Canoe on roof: 16 or 17 ft?

Draco · **Posted:** Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:30 am

I sold my sailboat recently and am rigging up a sailing canoe. In this case that's a regular canoe hull with minor modifications for a drop-in sail rig and rudder,

At this point I've committed to the sail rig (BSD), but have not yet purchased a hull. I'm agonizing a little over whether to buy a 16' or 17' canoe. (For example Wenonah 16' Aurora or Wenonah 17' Spirit II.) From a boating perspective I'd rather go with the longer canoe, but I'm afraid a 17' length is pushing it on top of a KJ. Especially for long, multi-day trips.

Here are two relevant threads I found:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33933

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=43848

I guess the sensible thing to do is go with the shorter canoe. Or is 17' do-able on a Liberty? My wife's next vehicle will probably be a longer Grand Cherokee, but I don't want to be tied to that.

Draco · **Posted:** Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:41 am

Ooh ooh, I know. I have a set of Thule load bars and ordered a Thule bookend style canoe carrier.

I can buy a Yakima Drydock http://www.yakima.com/shop/water/truck/drydock which mounts to the receiver hitch, or have something similar fabricated. I'll mount the front load bar as far forward as possible on the roof and the second load bar on the Drydock. That should get the load bars far enough apart for a 17' canoe.

I got the idea from seeing what someone did on a JK Unlimited, http://www.jk-forum.com/jk-show-tell-33/got-my-canoe-rack-done-41615/

Draco · **Posted:** Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:57 am

And Thule makes a similar product called the Goalpost that is compatible with my rack. Yay.

http://www.thule.com/en-US/US/Products/Watersports/WatersportCarriers/997-Goalpost

kjon · **Posted:** Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:38 am

I haul my 17ft alumicraft (heavy!) with no problems. I just have some homemade cross bars, no canoe rack or anything. Put two ratchet straps over the top, and attach them to the cross bars as close to the canoe as possible (not the roof rails, as it will wiggle). I double up my straps and hook them to themselves because the hooks won't fit around my bars. Then throw some ropes on the front and back for extra security. My canoe doesn't wiggle a cm, and I've driven thousands of miles with this set up. You're gonna love your wenonah, and I'd definitely go with the 17ft for sailing/lakes.

bugnout · **Posted:** Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:05 pm

I have carried my 17' Grumman on top. You've got to be careful walking around the back of the Jeep. My wife 5'7" smacked her forehead because she wasn't paying attention. Almost knocked herself out. Now I have a cargo basket on top and that raised the canoe about 6 inches and out of her danger zone.

Draco · **Posted:** Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:11 pm

Thank you very much, kjon and bugnout, for the feedback!

I went ahead and ordered the 17 ft canoe. I'll try it with the regular roof rack to start and if necessary try a receiver hitch mounted T-bar.

thehypnotoad · **Posted:** Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:58 pm

The regular roof rack works great for canoe transportation. All I use is a V-strap on the front to my ARB, and V-strap on the back to my hitch, and two straps holding it nice and snug to the rack. It doesn't budge and I've taken it down some pretty rough backwoods trails like that. Depending on how heavy the canoe is the only week point I could potentially see are the plastic roof rails that come on the Jeep, but an upgrade to steel would take care of that.

jeepcanoe by bmcguire, on Flickr

229012_10150975930451339_906595760_n by bmcguire, on Flickr

spoonplugger1 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:27 am

If you have a receiver make a T-bar that goes up the back and matches the angle of droop from front to back your roof rack has now. Gives a much nicer spread and allows a person to lighten up hull construction, if you like, as the T-bar spreads out the load
further out on the ends where wind side loading, or a bad gust won't tear your canoe into. I have front and back receivers on my 2005 CRD and I carry canoes, house remodeling supplies, etc. quite frequently. If I remember right my bar spread, front to back, is in the 14 ft range.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Wed Sep 19, 2012 12:28 am

Hopefully this thread will eventually get placed in the “outdoors” section of the forum to best preserve the knowledge and experience that was shared here.

Canoe on roof: 16 or 17 ft?

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