hauling the canoe

[Bruce Yeaton]

Ok, who here has a canoe that they fish out of every so often, and how do you transport it to your favorite spot?



I have a 13' canoe, but it's a little heavy and akward for me to handle above and beyond the pickup bed. I'm thinking of a rack system and have come up with the Thule Xsporter. Anyone use anything like this?




http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=75&sku=421

 

[Jim in VA]

I have an old 16 foot scanoe (square stern canoe). It fits on the top rack of my SUV with webbing straps. To get it up there by myself, I use a Reese canoe loader installed on the hitch. If you have a hitch receiver on your pick up, you can use one of those for the back end and then rest the front end on top of the cab on two of those foam blocks they sell for putting canoes right onto cars without roof racks. Strap the whole thing down and you're good to go. Oh, and its about a fifth the cost of the Thule system! Here's a link to the canoe loader available at Bass Pro or Cabela's.








http://www.basspro.com/servlet/cata...rClassCode=13&hvarSubCode=5&hvarTarget=browse

 

[mike chip]

i just drag or carry mt 17 ft mitchi-craft to the water, most of the time it is never more than a couple hundred yards.

mike

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Bruce, I used to carry my 12' Jonboat on the top of my car. It's got to weigh as much as a canoe doesn't it? Anyway, I had the usual clip-on-each-side-of-the-car carrier with three inch webbed straps. BUT, what I did different was to go to a local construction supply store and but two eight foot sections of stairway railing. I then cut them to fit and screwed a piece of the railing to the carrier so that the carrier now had four sides instead of two. The railing ran parallel to each side of the car. That way I could stand my boat up against the car without actually touching it and then just kind of rotate it around until it "fell" in between the railing and onto the carrier itself. Strap it down and go. I hope I explained that ok.



Bill

 

[Staci Matheis]

Bruce -



The past 2 years have been the first time in about 25 years that I haven't had a canoe. Bought a standard Coleman canoe when they first came out in the late 70's. Then a Coleman Scanoe when I was going to Minnesota nad Canada so I could use a motor. Finally an Old Town Camper - 16' and 64# - that I could more easily lift onto my truck myself.

All my trucks (4WD SUV's) had roof racks.



I put 1/4" eye bolts in the bumpers on each of the 4 corners to attach tie downs to. I used climbers ropes that you can get at any good outforr shop to hole the canoe in place; it doesn't shrink/expand when it gets wet/dry or abrade when you pull it against itself to tighten it up.



I have no idea how to explain the knots I used in words..... It's something I'd have to show you..... One of the first time I went canoeing on my own, a man who had been a sailor saw me struggling to get everything tight and showed them to me. Once you learn them, they make tie down a very, very simple and efficient job..... If you want, maybe I could get on the phone with you when you've got ropes in hand and try walking you through what I did.....



To load by myself..... I'd put the canoe on the ground behind the truck. Lit one end and put it on the back rail of the roof rack. Then go lift the back end above my head and slide it forward.



me!

 

[Dan Sullivan]

What about one of those extension racks you put in your hitch receiver? :huh: