me, if you can afford to buy a ski, you should be able to afford a good rack setup and not be using foam blocks around a factory bar setup. That said I use Yakima Aero Saddles and my ski sometimes wants to wander back and forth a bit. Gets really bad behind semi's. I also hve a Goodboy Kayaks V-bar setup which is great. 8' long of aluminum and bolts to anything. Nothing will wander on that thing.