Hi All,
I am new to the sport and have purchased a second half W1 board and sail etc.
Now I have just to transport the thing! Any tips, advice and recommendations as to the best, most suited roof rack to go for?
I have a Berlina sedan.
Thanks in advance.
I've used both Rola's and Thules with Wallies at sustained expressway speeds - either will dio the job well
Thule's 'felt' stronger and more secure though.
Use good tie downs!
Ive got a set of Thules. They are expensive but you get what you pay for. A far more expensive problem if cheap ones snap and your board goes flying through the air and snaps, let alone hits a Bentley driving behind you.
I cart two sailboards stacked on each other at 120kmh no worries at all. I use occy straps as I had a near board death experience with tie downs - beware if they get wet - they stretch. Hopefully it was just a quality issue with the ones I had.
after battling with a small car and roof racks and damaging my car whenever i fought with a sea breeze getting my board on an off my recommendation would be buy a delica...
Hi, All,
I certainly agree that a good quality tie-down is the way to go, but suggest that 2 x tie-downs are used on the front rack (where all the wind load is) and 1 x tie-down is used on the rear rack. If one front breaks, the second is there as a back up (and I found this out the hard way).
Regards,
WindmanV
Driven all around Australia and the US in the 80s with various boards, including old one-designs, never had a problem.
I put the board upside down and tail-first, dragging far at the back of the car (or lemon in my case). Very little drag that way, and no uplift on the board.
[}:)]
if you dare
I agree. Occies are not strong enough anyway, I guess they'd hold 100kg ish whereas the cheapest webbing straps I've ever seen are rated at 250kg.
I use webbing straps, 2 at front and one at rear, boards upside down nose first so the uplift from air coming up the wndscreen is balanced out (or overcome by) the downforce the upside down rocker causes.
Never had a problem on trips of over 9hrs of highway driving with a couple of hrs at 130kph, no tightening of straps required.
I've had 3 quality brands over the years and never had them shrink when wet either.
Thanks for the tips guys, appreciate it.
Looks like Thules will be the way to go. By the sound of it they may be more expensive than the board!
Now, occys or tie downs, that's the next dilemma!
Muchos grachos.
Google "Elastic restraining Strap" and "safety".
There is absolutely no way I would ever trust an occy strap to keep anything on the roof of a car. They are designed to stretch! I have always used webbing straps, and have NEVER seen them shrink. I have driven over 8000kms last year (Noosa, Great Ocean Road etc) with boards on the roof with webbing straps.
They do need looking after as they can fray where I tie knots, but at least any damage is visible. Occy straps may be damaged in the core, and the damage invisible until catastrophic. They are like a timebomb on the roof.
JB
Nebs, real men use plastic thin clothes line from Bunnings
Occy straps, chuck them in the bin. Nearly lost an eye from them, just blind luck. No pun intended.
Use quality webbing tie downs with metal or similar buckles. Not the el cheapo plastic crap from the bargain bin at Auto One.
I have Rola's and they have been great. Big SUP's on the freeway at 120-130kmh,
several boards stacked 3 high etc. Im sure the Thules are as good.
Who wants to look in the rear view mirror and see boards cartwheeling down the road!!!!!!
Whenever I'm taking a Wally (or any longboard) on a long trip, I take a line from the front tow ring or bumper of the car and use it to tie the boards down at the front. Dunno if it's ever been needed, but it sure does help the peace of mind when a lorry slipstream comes the other way.
Actually that reminds me also.... with the Rhino type racks that sit on rubber 'feet' on the roof of the car, the rubber compresses a little eventually and the bolts will then be loose. They need the bolts checked after 6 months of use, they will need another half a turn or so just to nip them up again, and then they will be right forever. Few people have wondered why all of a sudden they lose their racks
