Transporting Ski's on your average car or SUV?

Hi Guys,

I'm a long time flatwater K1 paddler looking at getting into ocean racing ski's. For those living in Australia, how do you go with the authorities regarding maximum overhang restrictions when carrying a 6.4m ski? In NSW I think the maximum overhang is 1.2m. I have a Rav 4 and a 6.4m ski would end up with much more than 1.2m overhang at the rear. Do the police generally turn a blind eye? I can understand some vehicles would attract more attention, eg a mini; however I assume that many ski paddlers are driving mid sized SUV's?

Cheers
Chris

Just put a flag on the tail if you are worried. If your racks are close together, Rhino Rack do an awesome T Bar that fits onto your tow ball, or into the hitch. This gives you support in strong wind, & gives the impression of less overhang.

I found those to be rather expensive and made my own out of scraps and the bottom half of a bike rack. Ski hardly moves at all now where the box used to noticeably bounce.








My old man has a RAV4 3 door and a massive great fishing sea kayak, he copied me slightly and has an additional mount coming up off the front nudge bar. He made his out of some scaffolding clamps and plywood. He can now lift the nose of the kayak up on to this mount and then move to the rear of the boat and lift and swing up on to the roof racks. This helps for a heavy kayak.

Here is a CAD drawing of the system

Police don't have any reason to dislike paddlers, so as long as you have a good flag its pretty unlikely they will care unless they want to throw the book at you in combination with other offences.

In the event of a crash though,such as someone putting your illegal overhang through their windscreen, you may have problems.

Thanks for your replies! sAsLEX, I did consider the front nudge bar option a while ago. I ended up finding a lightly used Rhino-rack T load (as per Jamie's suggestion) on Gumtree. I also have a Mazda CX7 which has the rack mounting ridiculously close together so this system will be ideal!

Jmuzz, In 20 years of paddling the only time I had an issue was at Port Macquarie when I was pulled over for speeding (naughty boy). The lovely policeman decided to ping me for not having a flag! K1's don't usually attract attention as they are only 5.2m.

Now all I need is a Ski!

I use the Thule T-Bar rack, works great. The greater length between tie down areas means much less stress on the skis.