Carrying a canoe while towing a TT?

[jungleexplorer]

I am looking for ideas on how to carry a canoe while towing my TT. I know there are some other conoers out there. How about share some pics of how you carry your canoe while towing your TT.

[Downwindtracke1]

I have used a Loadmyboat, a boatloader , with one of the canoes. I put it up by hand. Usually it's just the tinnie. But my canoes only weigh 60-65#, one is cedar strip and the other Kevlar. When I bought the Kevlar freighter, the company owner said about Kevlar "How else are you going to feel 20 years younger? "

[RedRocket204]

campinia wrote:
I carry fishing kayaks and tow my TT. I have a Yakima Outdoorsman 300 rack system that I put over the bed of my truck and it has a high enough capacity that it would easily handle canoes. The racks can be bought for about $375 online and it goes on and off in about 10 minutes. The only downside is that you cannot use this rack and a tonneau cover.

I see some others have posted some ways to do racks with a tonneau cover installed. An advantage on my DiamondBack ATV cover is I can also walk on it to make it easier to load my 12' kayaks. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Single Yakima Outdoorsman rack mounted to a bracket I created and bolted on my tonneau cover. Single frameless Yakima rack on the cab.

I would have no issue supporting 16-18' canoe as I still have about 4' behind my kayaks to the end of the truck.

[Jackfate]

I put Yakima track rail on my roof and my cap. Then use my Yakima system that I've had for 30 years. ( requires drilling holes in roof ) can carry boats up to 24' and bikes too

[DiskDoctr]

Great thread and pics!

How about something that allows you to open the rear hatch, say on an Excursion with a Mad River 16?

Some kind of pulley system will be a must. It's just over 7ft to the racks and my health and lifting ability is headed the "wrong direction" to lift it up there 😉

[bobndot]

73guna wrote:
bobndot,

Are those custom made tie down brackets on the fenders?

Custom made and imported - 😉
Pop the hood, then use two 15" web straps ( i used an old dog leash and cut 2 lengths) I tied them to a support brace under the hood. When i need to tie anything to my roof racks, i pop the hood and pull the straps out. It saves the paint on the front of the trucks hood.

BTW, someone was concerned that the aluminum truck hood would bend, so I kept a close eye on it. In 7500 miles of hauling, all is fine.

Depending of what you tie-down, the rope will sometimes be in your line of vision. Not that it blocks your vision, (it's just a thin rope) but I can see some people being annoyed by it because they would allow it to annoy them.

amazon sells 'Sherpak, Seattle sports quick loops' $15/pr.
You dont have to tie these ones, they have a round stopper sewn to the end that holds under the hood when you close it.

[seaeagle2]

Google Tinnie racks. (That's what Australians call aluminum car top boats, they have a ton of different products and home made racks for transporting boats/kayaks/canoes while towing. For what its worth, I have a 12' Porta bote. We have a short bed F150, I have a canopy (topper). I put roof racks on the canopy and one on the cab of the truck to support the Porta Bote.

[rbpru]

I have an F-150 with a cap. I use a Yakama rack on the front and a home made rack on the truck cap. The canoe overhangs the back of the cap about a foot which makes for a nice tie down. The front is tied to the bumper over the hood.

The center is held to the front and rear racks with ratchet straps.

The front Yakama bar has an internal extension bar that extends out past the cab; so you can set the front of the canoe on the bar with the back of the canoe on the ground, then lift the back of the canoe up onto the rear rack, then scoot the front over to the front rack. Then extension is pushed back into the Yakama front rack tubing.

I have never notice any gas mileage deference when towing my TT, with or without the canoe. The frontal area of the TT is so large it never sees the canoe in front.

Good luck

[BizmarksMom]

ADK Camper wrote:
I mount my 17' Grumman standard on roof racks similar to bobndot. For us the biggest problem was raising the 75 lb canoe to the height of the truck roof. I solved the problem by constructing a roller system for the rear roof rack using a length of metal electrical conduit inside a length of PVC pipe. Before hitching the trailer we support the front of the canoe on the raised tail gate while DW supports the back. Then I climb into the truck bed, lift the front of the canoe to the roller. Then we walk the canoe forward until it is centered over the roof racks. Then I remove the roller and secure the canoe to the rack. Centered on the roof, the canoe does not overhang the rear of the truck so hitching the trailer is no problem.

That's a good idea. My kayak is 45#, and I have a hard time getting it up onto the rack. I'll have to play with some wire and pipe.

[73guna]

bobndot,

Are those custom made tie down brackets on the fenders?

[jungleexplorer]

The problem I have with the racks that go on the bed of the truck is that my canoe is 16 feet long and my bed is only 6 feet long. This means that I have 10 feet of canoe outside the rack. So I either have to push way back towards the trailer or hang it out over the cab with no support. I need something on the front of the cab to secure it too. Is there some kind of temporary rack that attaches over the cab of a truck?

[1stgenfarmboy]

I built a ladder/pipe type rack using unistrut, so I can dismantle it quickly, I use the foam blocks on the rack and carry my 13.5ft kayak right side up along with a motorcycle in the bed of the truck.


If I was going to haul it across the country I would build some V blocks rather than using the foam blocks.

[HuckleberryHunt]

I just bought a TracRac ($300 at Home Depot) for my Silverado so we can haul our kayaks on our next trip. I've tested it out with two #60, 11' kayaks on top and they seem to ride nicely. Getting up there is a bit of a challenge if I'm doing it alone, but still manageable.

[WolverineState]

I use the Reese hitch mount for my Scanoe. I mounted the pivot post to my trailer hitch under the sway control ball. This made it easy for me to load/unload without my wife's involvement. I found the wind would move the canoe to much at highway speeds so I added the Malone Big Foot Pro to my Expeditions roof racks and that took care of all the sway. I can provide pics if you PM me your address.

Reese one man hitch mount

Malone Big Foot

[jungleexplorer]

I use to carry my Mad River 16 on my Silverado 1500 using the foam blocks. Like in this picture.




But this only worked for short trips because after a while the foam block would compress down and the canoe would end up on the cab and the camper shell and that resulted in scratches on both. The canoe also slide around in high winds no matter how tight I strapped it down. I don't what to use that system on my new truck. I need a much better system.