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 Post subject: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 8:33 am 
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Joined: May 10th, 2009, 8:38 pm
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Hello,

Does anyone have any practical experience racking three canoes on a truck top rack?

I've seen a picture once of three boats stacked up pyramid style but was wondering if anyone has done it and has any pointers for me.

Cheers

Aaron


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 8:44 am 
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Location: Milton on.
The easiest way is, Is load the first two as normal, But use separate belly straps (from centre of the rack to each side), put a 2x4 cut to length DIRECTLY over each rack and tie it down at each end, place the third on the 2x4's and tie it down as you would tie down any single canoe to your racks - the 2x4's are spacers ONLY, don't tie to them, tie DIRECTLY to your racks and front and rear attachments.
If you look at my avatar, you can see three canoes on my car and three canoes on my trailer tied this way- that was for a spring trip down the Barron canyon before the road was graded and filled- none of them shifted. :D

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 8:56 am 
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scoutergriz wrote:
If you look at my avatar, you can see three canoes on my car and three canoes on my trailer tied this way-


Monsieur Griz....you can upload a larger avatar if you like

....up to 150 x 150.


:wink:



Barbara

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 9:03 am 
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Location: Mapping Wabakimi PP!
We have a similar dilemma ourselves for this upcoming 9-day trip into Quetico. Since our canoes are lightweight Kevlar, we do not want to top a third on the two already mounted for concerns of damage. Is this a valid concern? Anyways, we made a “u” shape rack to straddle the one canoe and mount the third such that the weight and strapping of the third canoe is on “U” shape rack. Not sue if this is a good idea or if anyone has tried this. The "U" shape mount is made out of 2x4's and has a hole that the Yakima rack goes through which then ties it to the car!

I would appreciate some comments as well. Maybe our idea will work(?)

Regards,

Barry

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 9:34 am 
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That's excellent... thanks very much for the tip.

A larger version of your avatar pic would be great.

Thanks

Aaron


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 2:05 pm 
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Yeah, I know it would be better, but I lost the original pic (and the trip pics, my Rain lake pics, my Ragged lake picks, My Moon river pics, etc, etc, :doh:) when my old computer fried (damn, I hate digital pictures :evil: )

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 8:52 pm 
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Joined: November 25th, 2007, 11:21 pm
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i loaded 3 pyramid style on my truck after one trip last year. It worked fine. I had a fiberglass and a royalex lite on the bottom, then a fiberglass on top, seperated by lifejackets. I drove home about 300 kms on a windy day and it was fine. The top canoe was tied to the rack, and front and back of the truck.


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 11th, 2009, 9:19 pm 
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Location: Central Maine--Sheepscot Watershed
If your rack is wide enough to carry two canoes side by side, another option would be to first tie down one canoe in the center of the rack. The other two canoes could then be stacked on an angle with one gunwale on the rack, and the other on top of the center canoe. You may want two pairs of those foam blocks that slide on the gunwale to protect the center canoe where the others rest on it.


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 12th, 2009, 8:46 am 
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Location: Denver, CO
tieing tehm on is one thing, getting that third canoe up on a high pickup rack is another

with royalex boats, its probably easiest to load boat 3 (after 1 and 2 are secured) crossways first, then rotate to alingn front to back using painters from the boat - that's the way we did it the one time I did load 3 boats

you could try using pool noodles slit lengthwise and put on the gunnels if you are going to be loading pretty kevlar boats.


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 12th, 2009, 8:50 am 
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"I would appreciate some comments as well. Maybe our idea will work(?)"

sounds like it should work - I'd probably use a stiffener, another 2x4 or maybe 1x3, lengthwise between the two U crossbars to "tie" the two together


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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 12th, 2009, 11:47 am 
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You can get five canoes on a regular rack. Just take a look at Bill Mason's picture in Path of the Paddle :o

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 12th, 2009, 12:24 pm 
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Otter Mel wrote:
You can get five canoes on a regular rack.

Yeah, but should you?
It might cause a major hazard on the roads from all the rubber-necking!

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 12th, 2009, 5:03 pm 
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Not sure the roof of my Honda Civic would like all of that weight on top of my Yakama rack :o

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 13th, 2009, 8:40 am 
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This is how we solved our problem in stacking two kevlar canoes. Shown below is one bracket support on a Yakima rack. With another one, this system is stable. What is not shown is the strap holding the second canoe onto the rack.

I suppose you could do this to hold four but our needs is for three canoes.

Barry

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 Post subject: Re: Racking 3 canoes???
PostPosted: May 13th, 2009, 11:11 am 
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I've carried three solo canoes pyramid style once on my car, and I carried two solos and a kayak level all on the same bar a few times. The thee canoes pyramid style worked fine for a short drive, but based on the difference in gas mileage between 1 canoe and 2 canoes on many trips, I can only imagine how far three pyramid style would drop my mileage. I drive a pretty economical car, and I suspect that any advantage in mileage by carrying a third canoe on one car over two cars getting better mileage would be offset by the convenience of having two cars especially on rivers where you plan on driving shuttle. That advantage would even be further diminished when you consider tandems, as you have twice the people and nearly twice the gear to also get into the vehicle. But maybe if you drive big vehilces it'w worth it, but I know that two canoes, 4 people and two weeks gear in my car last year for 18 miles was plenty for all of us. But that's my own mind trying to wrap around my experiences.


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