: Yep, damaging your car and/or boat is bad, but I've seen several
: instances over the years where are car topped boat or trailered
: one for that matter got loose and damaged someone else's car.
: "That" can get really expensive really quickly. Also
: has possible legal problems if negligence can be proven.

: Taking a couple extra minutes to be safe is very much worth your
: time.

: Bill H.

At 100kph, an 18 foot kayak ~35 lbs makes a fine spear. The average windshield would hardly slow it down... Actually, the other vehicle is also doing 100kph, so the relative speed might be closer to 200KPH. I would not want to be on the receiving end, even if my simplistic picture exaggerates.

My stripper has bow and stern lines permanently attached. It might take me two minutes to tie the permanent lines to the fore and aft attachments that I have mounted on the truck. The front attachment on the truck is a loop of 3/16" line attached to the hood latch fitting, the aft is another loop through the trailer hitch hole in the rear bumper. Both loops are protected from chafe by being led through a section of vinyl hose.

Fast, and easy. And a heck of a lot safer. Any cradle arrangement can fail.

Don't underestimate the torque applied to mounts spaced maybe 5 feet apart by a kayak which overhangs both mounts by 6 feet or more. At highway speeds,with oncoming truck traffic, the surface area of a kayak can generate significant forces which can gradually loosen or break attachments. I for one think that bow and stern ties on kayaks or canoes should be a legal requirement. If you absolutely must choose only one, use a bow tie. At least then the consequences of a failure of one of the rack attachments will not result in the kayak launching itself sideways and ripping remaining attachments free. One extra benefit of a bow tie is that you can see that it is still intact while you are driving.

Just my two cents worth.

Allan Edie

Best regards,

Allan Edie