A surprising, nay disappointing, number of modern vehicles lack available tie points for bow/stern roof rack lines. Seriously, no tow rings on some Jeeps? Karl Probst is spinning like a dreidel in his grave.

On most tow ring-less vehicles under hood webbing ties can be installed using some sturdy bolt near the hood edge.

P8130006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Most, not all. Friend Joel’s boat toter Transit van has lots of flimsy plastic bolts under the hood, and lots of plastic at the bumpers, precluding the installation of SS eye bolts. Almost all hatchbacks and small SUV’s lack possible webbing strap tie points at the hatch end, just more plastic.

In 2000 I drove our new E-150 family tripping boat toter home and immediately drilled holes in the beefy chrome bumper for stainless steel eye bolts.

PA280014 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

22 years; a little corroded, but still study. The van has a hitch receiver with tie points.

In 2013 I drove the Tacoma home and added SS eye bolts to the rear bumper (the Taco has tow rings up front).

PA280010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The eye bolt holes were already present in the rear bumper. A thoughtful touch from Toyota, they put fender washer sized indents atop the rear bumper.

No tow rings, plastic bumpers, plastic nuts under hood, what to do? I wouldn’t head up my driveway without at least a bow line, something static I can see through the windshield. If that indicator line suddenly goes catawampus it’s time to pull over. Quickly.

The manufactured solution to that hood and hatch dilemma is something like Thule 530 Quick Loops. Only $40. Even the cheaper versions are a bit much.

https://www.rei.com/product/818227/seat ... lsrc=aw.ds

I had lots of thick 1” scrap poly webbing and PVC pipe. Poly webbing ends folded over and epoxied together for extra sturdiness, with a 3/16” hole melted in the center of the fold, PVC pipe cut to length and drilled, a handful of machine screws, washers and nylocks and I had a shop supply of DIY Quick Loops.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted the webbing sandwiching the PVC pipe, or both webbing ends on the same side. Tested in the Tacoma hood either style works, but having both ends of the webbing on the same side of the pipe seemed preferable, so I finished the rest in that fashion.

PA280020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr


PA280016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

PA280018 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Success! Except not on the wife’s Subaru Fortester, which has an over-engineered power lift gate. Touch the button on the gate and 60 seconds later, after making click-click-whir-click sounds the lift gate slowly opens. Unless there is a canoe on the roof racks, in which case the gate senses an obstruction and click-click-whir-click auto closes.

To my chagrin I discovered that the lift gate sensors also detect if there is something “caught” under the gate. Even webbing sticking out was enough; touch the button to close the rear gate, click-click-whir-click closed, wait a few seconds and click-click-whir-click the gate auto re-opens.

I tried multiple times with the webbing in different locations. No go. I suspect with the XLT option package a Robbie the Robot voice would warn of obstructions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwOJlOI1nU

I miss rain gutters and vent windows. And radios with fat pre-set buttons; the base model audio system in the Tacoma came with a manual is – no joke – thicker than the truck owner’s manual. How is taking my eye off the road to glance at a screen and attempt to press the correct area with my finger a safe driving practice. I had to carry a cheat sheet of functions printed in 16pt font for the first few weeks.

How many hunt and peck steps to get to seek or scan?

Oops, I went off on another rant. I now have a sufficient supply of bolt-on and under-hood pipe & webbing ties, enough that no one’s canoe should go up the driveway with a bow line.

One or two to go with the Transit van and a couple for other friend’s “modern” vehicles.

nice simple solution. these hoodplugs are a bit cheaper in canada
https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5022-901/ ... lour=Black
trailhead has had them on sale for $5.99 a month ago or so.

useful simple anchors.
i setup a small steel ring on my hoodloops so rope slips easy through.

why was it preferred to have the webbing all on one side instead of sandwich?
did you find solution to subaru complaining of webbing obstruction?
is it definitely the webbing that's obstructing and not the pipe at all?

Six bucks isn’t a bad deal or those underhood tie points. If I only needed one or two for myself I might simply buy them. I don’t need any for me, but could use a couple for friend’s vehicles, and I had plenty of thick poly webbing scrap and PVC pipe.

Like a lot of things in the shop once all of the parts and pieces and tools were on the bench it was easier to do a small production run and have a bunch. Positioning both ends of the webbing on one side snugged the PVC pipe against the inside of the hood more effectively.

I like the small SS ring idea. I have a bunch of leftover SS D-rings and may add them to those underhood ties.

I tried laying a single, un-piped strap out the bottom of the lift gate and the hatch did not auto-open. Further experiments are needed. That poly webbing is thick, heavy duty stuff; I’m going to make another piped one using less thick webbing, and try one with no pipe on the inside, just a knot in the webbing.

Results reported eventually.

Are you sure that stainless steel eye bolts is a better choice than zinc plated eye bolts?

Zinc plated eye bolts would have caused less corrosion of your bumper at a point of contact.

In the name of science so let it be done.

I cut a length of thinner webbing, doubled it over with the ends taped together and did the click-click-whir-click business again. Success, the lift gate stayed closed. Of course simply taped together I could slide the webbing out with the gate closed, but even that didn’t set off Robbie the Robot.

I did not put the pipe section on the webbing, but instead simply cut the webbing a little long and single overhand knotted the ends.

On the Subaru lift gate that worked fine, when pulled tight it wouldn’t budge after the knot met the hatch door. Of course I haven’t actually tied anything off on that webbing strap; there could be an annoying “Door Ajar” warning light on the dash. Another experiment, next time the Missus loads a canoe.

Stuck under the Tacoma hood the single knotted version did not work as well; there is a larger gap and bigger gasket on the hood, and the single webbing knot started to pull through with enough pressure.

Might work under hood with a larger knot. The hood gasket issues may be the same with a car trunk. Let the experiments continue.

I have little clue about corrosion rates of different metals. The SS eye bolts have been on the van’s chrome bumper for 22 years, the ones on the Tacoma for 9 years. Both parked outside 24/7/365 at home, along with lots of ocean and bayside tidal parking trips and dozens of snowbird trips across brine salted highways and byways.

Some memorable trips on snowy salted roads. It snowed on a winter break return trip from South Carolina to Maryland. There was rim ice on Lake Marion in SC when we arrived and it did not get warmer. Ugly freezing rain/snow all the way home; by the time we hit Virginia I had to pull over every half hour to knock the accumulated ice off the windshield wipers. Lotta ice and snow and salt trips with that van.

IMG015 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

We couldn’t get across the I-70 pass in Colorado one spring trip. We couldn’t even get close, I-70 was closed to traffic in western Kansas and we had to lay over.

P5010956 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I’ll keep zinc plated in mind if I ever need to replace one of those eye bolts.

nice, sounds like building up knot just enough that it cannot pull through may do it. maybe even attaching something lower profile to webbing than pipe. i wonder if the gate will complain when tension on that webbing from loaded boat as you mentioned (and road-bumps).

I have often wondered if there is any chance of damaging the hood when using some variation of the under-hood straps. Either damage to the paint on the edge of the hood when the straps might be rubbing, or some bending of the edge of the hood when the straps are under tension.

So far, I have managed to buy cars that come with tow hook holes front and rear (although that requires buying a second tow hook from the dealer -- a minor expense). While I agree that having two tiedown points would be better, I have had two boats on the roof at sustained highway speeds with no issue. (Yet! Fingers crossed.)

I have a jeep grand cherokee, my second. Neither came with front tow hooks. The mopar hooks were quite expensive. Cheaper offshore ones are on amazon - affordable, but ugly red. I bought them anyways, and a good buddy sandblasted the red off for me. A few coats of clear, and they are now a nice metalic grey that suits the vehicle. Took about an hour to install after watching a youtube video.

Makes tying the bow line real easy.

The OEM tow hook on the Tacoma are at least easy to reach under and run a rope through, large and smooth edged. The ones on the Subaru require getting on hands and knees to see and reach under, and are rope abrading right angle rough. And both leave the bowline from most canoes rubbing across the front of the hood.

Not great for the paint, but I don’t care; the van and truck are boat toting vehicles, dings and scrapes are part of paddling life. With the under hood loops the rope (or straps) would not touch the precious paint job on my (never happening ) Mercedes or BMW, but I wouldn’t forgo those stout and sturdy tow ring tie points if available on any vehicle I am likely to own.

The DIY’ed webbing and pipe under hood doohickies didn’t work worth a damn in the Ford Transit. The hood has large gaps, an undersized gasket and an unfortunate trapezoidal shape; no matter where we positioned the pipe it wanted to slide around the hood edges up to the hinges. At the hinges it would be in the path of windshield wiper. The rubbery manufactured versions might eliminate the sliding issues, never used those.

We tried knots in webbing, we tried loops of knotted webbing around the hinges. Nothing worked. We have been studying this problem for more than a year now. Every under hood bolt on the Transit goes into a plastic frame. None of those were deemed trustworthy enough.

While we stood looking at the various under hood bolts again Joel noticed the license tag bolts in the bumper. Those bolts screw into sturdy metal behind the plastic. No front tag is required in Joel’s State, although it might not matter with a small enough loop, not obscuring the tag number on either tag.

I had a stash of long bolt-on under hood ties, thick poly webbing with bolt sized holes already melted & sealed. Presto, as easy as taking out a bolt and putting it back in. Thick poly webbing loop attached to below a license tag bolt into the metal frame behind. Plenty of windshield wiper clearance.

PA310012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Jeeze Louise, it only took us two years to notice that available license tag bolt. We may not be quick, but we will find a solution eventually. We could have (still may) installed a second webbing loop, but the offset is close enough to center.

PA310011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That bowline doesn’t even need to be uber-taut, just enough that the driver can see that nothing roof racked is wind shifting, and bow and stern lines are belt & suspenders insurance against flying canoe roof rack failure.

Every vehicle has license tag bolts, presumably affixed to something sturdy. I need to have a look at the wife’s Forester for both front and back license tag tie points, but it is raining out and I’m still wet from climbing under her Subaru to find those awkwardly located tow rings. Same for my son’s Corolla.

License tag bolts through shorter webbing loops could be a near universal solution.

It’s good to have options.

Some are easy to move between vehicles.
Webbing loops attached to hose or pipe placed under a hood.
Webbing or cord loops that you loop around hood and rear hatch/lift gate/trunk/etc.

Some are easy to install.
Webbing loops secured by a bolt under the hood.
Buy an extra screw-in towing hook.
Add steel eye hooks to the frame or bumper, etc.
Add webbing loops to the license plate holder bolt.

Many work for the front and rear of vehicles.

The webbing strap through the vehicle works well as a belly strap with foam blocks if you don’t have roof racks.

_________________
Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 

Managed to compromise my right head light using the pipe and web tie down. Make sure the pipe bit is not over top of the light when you close the hood. Moisture in the unit is the result of cracking the seal. Shrug. It still works but...

My buddy pulled my previous car front first out of a snow bank after a big snowfall. Took the screw-in tow hook out of the jack-kit in the trunk and I was all set. Checked my current car for that feature and the only way to pull it from the front would be to wrap a tow strap around the suspension bits. Not fun when you have to reach under the vehicle even if there is no snow to deal with.

I miss the days of cars with drip rails and bumpers to tie onto. Le sigh.

I have tried both the 'tube with strap' type as well as the strap attached to underhood bolts when I had prev vehicles, a Corolla and a Chev Venture. On the corolla the sheet metal on the hood bent a bit when I put a lot of tension on the tiedowns. On one or both of the vehicles the bolts were so far back that the tiedowns did not restrict rearward movement of the canoe. I now have a Honda CRV which has 2 sturdy rings at the front and 1 at the back.

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Bought a new Subaru Outback a few years ago, and couldn’t believe that there were no tie down points in the back of the vehicle. Aside from attaching the in the screw-in tow bolt, which was off to one side and not ideal, there was absolutely nothing. This is a vehicle that is marketed as a go anywhere adventure cruiser with high clearance and built-in roof racks, yet no tie-off point in the back…? I ended up having a trailer hitch installed, which solved the problem and offers additional versatility.

There are tie-off points in the front of the vehicle, but I opted to bolt-in nylon loops under the hood, which makes for a tight, effective system.

_________________

www.mikemonaghan.ca

Maybe not hooks on the frame; I dislike having to crawl on the ground to access the tow hooks on the Subaru. Some solutions may be vehicle specific, ie the Subaru lift gate or Ford Transit hood. For my regular boat toting truck or van I want something easy to reach always there front and back.

A couple of friends use a ratchet strap though sedan doors. One actually has repurposed crossbars on foot pads attached to his vehicle in that manner. Not as easy as clamped racks, not great for the door gaskets, or for headroom in some vehicles, but a damn sturdy solution.

P9040001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

A lot of boats head up the shop driveway, loaners and give-aways. With the various easy DIY options made as shop stock – under hood webbing bolted in place, pipe and webbing, knotted webbing, license tag bolt webbing – I hope that I have sent my last canoe on its way without bow and stern tie downs.

I may stick a couple in the Tripping Truck in the event of cross loading boats on self-shuttles, for when a companion has no bow tie point to secure our boats. Couple pieces of webbing, knotted and with a bolt hole, wouldn’t take up much space and would work in various guises.

I use stern ties as well as bow ties, even though both bow and stern lines are often both pulling forward. The stern line is mostly catastrophic rack failure insurance. To prevent the canoes from shifting slack bowline forward - think rumbling steeply downhill to the river on a pot holed road - I tie a short piece of rope between a rack crossbar and thwart, pulling the canoe backwards in opposition to the bowline pulling forward.

What is that, belt & suspenders & garter? Trucker’s hitched that backwards pulling line between thwart and crossbar only take a couple seconds. I really hate when the bowline goes slack, enough that I will pull over at first opportunity and tighten that all-is-well indictor line. That downhill jiggle slack doesn’t happen near as often with an oppositional line pulling the canoe backwards.

Same thing with tying boats down in a windy camp, I want bow and stern springlines pulling in opposite directions.



There was a similar issue using the pipe & webbing under the Transit hood; everywhere to the right of the hood latch had some wiring or tube against the front edge of the engine bay.