carrying a boat.

i recently brought a porta-bote(12'6'' in length but folds to 4'' flat) and was wondering does anyone else have one? if so, how are you mounting it on your tm.
or maybe someone out there can give me some ideas as to how i can carry the bote on my roof without having to drill holes in the roof. the rv mounts that you can purchase from porta-bote require drilling holes in the roof then attaching the rack.

thanks.

[2swans]

we used to carry a canoe on top of a pop-up camper, using those 4 foam blocks and straps to go both across the sides and from front of canoe to hitch, and from back of canoe to back bumper. would that work on a trailmanor?  we have a new canoe, and i think my husband plans to carry it on top of the suv luggage rack--so maybe the tie downs don't work on a TM, i don't know. but somebody on this board will know! good luck--i'll be watching, too.  2swans

thanks...if i get some info from another site (popup times.com)i'll share with all.

Paul,

I can't answer your question directly except to tell you that I am about to order a 10 ft. PortaBote for my 2619. My plan is to buy the brackets that they sell to attach it to an RV and install them so the bote mounts on top (front half) and on the starboard side (opposite to the antenna). It will probably require drilling holes but I'm not sure yet if they have to go all the way through or not. I would plan to seal them with silicone either way. I will know more in a month or so.
Incidentally, I am also getting the Sail Kit.
I will also be interested if anyone has experience.
Dick_B

dick, glad to here that someone else is also considering this cool bote. keep me posted with your mounting plans and if you don't mind sharing with me the outcome of your efforts.

thanks.

[Larry_Loo]

Paul and Dick,
If you are contemplating fastening brackets to your TM's roof to support a boat, I recommend that you consider using some fasteners like "Rivnuts" along with machine screws to increase the strength of the brackets' attachment to the roof. If the roof panel is like the floor panel, the outer skin of aluminum may only be 1/16" (0.0625") thick. There should be at least 3 threads in the holes you drill into the outer panel if you use either machine screws or sheet metal screws. Since aluminum is a relatively soft metal, you should have more than 3 threads in each hole. A machine screw that fulfills the 3 thread requirement for 0.0625" sheet must contain 48 threads per inch. You'll have to machine these yourself (and fabricate the tap to thread the holes also) since they are nonexistent!

"Rivnuts" are pop rivets made up with a barrel-usually about 0.500" long-containing internal threads. They are made of aluminum (and possibly other metals) and can be pulled up or "popped" with a good manual pop rivet gun. You then unscrew the rivet's draw pin and screw in your machine screw. If you use 10-32 machine screws in the Rivnuts you will have about 16 threads at each screw. The aluminum alloy that the TM factory uses for the panels is probably 6061-T6, a moderately strong alloy. There is, however, some danger of a Rivnut's bulge (that you created when you pulled up the Rivnut) gradually enlarging its hole and eventually causing the Rivnut to come out. A stronger attachment method would be using a 1/16" backing plate over the area where the brackets are to be attached. You will need to pop rivet the attachment plates to the roof's outer panel to fasten it strongly to the roof. Use a 2024 aluminum alloy or stainless steel sheet for the backing plates. It will be easier for you to locate some of the latter-use stainless because it will minimize the risk of electrolytic corrosion of the aluminum where it comes into contact with a different metal. You must seal all of these holes with a good acrylic or silicone sealant, of course, to prevent rainwater from seeping down into the roof panel. A couple of coats of exterior paint will give added protection.

Incidentally, after one of my TM trailer's roof locks came loose, I found out that the factory just screws these locks into the bottom edge of the roofs. The thickness of aluminum in these edges must be around 0.090". Since there is a great deal of stress put on these locks when the trailer is bouncing around on the highway, it is easy to see why these locks eventually come loose. Later I intend to insert Rivnuts under all of these screws holding the lockdown locks in place.

This may be a long discourse for a simple description of how to attach your portable boat's brackets. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to fasten your brackets strongly. The wind forces trying to tear your boat and brackets off your roof when you are traveling 60 to 65 MPH will be very great. Think of it as gale force winds trying to rip them off each time you drive down your freeway. My wife always kids me that I over design everything that I build. But that comes from my work in previous years when I designed overhead structural steel platforms (and an occasional building). ::) ::)

larry, thank you very much for you advice. my background is psychology and nursing and therefore probably (denial) don't have the skills to follow your suggestions.

would a heay duty ratchet tie down (15') work?

[Larry_Loo]

Paul,
Your medical background shouldn't mean that you can't be handy with your hands. I'm a physician and before that I was a chemical engineer for a large chemical manufacturing corporation. My education in chemical engineering, however, gave me mostly book knowledge. I learned how to build, fabricate and repair some things from friends and fellow employees on weekends. Other manual tasks I simply tried by myself after reading about them.

You might be able to successfully transport your portable boat by attaching it to your TM's roof with rachet-tightened web strapping. I understand, however, that these boats cost over $1,000-it would be a shame to have one fly off on to the highway! Using straps would also make it more difficult to open up and close your TM. Now I don't know what the brackets look like and whether they should be attached to TrailManors. The TM factory people can give you advice about the feasibility of transporting such a boat on your trailer's roof.

You're not giving yourself enough credit in saying that you can't mount these brackets on a trailer's roof. I worked with nurses for almost 30 years and found that many were very inventive and handy with their hands. The mounting recommendations I made only require a 3/8" electric drill, hacksaw, pop riveter, file, drill bits, aluminum Rivnuts and pop rivets. Your friends or relatives may loan you these tools if you don't already own most of them. If the factory says it can be done, I think you should try doing it yourself - rather than pay some company perhaps $200 to do it for you. Mounting these brackets will be a relatively easy job and does not require much skill. Besides saving yourself some money an additional benefit will be the self esteem you'll enjoy after a successful project accomplished by your own hands. Flushed with success you may even decide to try more difficult manual tasks. That is how just about every handy person started out.

If you don't have any friends who are handy with their hands, contact me by email offline and I can make up some sketches for you (once I know what the brackets look like and have their dimensions).

 ;D

I also have just purchased one one the 12 foot porta-botes and was considering puting brackets under the frame to hang it. Haven't decided yet. Looks like a good boat, just got it today and have it set up in the living room with the 6hp Nissan 4 stroke on it. My wife was surprised when she came home!  :o

:)good for you. got my 5hp nissan today. awaiting bote. let me know how you decided to mount it on your tm.

larry, thanks for your offer. will e-mail you privately...not so sure how i feel about the lecture on self-esteem, but my ego is intact :).

paul rogers,phd

[Larry_Loo]

Paul,
In my remark mentioning the "Self esteem" you'd derive from successfully accomplishing a manual task by yourself, I did not mean to imply that you personally suffer from a lack of self esteem. As a professional psychologist I am sure that you enjoy the self esteem that came from earning your doctorate and gaining licensure in your state(s). As a former chief medical officer of the Calif. prison system I supervised many psychologists and found that none of them lacked self esteem (a few had too much, I thought). I believe, however, that the learning of a semi-skilled or skilled manual task can bring self esteem of a different nature to a person - and that all of this self esteem may be additive. Although I have degrees in engineering and medicine, my lay friends seem to hold me in higher regard for my skills in woodworking, metal fabrication and tungsten inert gas welding than for my status as a physician - and I consider that I was a pretty good physician before retiring!

Enough said. Like you one of my in-laws is in psychology and he's always analyzing the psychological meaning behind my statements ;<)

I'll be glad to help you out as much as I can. Actually, I'm a little envious of those of you who are purchasing Porta-Botes to take along on your travels. We'll be using our TM mainly for business trips and therefore can't justify lugging along a pleasure boat.

;D ;D

After much agonizing, and review of many messages in the California Portaboters Group on Yahoo, I have changed my mind about mounting my 10' PB on the front roof of my 2619. I now plan to purchase a roof rack for my Suburban and mount it on the vehicle. I have about 8 ft. of roof length which should be more than sufficient for a 10 ft. boat. I'm cancelling my `RV mounts' from Portabote if it is not too late.

Dick_B

After further consideration I too am going to mount the Porta-bote on my vehicle. I do not want to move it when I park to set up the Trailmanor. It will not fit under the trailer as I thought it might. It would also be much more difficult to load and unload mounted under. I have a pickup so I will put a rack over the bed to carry the boat. It will also be good to carry canoes, ladders and such.

i too will not mount on tm. in fact, i talk to a factory rep who was in town for the rv show he was not in favor of mounting the bote on the roof of any trailer. he gave a lot of reasons for not doing so but some had something to do with larry's observation about gale force winds.

check out rackwarehouse.com for some great racks.

last, were are you guys fishing at? freshwater lakes or saltwater. i have some great locations i can share with you like toledo bend reservoir for bass or coco marina for trout and redfish. both sites are set-up for rv(s)

[Larry_Loo]

>:(
Toledo Bend, Paul! If you recommend that lake, make sure you warn everyone about the chiggers!

While attending medical school in San Antonio, we drove to Toledo Bend once to try out the fishing. I made the mistake of sitting down on a grassy bank while waiting to rent a boat. The chiggers that bored into my waist area kept me scratching furiously for weeks! And, I recall that we only caught about 7 black bass.

I looked at the folding 4 inch boats at a sports show as well. Why not just lay it inside the TM before folding down. it would solve the roof problem.