Cartopping sea kayaks

In my previous post I mentioned tie downs anchor points for sea kayaks when car top transporting them.
Here I would like to talk about my experience with cradles for kayaks.
I soon learned that kayaks can not be transported by just "chucking" them on top of a car and tie them down.
I was wise enough to never do the mistake of just using bungee/ocky straps for securing them (don't laugh, people really use that) and, in the rear vision mirror, see my prized possession tumble down the freeway .
I used proper straps to secure the boat onto the crossbars.
The previous owner of my first kayak told me that she never bothered with those "fancy" cradles that some people use, "the kayak will be fine".
And it was, for about a month.
Then one day I noticed a nice crack just where the kayak met the roof rack.
I must have been a bit heavy handed when securing it, worried it might fall off the roof.
That incident prompted me to learn how to repair glass boats and that after all they have to be handled with care.
While a decent sea kayak can take the force of the surf, a concentrated load in one spot (like a steel bar of a roof rack) can crack the hull.
Plastic kayaks suffer a different type of damage: deformation and oil canning.
I have now tried 3 types of cradles for my kayaks and not all have been successful.
There are several manufacturers of cradles but not all are equal.

Thule Hullavator: a little bit bulky for my style
My preferred one is where the cradle swivels and contours to the shape of the kayak. Some cradles are contoured but rigidly shaped; they might fit just one hull shape but not all. Stress raiser might appear on hulls that are transported on cradles that don't "hug" the kayak evenly.

high-tech layup deforming in tropical heat
Living in a subtropical place my summers get pretty hot.
High tech composite boats often have layups of Kevlar where epoxy is used as laminating resin.
Epoxy's melting point is lower than polyester and in full sun it can become a bit soft.
In one instance I had one very high tech kayak dimple and show stress marks despite transporting it on recommended "J" cradles.

Thule "J" cradles
My best solution for that kayak was to transport it belly up on custom made closed cell foam cradles cut to the exact shape of the deck.

DIY closed cell foam cradles

Since the deck was made of vinylester resin it was more heat resistant.

If your vehicle does not allow for conventional roof racks a foam block can be your only solution, in some cases.

used with permission from British V8 (link here)

My current kayaks don't suffer from heat distortion and I can use standard cradles with hull side down.

Mockpool (SeaBird Designs Northsea) and Sialuk (VCP Nodkapp LV)

A while ago I came across the cradles below.

I am unsure if they would be suitable for kayaks that have light hulls or a plastic one.These pads seems a bit on the small side however they do swivel.

The owner used them to transport a hard chined kayak where the ridge would be strong enough to support his kayak.

Transporting kayaks in the summer heat poses problems.

Before you permanently damage your prized possession on a long hot drive test the hull of your kayak and make sure your cradles offer enough support.

DIY: tie down anchors for modern cars

Like most kayakes I travel to destinations where I paddle.
Probably very few paddlers are lucky enough to live close to the water so launching the boat does not involve transporting it.
Even fewer, if not launching from home, are willing to catch public transport to get to their paddling destination with their own kayak (actually I know only of Dubside that does it).
So, like majority of sea kayakers, I transport my boats with my own vehicle.

When I was shopping for a new car one of my priorities was that it would have decent roof racks.
I primarily intended to car top mountain bikes.
Only later on I found that to safely transport sea kayaks I would need to tied down the bow.
My car, being a relatively efficient vehicle that does not guzzle insulting amounts of gasoline, it's shaped to offer less wind resistance.
With that comes a front end that is rather round and with no anchor points, unlike some chunky urban warrior vehicles :-)
I have a few spots under the car where I could attach a rope but that would rub right across the plastic bumper and probably wear off the paint.
Fortunately one day I saw somebody else with the perfect solution: an anchor point that was off the car's under hood ("bonnet" in Australia).

Holden (Opel) Zafira's front end with webbing for tie down.
All I needed was a simple section of flat webbing and a washer.
The strap is 5" long, folded in half to create a loop.
I used a nail, heated up on a flame, to poke a hole through the webbing of the strap and the same time seal the hole and preventing fraying of the fibres.
Most times the bolts that mount the mudguards to the body of the car might be just in the perfect location for an tie-down anchor point.
In my car the hood is very "slopy" and I need a very forward anchor point: I drilled a hole closer to the end of the hood .
I used stainless steel hardware so I would not have corrosion problems later on.

The webbing loop can be tucked away under the hood when not in use.
My friend Greg Schwarz however has made a more sophisticated anchor point.
He fabricated a bracket of stainless steel that has been shaped and polished to match the car's look.

Once I had a closer look at the bracket I realized that a lot of work went into it.
It's shaped so it will fit under the hood and has a welded rib for strength.

Like anything else that Greg does his anchor point is obviously deluxe!


Anchoring a bow of a sea kayak is often overlooked and not many people do it.
I usually don't bother anchoring mine unless I envision driving the car on the freeway.
My roof rack is drilled to the body of the car (factory) and the chance of that failing is extremely remote.
However, aftermarket roof racks that are held against a car by simple brackets and don't have a solid bolt anchoring them to the roof are way more prone to be dislodged at high speed and in strong cross winds.

PS 31JAN10

The above article has been reproduced with permission at Adventure Kayak Magazine