> I use the foam v-blocks on my factory roof rack on my Cherokee. Put blocks
> on roof rack, off to one side.

> When I carry 2 boats, I have a yakima rack that clamps to drip rails. It
> is just the straight pipe - no saddle or brackets. Use the same foam
> blocks.

> Cheap and effective, cost $18/set. The hard part is getting the boat to
> the roof. I dont see how rollers would help that. Seems all they do is
> reduce friction a bit when sliding the boat fwd after it is up there.

After an incident last summer, I will never use foam blocks again. I though I was going to loose on my boat one windy day. We were on our way home from a trip, and had to travel about 300 miles. I would stop every half-hour or so to check the lines and the boat. I have never seen my boat flex so much in my life, I was a little concerned before the incident.

We were traveling at about 65 mph on a two laner and a big rig passed us and the canoe flexed so much that I lost the foam blocks. The boat was all over the place on top of the truck. Luckily I had the bow and stern lines tied down and I also had two lines cross over the top of the boat tied to the pockets in the bed of truck (no topper).

The next day I went out and bought a demo (Saris) roof rack for the cab of my truck. The boat sits right on the gunwale mounts and there are tie downs to the bar. There should never be any kind of flexing that will lift the boat to slide the boat around.

So the moral of the story:

If you are going to own a nice boat, transport it do it properly. Buy or build a high quality mounting system and always tie it down with bow and stern lines to your vehicle. I hadn't I would have probable had kindling.

PS: Always use bow and stern lines to secure your boat if

Jason