Date:         Fri, 23 Apr 1999 13:28:43 -0700
Reply-To:     Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject:      My canoe on my Westy
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Last summer, on the appropriate date of July 1, I bought the canoe of my
dreams. Its an 18' cedar canvas "Greenwood" (made by Bill Greenwood, oh
about 30 years ago). To my eyes, its lines are very similar  to an 18'
Aktinson Traveller.

Its a sweet canoe to paddle but a wee bit on the heavy side when it comes
to humping it up on the van.

For the first few trips I used those foam blocks that fit on the gunwales
and strapped the canoe to the pop top, the straps being secured by rubber
covered hooks on the gutter. These work ok, but it was hard to place the
canoe ontop of the van without scraping the gunwales or the poptop.

I tried some Thule racks (tall) but I was unable to attach them so that the
poptop could still be raised - his was important if we were to take the
canoe on  long trips.

So in a fit of desperation I devised the following method.

I bought a piece of HDPE (high density polyethylene) strip, 42"X1.5"X1/4",
and drilled a 3/8" hole about 2" in from each end. Then I stuck on some
good quality, thin, double sided tape to one side of the strip, covering
that side completely. I then stuck the strip onto the rear of the top of
the poptop, flush to the rear edge of the poptop and centred from side to
side.

Then, gulp, I drilled a 3/8" hole throught the poptop at each end of the
strip where the previously drilled holes were. The fibreglass layup is
quite thick at this point, surprisingly so! In fact, somebody otta make a
mold of the poptop and layup a lighter and stiffer version. Anyway the gods
must have been smiling on me that afternoon for the drill exited right
through the metal strip that secures the canvas (on the outside).

I had a couple of stainless eyebolts (nice marine ones, welded and
polished), the threaded portion is 8mm diameter and about 5" long. These
were going to go throught the drilled holes, but first i cut a couple of
1.5" pieces of 1" diameter HDPE rod and drilled a 3/8" hole through the
long axis and slid one on to each of the eybolts. Then the eyebolts were
secured to the poptop (used so polyurethane caulk as a sealant).


Now I could get the canoe to the van and rest the bow (upside down) on the
HDPE strip and then slide the canoe forward until the bow reached the
luggage rack, then i could move to the front of the van and pull it the
rest of the way. It works remarkably well, and doesn't damage either the
canoe or the poptop.

Before I securely lash the canoe down I place 2"X4" pieces of thick rubber
mat (stall mat) between the gunwales and the poptop - two pieces at the
back, just infront of the HDPE strip and two right on the front edge of the
luggage rack (those forward bits were actually stuck down using double
sided tape for the duration of a 3 week trip).

The rubber pieces protect both the gunwales and the poptop and act as high
friction pads resisting side to side and forward /backward motion.

The canoe is lashed down using the rear eyebolts and the luggage rack lash
points (mmm, they do look weak, should replace). I also lead the bow
painter directly back and secure to a luggage rack lash point (this
prevents ANY forward motion of the canoe. I use truckers/riggers hitches
and nylon rope - this gives some elasticity and cinching effect. The bow
painter is polypropylene, not as stretchy.

This system has been tested on highways (up to 75mph) and logging roads
with no problems.


Alistair