Canoe ok on my car?

[Foreverphishing]

Thinking about buying a canoe soon, 15-16ft and was wondering if its legal or safe to put in on top of my car? I have a yakima rack on my toyota corolla , its just a small car and i didn't know if it was ok to have a canoe having 3 feet off the front and back of my car.
thanks,
chase

[Deuce]

Should be fine. Just be sure to use good straps spread apart as far as possible and bow and stern ropes.

[nproctor]

As long as you can see and its straped down good.....go for it!!!

[Foreverphishing]

thanks guys i just wanted to make sure this wasn't a bad idea before i start looking for one :)

[Foreverphishing]

Here is a picture of the rack , only thing that scared me was how close together my crossbars are and also because it is a low profile rack

[Crane]

...easier with a yak... just saying...

[Foreverphishing]

yeah i know and i already have a kayak but i need something both me and my girlfriend can enjoy

[Deuce]

...easier with a yak... just saying...

Don't listen to him. All he knows about is Dutch ovens.

[Lupe]

My 2 cents:

With such a short bar spread and with a large canoe (sounds like you're talking tandem canoe), you'll get a LOT of side to side torque from cross winds. I would consider it ESSENTIAL to have really good bow and stern lines that are taut and well anchored so that if you do have a rack failure, it will prevent the catastrophic. The other important component will be your speed when hauling a canoe. If you can keep your speed down, that will help a lot, and your wallet will thank you as well!

Good luck!

[ARzach]

Lupe is spot-on regarding the bow and stern lines, those will make a significant difference. Also, just looking at your set-up, I think you could adjust those bars even further out than they are presently, which will also help.

Sorry to hear you'll be needing one of those dang open-boats though ;-)

Cheers ,

--Z

[Eric Esche]

Where are you located? If in NW Arkansas, you could come by my house and I can show you how.

Eric Esche

[kru1]

This is all that I had for years. Unfortunately not much better to this day. I have taken this rig cross-country and down Forest Service Rd that most people think a 4WD vehicle is required.

It is not the limitations of the vehicle, it's knowing the limitations of the vehicle.

kru

[Jim Krueger]

Chase,

With the canoe, and the pretty short vehicle combined, I sure concur with every one elses suggestions to anchor the ends of the boat, regradless of how you have to do it. The cross bars look pretty good but I would want to pad them with some foam to protect the bars, and also the canoe. Since the keystone though will be securing the ends of the canoe, I would see if there were some bolts I could attach some flat strap anchors to in the forward engine compartment to easily access when needed, and also what anchor points in the rear of the car that could be easily used to to secure that end of the boat. (always easiest to do this well beforehand) It would be good that neither end had straps or ropes laying directly on the body of the car to abrade the finish.

Jim

[Wildwood]

Awww, why not just get your girlfriend a kayak and take the easy way out?

[Foreverphishing]

thanks for all the info everyone! i might be able to get my bars a little farther apart and I'm in Fort Smith but i come through NW arkansas all the time. looks like i will strap in down the same away as my SOT just better straps for the Front/Back of the canoe. would a yoga mat work for padding between the canoe and the bars or is there a certain padding i should go purchase?