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Knots and Car Topping for Novices


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What kind of knots are people using to secure and tie together their painters?  
Should I be using a double fisherman's knot, zepplin knot, something else?  Currently I have joined the two ends with a Flemish bend (figure 8 bend).
I ask because I plan on travelling to South Dakota with my kayak (4 hours on the highway) and I want something that is strong and secure for the bow and stern lines.  
I want to be as safe as possible.  I do not want to lose my boat, but more importantly I do not want to endanger the lives of others.
 
On a somewhat related note.  For those who use J-Racks and straps what are you doing with the extra length of strap both around the bars and for the bow and stern?  I have seen varying options and opinions scouring the vast information source that is the world wide web.  
 
I want to be extra safe travelling on the highways.  I am more than a bit paranoid.  Thanks in advance.
 

 

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EDIT: Just realized you were talking about tying the painter to the boat! 

I thought you meant tie it to the car through the painters.

 

What ever you are comfortable with.  I prefer a truckers hitch and bowline knots and I keep the knots where I can see it if possible. Bow line is pretty easy to see if it loosens on you. Stern you can't see but it is not as important either.

 

Speaking of bow lines, have you ever seen one of these? Easy to make. I put them on all my vehicles even though I rare use the roof rack. You can find an existing bolt to put it under. 

 

My Caddy had such a short roof I had to use these everything I hauled a boat.  I would just loop the rope around the boat instead of the painter because the strap were 2-2.5 fee behind the tip of the bow. It is handy spot to tie off to and everything is in plain site while you drive down the road. Doesn't damage the paint either.

 

hpim1115.jpg

 

I use j-racks on my trailer nothing has worked great. But I recently saw a great idea. A buddy of mine had Velcro straps, he folded the excess up and then using the Velcro to wrap and tie the bundle up to the strap. I have seen these for organizing computer cables and electrical cords. Best idea I have seen yet.

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I always use ropes, and use bowlines, round turns, half hitches, and fraps.

I always tie the body of the boat to the racks, however, depends on the boat, you know. Then, I double a length of rope and put a loop in the middle. The loop goes around the bow, or stern, and the legs go out and down to tie points. I always do both ends.

I am not genteel about putting bolts or screws through my cars, so I usually put eyebolts through the car in a convenient place, usually right about shin level. I miss the over rider bars on our old bug's bumpers...

The reason I like rope better than straps is precisely the extra length issue. Rope is easy to tie or tuck in place and not flap around.

Those little strappity dos Kudzu just posted are really cool.

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Thank you both for the advice.  Fortunately the Subaru has tie down points on the frame both front and back.  That being said  those straps are pretty neat.  I might have to make a pair.  The Velcro is another neat idea and I happen to have some of those cable organizers so I'll give them a try.

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Yesterday we made our weekly trip to look for wood and found some. We tied some stuff on the roof rack with the ropes that are always in the trunk. Problem is, one too long, one too short.

The answer was to use the long one. As for the end, literally long enough to play jump rope with in the parking lot (good thing they know me)? Easy. We were running the 4/50 AC, so my big boy just belayed it on the door handle inside, and coiled the end up at his feet!

I probably wouldn't do that if I was driving far, though.:)

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When I carry a kayak on the roof I run a line across the roof at a slight diagonal, under the rooftop crossbar, put the kayak on the carrier, then toss each end of the line over the top of the kayak and tie it to the end of the crossbar - using what I've always heard referred to as a "truckers' hitch" (the line goes through an eye - or hole - then back through a loop in the line between the load and the hole, then it is pulled tight and tied off with whatever knot you trust). The kayak ends up inside a loop held down on the rack. Since the loops are ahead of and behind the widest part of the boat they resist movement either forward or backward. Then I use the bow and stern painters to tie the boat to web loops like the ones in Jeff's photo.

 

I've never had a boat show any noticeable movement since I started using this system. I prefer not to discuss what prompted me to start using this system. It is possible to damage a kayak by overtightening any of the lines, I so just get the lines snug and rely on the redundancy of the loops around the hull along with the bow and stern lines to hold the boat in place. I also check the lines frequently during transport - nylon stretches.

 

Because I'm a cheap old man, I don't cut the rope to eliminate any excess; I toss it in the back and slam the hatch.

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LOL :).

 

I am on my way there.  Personally I prefer frugal over cheap.    I've been watching far too many YouTube demonstrations of securing a kayak to a roof rack, both with rope, and with straps.  I want to know how to do both just in case the straps break or if I ever find myself in a situation with rope only.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For bow and stern lines, I use 3/16 inch rope that I tension with a modified trucker's hitch, which uses an alpine butterfly knot as the tensioning "pulley." DURRETTD explains their use up above.

When I bought my racks, they came with a couple of long straps to use for the bow and stern lines. If you don't twist them up, they will flap all over the place while you drive, which is pretty distracting when in front of the windshield. If you don't trim the length of the strap (because you haul different length boats), then you have to deal with the excess tail too. I've found that rope is way simpler.

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