I wonder what would have happened if you didn't have the glass on the boat. Actually I don't wonder, but I get concerned everytime someone starts talking about "boats don't need glass".
No one wants this to happen and it really is great no one was hurt. But it does illustrate the strength of fiberglass, even if this was completely unusual. My history is that something unusual happens about every 2 years, so good strong (lite) boats are worthwhile.

BTW, what the heck is bitumated aluminum?

: Ever wonder what would might happen if you boat flew off the roof
: of your car at 65mph? I've got some photos.

: I was traveling north on Interstate 89 in Vermont and the bungees
: holding my Guillemot L to the J-racks let go. I heard a WUMP and
: looked up and the boat was gone. In the rearview mirror I saw it
: lying in the thick grass to the right side of the road and
: pulled over on the shoulder. This was awful but that is the end
: of the bad news.

: Inspecting the boat it appeared that the bow/front part of the
: strap had let go. The J-racks being on the right side of the car
: had allowed the boat to be flung to the right and it must have
: landed stern first on the shoulder. This ripped a chunk of wood
: and fiberglass about 6" long from the stern hull just
: behind the skeg and about 2 feet in front of the point of the
: stem. The boat then skidded into the 12" grass about 20-30'
: off the roadway and coming to rest rightside up. In addition to
: the torn out chunk of stern there was some cracks in the glass
: along the base of the skeg box where it is joined to the hull
: and some cracks in the stern deck caused by the skeg box being
: shoved into the deck.

: I loaded the boat onto the car and secured it a bit better and
: headed on to Burlington, Vermont. I had an errand to run for a
: friend and just accross the street was an outfit called
: "Canoe Imports" in South Burlington, Vermont. They
: offered me a strip of bituminated aluminum that we used to hold
: the torn stern chunk into the boat. and we installed some bow
: and stern lines to hold the boat to the car better. I purchased
: some duct tape to cover some of the lesser scuffs and picked up
: my friend in Plattsburgh, NY and we headed off to Cranberry lake
: where we we had a great weekend, kayak camping, on one of New
: Yorks finer lakes.

: Thank you to the folks at Canoe Imports for salvaging my weekend.
: http://canoeimports.com/htm/instruction.html

: Thank you to the Powers-that-Be for not putting the boat through
: someone's windshield at 65 mph.