Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:23:28 -0700
Reply-To: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA>
Subject: Re: semi-OT: questions about carrying a canoe
In-Reply-To: <SNT138-W46C75DDDA579AF3A8C0782B8B90@phx.gbl>
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Lots of opinions on this topic. Good to see that lots of people on our list go canoeing and kayaking. I did some tests to the pop-top strength when looking for how to carry a boat. See below.
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From: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MYMTS.NET>
> If/when I get the kids excited about canoeing and load the boat on top of the Westfalia, is it generally recommended to use the bars that fit into the gutter, or to drill into the fibreglass and attach directly to the poptop?
ThanksJeff
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Attaching racks using screw on "rain gutter" aluminum profiles to the pop top is not the strongest, but would be handy since it could avoid unloading the boat and removing the rack bars each time one wants to raise the pop-top.
I did the following test: I bolted D-rings to the existing fore and aft carriage bolts on the pop-top. Then I put a strap through the D-ring and tugged hard in various directions with approximately 80lbs force.With the pop-top down and locked the rear stayed stable during the tugging, but the front moved an uncomfortable amount. My conclusion was that carrying a kayak, canoe or small boat boat (or anything else that is heavy or subject to wind load) mounted on the pop top alone is not a good idea.
Yet being able to lift the top with the kayak/canoe on top is handy. The key is to figure out a system that straps securely to the body of the Westy, yet easily comes off. There are several alternatives.
My current boat is a Folbot Greenland II. This has a flat, high friction rubber bottom and is long enough to suitably straddle the whole roof.
A free and easy solution that works well for this and similar boats is to lay them flat on the roof, use the D-rings to attach them to the pop-top, then additionally I use two straps to two pairs of the westy luggage rack tie-downs, and one rope over the rear that is attached to the rear hatch hinges. When camping I just remove the latter tiedowns and the kayak stays put when raising the top on the former.
One of our listmembers, Gary Lee, has made a rack design on this dual fastening principle: It is bolted to the pop-top so the boat or cargo can be lifted with the top, but when travelling it also clamps down on the rain gutter. He has an example of mounting a kayak here:
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/roof/westyroofrackboat.jpg
And more info here:
http://www.vwrack.com/
B.t.w for those wondering about foam blocks, it depends on the shape of the canoe/kayak/cargo and how skilled with tie-downs you are. For years I carried a Sawyer 16" canoe upside down with foam blocks and 2 tiedowns to Westy luggage rack and one to rear hatch hinges as described above. I had two foam blocks pressing on the front of the westy luggage rack and two in the rear. Tie downs were directly over foam and pressed the foam down hard so it was unlikely to slide. Angles of ropes were also such that any movement of the boat would require an elongation of the rope (which is quite stiff/non-elastic). Then physics says that the boat won't move.
Not all boats will work well this way. I found that whitewater kayaks are too short to be rigidly attached with this method. Canoes that have different curves may also not work well (e.g. very up-turned bow and stern).
Martin (and '82 Westy 1.9TD + 2 sea kayaks Folbot and Feathercraft, 1 canoe, 3 whitewater kayaks)
