Given the current stay at home order in Maryland, I think we all know where this thread will inevitably end up: A Mike McCrea 10-part series on whether it is more efficient to store cam straps coiled or un-coiled, both with and without rubber bumpers, all scientifically tested and photographically documented.
If I was a more frequent user of cam straps I’d be tempted, but video would be more helpful than photos. (ALSG and Ken, thanks for the videos; I’ll try that method next time I need to wrap up a cam strap. It does eliminate the rubber band issues).
For a guy who doesn’t use cam straps I have a crap load of them. A pair of cam straps came with every roof rack set up we have bought for the last 30 years and others accumulated as freebies. In the boat weighing photo there are four cam straps on the horses, and another four cam straps in the background holding the supports of some wall suspended boats.
There are four in the tripping truck, neatly rolled in a big stuff bag along with spare ropes, a PFD and a throw bag. There are another half dozen in a shop cabinet drawer, also neatly rolled. Tightly rolled a 15’ cam strap forms an oval 5 ½” x 3 ½”. A half dozen of those wadded up unrolled would need much bigger drawer, and would look like the first 15 seconds of the Ken’s NRS tangled video.
Even if they didn’t tangle they would take up too much room if left in a wad. I guess if I used them more frequently I might pull a Glenn and loosely fill a pack basket with them.
How about a trick to simple securing the extra strap after racking a canoe?
My wife still prefers cam straps when she racks a canoe on her car, and has her own set, cut down to less-excess-webbing size for her usual boat. Still a couple feet of extra webbing, which gets wrapped a few times around the end of the crossbar, with the bitter end tied off and tightened under the wrap.
Excess webbing length trimmed just like with belly line ropes, and just like with rope I don’t want so much excess that it could jostle free and end up under a tire. I’ve seen the aftermath of tires rolling over rope four times, and the result was not good, in four different ways; broke a windshield, shattered a composite hull & gunwales, ripped off a roof rack, tore a gouge in a van roof.
The Thule cam straps we have are (were) 15 feet long, way longer than needed when tightened over a single canoe. At least with NRS straps you can select an appropriate length.
https://www.nrs.com/product/1440/nrs-1-hd-tie-down-straps
I don't really trust people that coil up all their straps and secure them with a rubber band. Too OCD for me.
I went on a canoe trip with a guy my friend brought. He was great in the outdoors, nice guy. But we had sit around every morning waiting for him to unpack all of his equipment, organize it and repack it.
PPine, I can see how, on a raft, with dozens of straps, even belt sized 3 footers - I expect you didn’t use a 15 footer as a belt, with the excess stuffed
Happy to see you in your pants - carefully coiling each strap would be nonsense.
I am admittedly anal about
organization. Not quite OCD, but my shop is kept organized, with tools and materials put away after projects, or sometimes in the midst of projects when the benches gets too cluttered. When I have friends working in the shop I mostly scamper about behind them, putting no longer needed tools and materials back where they belong, and setting out the next things needed. Helps get the work done.
Same with the tripping truck, where a lot of stuff beyond the spare PFD, throwbag, rope and straps lives year round. There is a 12V float bag pump, jack platform, towing cable and chain, fire extinguisher, tire repair kit, jumper cables, flares, cable & padlock, axe, shovel, etc, etc, etc. The truck would be gawd awful cluttered if I just tossed things in willy-nilly; last thing I need is a tangle of straps.
My campsites are organized. Often, especially when I am away from camp, the only things visible are the tent and tarp. But after 45 years of tripping I have a system, and I can be quick about it.
The flip side of your OCD friend is a companion I once tripped with through the years. Nothing got put away, much less put away where it belonged. Sites looked like a tornado had blown through, it took him hours to pack up and, worst of all, he could
never find what he was looking for, making an even bigger mess tossing things around in search of some missing item.
Car camping with him was a comical nightmare; envision a picnic table absolutely mounded with stuff, tabletop and benches too. If there were two picnic tables he would occlude both. Still couldn’t find anything.
To each their own; for my most frequent use, grabbing a single strap to weigh a hull, I’ll fold them a time or two, roll them tight and put them away.
50 Shades of cam straps. Or at least four, we have blue, red, black and green. Colorblind those variations do me little good, and I oughta Sharpie the strap lengths on the buckles.
Brad, something you said did give me a cam strap storage idea. I promise to keep it under 50 words and a couple or three photos ;-)
PC170120 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
P4090004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
