canoe racks

[jumpstreet]

I have a 1989 TM28 and would like to know where to get racks to carry my canoe and kayak on top of my tm28.

[RockyMtnRay]

[quote author=jumpstreet link=board=19;threadid=1865;start=msg13223#msg1322 3 date=1082591831]
I have a 1989 TM28 and would like to know where to get racks to carry my canoe and kayak on top of my tm28.
[/quote]
IMHO, it's not a good idea to put anything of that weight or size on top of any TrailManor. Canoes and kayaks generate very substantial aerodynamic forces at highway speeds and I don't believe the structural design of a TM's front shell is adequate to handle those forces. A TM's roof has almost no "rafters" and the 1 inch foam sandwich is not designed for rack mountings. On your '89, the framing at the edges of the roof is pretty thin (less than 1 inch thick) wood strips...not a very strong mounting point for a canoe/kayak rack. Do a search on member Happytrail's struggles to replace those strips...his entire roof was coming off the front shell because of wood rot combined with the intrinsic low strength of the roof to shell wall attachment.

I believe that canoes and kayaks should go on the tow vehicle where there are steel attachment points and, particularly for SUVs, usually a roof rack engineered to handle substantial load forces.

I agree with Ray about not putting the boats on top of the trailer. He's got a good point about the stresses involved. Besides the structural issue, there is also the issue of what you're going to do with them once you get to the campsite. You have to remove them from the trailer to put it up, and then you have to carry them to the water. If you do river trips with shuttles, you still need a way to transport the boats separately from the trailer. As another downer, if you have an airconditioner on top (probably not an issue with an '89) there really isn't enough room on either side of the A/C to put the boats unless they are extremely narrow racing boats.

I had a number of Coleman's before the TM, and I tried various ways to put the boats on top. There just wasn't a good way to do it for anything bigger than my little 13' solo canoe. Even then I needed a good set of tie-downs on the bow and stern in addition to 2 straps over the top of the canoe. The stresses are pretty high! We ended up putting the boats on our existing Yakima rack system on the tow vehicle. It isn't hard to put 2 boats on the extra long bar (I think it is 72&quot. Note that the boats overhang the side of the vehicle rack on our Ford Expedition, but are just about even with the width of the mirrors. It is illegal in some states to have "stuff" hanging outside your vehicle width.

An "average" tandem canoe (Royalex) weighs 65-75 pounds. Kevlar might be as light as 35-40, aluminum as heavy as 85-100. A kayak can be anything from 30 (for a solo) to 75+ (for a tandem recreational kayak). That's a lot of weight for any roof-top system. Make sure you check the capacity of any rack you get, and make sure you use bow and stern lines in addition to the belly lines. My two tandem canoes (40 pounds and 65 pounds) come in under the 150 pound limit of my rack system, but many vehicles only have a 100 pound limit.

Boats that aren't tied down safely can come off. Think of the results if a 70 pound canoe is lost from a rack while driving on the interstate at 70 mph. The results will be a destroyed canoe and potentially a fatal accident if the boat hits another vehicle. This isn't something to mess around with. I know folks who have had this happen! Luckily none of the boats have hit another vehicle, but it isn't something to take a chance on.

Pam (who teaches canoeing and always shows her students how to tie down their boats safely)

[Cateye]

Here is how we do it....Cateye

[BOB_STRONG]

Steve,

Sure is a better idea than adding some carrying racks if at all possible to the TrailManor which could then cause some some water leak problems. Nothing worse than to have a leaky roof.

Bob Strong

[jumpstreet]

Oh well, just an idea. Thanks for the input.

Ever consider an inflatable kayak. I just got a SeaEagle 380X which can withstand class 4 rapids. It only weighs 57 lbs excluding paddles and accessories.

Seaeagle.com