Roof Racks for Row Boat and Canoe?

[Big Thirsty]

Hey everyone! I've been a long time lurker but I've never posted.

I'll get to it: I've got a 2015 tacoma DCSB with an ARE CX top with the roof rack channels, but no roof rack.

Also, I've got a 14'-16' canoe.
And a 12' aluminum row boat.

The goal is to put EITHER the canoe or the row boat on the roof of the truck/cap. Never both at the same time.
The row boat has a very low curve to it, which means that it can pretty much go on any of the choices I have. The greater concern is the canoe.

As far as I can tell, I have a couple of options.

1. I can attach one or two pairs of Yakima/Thule racks on the top of the truck for 2-4 cross bars. Four bars may be a little overkill. I don't really need 4 cross bars, as both the canoe and the rowboat have gone on the roofs of both my wife's Forester and my old Outback with only two bars. The fit to the ARE cap would be super easy, as it seems both companies make foot kits to specifically go into these channels on the cap. I've used yakima racks before. I know they would work. After it was strapped on the rack, I could grab the thing and shake the hell out of it, and it was solid. And more importantly, SAFE.
But the thing I DON'T know for sure is how tall the cross bars need to be in relation to the roof to fit a canoe upside down without the bow and stern of the canoe touching the roof of the cab or the tail of the cap. Do I need taller fit kits or foot kits or whatever for the clearance? Either way, this thing is going to curve along the gunwales and hang off the back or front of the truck. That's fine. I'm not concerned about that at all. I want to grab and shake this thing without any movement. It has to be solid.

2. BUT I really like the Prinsu rack. Not only do I hear great things from you guys about the quality, etc., I like to support smaller companies. It makes me feel good to give these guys the money I could spend on a yakima rack. There's two catches here.
A. I like how low profile this is to the roof. But will it be tall enough for a canoe to ride along it without it hitting just the very front and very rear of the canoe? That may not make sense. Essentially, if you flip a canoe upside down on a flat surface, it balances on the point of the bow and the point of the stern. I don't want this to happen on a Prinsu rack. it's not worth buying a Prinsu rack to have to then add raised bars to effectively fulfill the purpose it was bought for in the first place. But I really like the Prinsu rack. I really want to make it work.
B. At the moment, I can only afford to buy the rack that goes over the cap or the one that goes over the cap. Not both. I'll be able to buy the other half (over the cap) later, but not before I want to put the canoe on the roof. I would prefer to buy the rack that goes over the roof of the cab first.

So here's the question to those of you with flat racks (Prinsu style) and cross bar racks:
Has anyone put a canoe on the roof of their truck WITH A CAP ON THE BED, and what were you using for a rack? How safe did it feel? 70 MPH on the highway safe? Or hand out the window holding onto a mattress safe?

Thanks guys! I really dig this site.

-Andy

 

[calicamper]

Been hauling a 17ft Kevlar for a few yrs on different vehicles. Canoes by design have beefy rails and are some of the easiest hulls to transport. The only issue with non decked hulls is twist from wind loads on the long ends. This is fixed by simply doing two ties side to side at the bow and stern. Decked hulls are stiffer and wont twist when they get wind loading at the ends so a single tie bow and stern is cool.

Two bars is perfectly fine. The center section is the strongest thats your hold down then the end ties take up side loads from wind and your all set.

 

[Big Thirsty]

Yes, that's true. And that's how I've transported the canoe on the subarus that I've owned. But my concern is the much longer roof line of having a cap on the back of the truck, which prevents the front and back of the canoe from "frowning" over the hood and the tailgate. With a longer roof on the truck, the bars either have to be much further apart, which is unstable, or much taller, which I'm hoping to avoid. Ideally, there's a happy medium where someone has had this problem before, and there's a known minimum height clearance for a yakima rack that fits a canoe without the bars being a foot taller than the roof. Or maybe that's just the geometry of it all.
For a number of reasons, I can't just put it on a trailer. Maybe the best solution is one bar over the cab of the truck and one bar over the cap. Anyone have pics of a canoe on their truck that has a cap?

 

[marathonracer]

Just a suggestion but what if you made the front mount just slightly higher than the rear (not sure if that's an option) on the cap. I don't have a cap but have a rack with a removable rear section to carry canoes. Because I have several different boats from 14 to a 20 ft tripper xl and the truck is a DC tundra I would have issues if both racks were the same heigh. My rear is a little shorter so the canoe is at an ever so slight angle so all of the boat bows (regardless of length) clear the cab when on the rack.

 

[redthies]

My rear is a little shorter so all of the boat bows (regardless of length) clear the cab when on the rack.

It may be harder to do with the canopy, but maybe with different height towers? I built front and rears for my Dodge, and the rear is around 6" lower to deal with the curve of my 14' Jon boat.

 

[Geoffrey]

I've got a DCLB and a larger canoe, so I've got both a longer roof line and longer canoe, but you can get an idea from my picture. I have standard Thule racks on the cap and cab. There are four bars in total, but the canoe only touches the front and back bars. It's long enough so the curve of the boat clears the front of the cab and back of the cap. Obviously, the specifics of your canoe will determine the fit.

If I centered the canoe on the cap, the front of the canoe wouldn't clear the cab of the truck. If the canoe was far enough forward to clear the cab, I wouldn't want to use just the cap rack to support the canoe without some "protection" for the roof of the cab, if a bump or the wind jerked the canoe around.

 

[vicali]

I'm literally in the same boat- ha!
We have a 16ft prospector, but we also pull a 19ft rv so the canoe can't overhang too much at the back. I'm already signed up for the prinsu GB. I may need to block up the rear mount on the bars- something like the Yakima gunwale kit does- but the prinsu provides the most flexibility whe it comes to mounts.
Always bow and stern lines when it's up top, not only more secure but you can watch those lines and know what the boat is doing on the roof.

 

[Mrknowitall]

You can get a single load bar and Q-tower to go on the roof of the truck. My q-towers are 15 years old and totally fine. Solid as can be, once set up correctly. That way you can set up a nice long bar spacing.
Confession time- I've never run bow/stern tie downs on my kayaks. Bar spacing on my truck war over 6ft (long box) and still over 4ft on the Odyssey. That only leaves about 3 feet of bow facing into the wind- not a problem. Same goes for the few times I've hauled big ol' aluminum canoes, but that was only on surface roads under 50mph.

 

[marathonracer]

As long as it's amnesty hour I ve never run bow and stern lines on either the tundra I have now or the Tacoma I had with the similar set up. I've done lots of highway miles and high speed logging road runs and never had an issue. I use ratchet straps and make sure I can rock the truck in all directions just pushing on the canoe.

 

[calicamper]

Kayak shops have simple webbing straps they call hood loops for like $5. Or you can make a set your self easily. I added a set to my Sequoia they are held by front fender bolts about mid hood on each side. For shorter hulls on the longer roof line they are nice to have. No straps rubbing the front of the hood or bumper etc. When not used I simply flip them under the hood and shut the hood. I put a set on our Subaru and on my dads Explorer also. Super cheap simple thing that really adds tie down options.

Composit hulls are the hull types that do best having two side ties bow and stern to eliminate wracking the hull with wind loading and causing it to get soft over time. The narrower the bar spread the more important it is. The wide bar spread simply shortens that lever effect on the ends lowering the need for the end ties.

All the Canoes Ive hauled have been the easiest hulls to transport given their design is part of that aspect. If you do lots of highway trips in high wind locations youll find having the front end lower than the back end regarding angle makes things far less scetchy in the big winds. I've had to stop and add a single bow line once during a windy trip we werent tied to start with and we were expecting the canoe to fold over the way the wind was grabbing it above the windshield. Trial and error hopefully with few errors ;-)

 

[Big Thirsty]

I've been emailing Zach at Prinsu all day today and he sent this photo. He says this guy has the canoe on his truck with no other lifts on the rack. So this is what I'm going with, too.

As an aside, Zach at Prinsu has been incredibly quick getting back to me with all of my questions.



View attachment 328726

 

[vicali]

Lol, Zack has 120+ rack orders to go out Feb 26th.. I bet he's busy.
Good pic, I scratched up the sunroof of my 86 pickup putting a canoe on the canopy racks.. Learned my lesson!