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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: women loading boats
Posted By: Thomas Duncan In Response To: women loading boats (Pamela)
Date: Thursday, 21 July 2005, at 9:03 a.m.
That is interesting re the wind load being transmitted to the car. Please be careful though, I don't know what model saddles you have or if Yakima has changed their design, but I have heard of the saddles breaking during crosswinds. Those saddles that come with an integrated strap, I believe it was. Personally I take the belt and suspenders approach, I'd think it's actually an advantage to tie to the crossbar. Especially as the saddles get older and maybe begin to break down from UV or repeated stresses--the more trips you make successfully, the more confident one becomes in their system but it actually should be the other way round if that makes any sense. I don't know if UV or repeated stress makes any difference in reality, I'm not an engineer, but you'd have to assume it does. Pound on anything long enough and it will break, I reckon. Same for those buckles on the straps, the springs in them wear out silently and often unobserved. Do you put a couple half hitches in the end of the strap after it goes through the buckle? (I use Yakima equipment myself, so I am not trying to disparage any particular brand.)
You're probably using bow/stern ropes. I had a paddling partner last night marvelling at how long it took me to do the two belly straps and bow and stern tie downs, and tried to "sell" me on not using bow/stern ropes because it takes too long. Well, "haste makes waste" in my book, and I don't want that waste to be the family in the car behind me, even when it's getting dark and mosquitos are biting my legs.
The fact that the boats "slide so well" through the saddles says something.
Not trying to be the tie-down police, just pointing out some things out of care.
I've found a small step stool helpful loading boats on my friends high Land Rover, and the trick of inserting a broom stick or strong dowel into one of the crossbars to extend it and using that to "hold" the bow or stern while you lift the other end on also has been helpful in the past. (of course the stick comes out after you load).
Hope this helps in some way. : )
: Christine,
: I'm going to be making fleece booties myself (once I finish the curtains for
: the new house!): Make sure you really need Hully Rollers before you buy them. I have one set
: and find that the boats slide so well through my Yakima saddles that I'm
: going to replace the rollers with another set of saddles. A big
: disadvantage of the rollers is that you have to tie the boat to the
: crossbar instead of the saddle. This means that the force of high winds is
: transmitted, through the crossbar, to the car. With saddles, the boat is
: anchored to the saddle, which has some give built in to absorb the force
: of the wind. In high winds, that makes a big difference.: Good luck finding a system that works for you.
: For a woman, loading boats is often a challenge and I went through quite a
: few experiments before I found one that I can use. When I have to load
: solo, I put wheels on the back of the boat, bring the boat round to the
: back of the station wagon, lift the bow onto an old blanket that's
: covering the "hump" of the wagon, then slide the boat over the
: blanket and through the cradles into position. Once the boat is tied down,
: I take off the wheels.: Pamela
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