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Load stabilizers

Joined
Jan 3, 2015
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Mid coast, Maine
I have these for the square Thule bars, they have never been used. I was given some square tube that I attached to the Subaru roof rails and bought these to go with them but found out these would have to be attached tight where the roof rails are. The straps of course I used and will be keeping but why I’ve kept these for about 15 years I have no clue. I just want to pass them on to someone that will use them. I’ll even pay the shipping.

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If they are still available, I will take you up on that! Really generous of you. I am using cut swim noodles when strapping anything on with wood gunwales that isn’t already beat up.

I can message you my address.

Bob
 
We have those gunwale stops on a couple of Thule bars and they work very well.

They go on and off the crossbar easily, unlike some Yakima stops, and have never “walked”, even on washboard roads; I think it helps that the gunwales rest on the foot of an L, and the ropes or straps go around a horizontal [ on the bottom of the stops.

One caution; with some canoes where the shouldered tumblehome is very near the sheerline the vertical part of the L makes contact with the hull before the gunwales. I’d rather have the base of the stops pressing against the gunwale than have the stop pressing against the edge of the hull. Easy solution is to put the gunwale stops inside the hull instead of outside.

That inside positioning can be necessary when carrying two canoes. Each of those gunwale stop is 4 ½” wide. If you use two stops per boat on each crossbar when carrying two canoes, 4 ½” x 4 = yikes, 18 inches of crossbar space occluded just by the stops.

Boatman, that was a very generous offer, last time I looked those Thule gunwale stops were something like $70 for a set of four.

EDIT: The redesign of those Thule gunwale stops cost. . . . .$140

https://www.rei.com/product/871132/...ViLzACh0HMAclEAQYASABEgIl3_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
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Thanks for that info Mike. All thoughts I’ve had but as I said I never used them.
As far as generous, this whole site is generous and just doing my part. Glad to be a part of it too. A while back due to a discussion on frying pans someone offered to send me a cold handle pan no charge, I thanked him and was blown away when I received three different sizes!
So just passing on the goodness.
Jim
 
You were pretty darn close on the pricing, Mike. Just saw some stickers on the box, originally $66 but I got them on sale for $55. Glad they are going to someone that will use them.
Jim
 
I also have a set of those and they work well. I move them around a lot for different boats, and although they look like garden variety plastic they have held up well.

I also have the issue that for some boats (tandems on a small Subaru) there isn't enough room for the stops and the boat between the towers holding the crossbars to the rails. In those situations I use just two of the stops on one side (the passenger side, by habit). With that setup the stops prevent the boat from slipping to the right in the obvious way. Moreover, they also prevent the boat from slipping to the left because of the way the straps are captured in a notch on the bottom of the stop -- if the boat attempts to slip left with the right hand side strap position fixed, that requires some slack from the strap and the tension of the strap resists. Hard to describe but anyway if you don't have room to use all four, use two on one side.
 
I've also found that just two load stops can be very effective. Just butt them tight up against the towers. Then strap the boat so it's pulled hard towards the load stops. I loop the strap around the boat and the end of the bar that sticks out past the tower.

When you don't have much bar span another opton is to install the load stops "backwards" so they hold the boat on the inside of the gunwales instead of the outside. It may take a little more fiddling to get them spaced apart at just the right distance.

Kudos to Boatman. I have a set of those load stops too and they have given me a lot of reliable service.
 
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