Car Topping

[Odyssey]

As to the one handed thing...I've often had the hitch turn into a one handed bow line kinda thing. Not quite the same as the truckers. I also love how reliable running half hitches are with the trailing rope end after the truckers. They look loosely knotted and not quite right as I see them through my windshield, the whole knot gallery stretching roof to bumper, but by gosh they stay put!

 

[Philtrum]

Trucker's hitch: you guys DO make a double twist before forming the loop, don't you?

 

[stripperguy]

So Stripperguy, do you buy the webbing in rolls, and then you cut and sew to required length? Interesting. I thought webbing was webbing, and all the same. So now you have me questioning if different ones have differing properties of strength and stretch. You're blowing my mind in slow motion.

Yes, rolls from The Rainshed, also my source for the ANCRA buckles.
There's tubular, flat woven, heavyweight, lightweight, you name it.
The nylon has good stretch, which I like because it can make up for some slackness in the initial cinching. But, it does grow quite a bit when wet, so if you tied your boats off the night before a trip, and it rains overnight, better check those straps before heading out in the morning.
The polypropylene doesn't exhibit that same wet growth behavior, but is attacked by ultraviolet, so those straps have a shorter life.

Should you decide to make your straps, just be sure to heat seal the cut edges, they'll fray so much that you can't get them into the buckle.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks Glenn and Stripperguy, I'm learning about webbing now. It's good to know, and the links are good too.
Phil, yeah I tie them properly, but sometimes in my one-handed haste the hitch turns into a single looped bow knot. Not the end of the world, but just not what I'd been looking for. Did I mention that I loove the truckers hitch?

 

[sweeper]

Trucker's hitch: you guys DO make a double twist before forming the loop, don't you?

Not sure what the 'double twist' is but with two quick pulls I've got a knot free rope.

 

[ppine]

What Odyssey said. Rope has lots of friction, the trucker's hitch let you get it as tight as you want. No buckles to ding the boat. I used to pack horses and it is the same technology. two ropes on top, one on each end.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The nylon has good stretch, which I like because it can make up for some slackness in the initial cinching. But, it does grow quite a bit when wet, so if you tied your boats off the night before a trip, and it rains overnight, better check those straps before heading out in the morning.
The polypropylene doesn't exhibit that same wet growth behavior, but is attacked by ultraviolet, so those straps have a shorter life.

Because nylon stretches when wet, there can also be unpleasant results when cinching down a boat tightly with wet nylon rope or straps. As it dries the rope or strap will shrink, possibly making the cinch too tight. I've seen light racing hulls damaged by such shrinking of nylon rope.

While polypropylene is somewhat more susceptible to UV damage than nylon, I've never experienced that as an issue for car topping straps, which only spend a short time of their lives in the sun (unlike open deck ropes on sailboats, for example). Black color delays the UV damage. I have polypro straps more than 20 years old that are still perfectly functional for car topping.

Polyester straps solve all the problems, in my opinion. Polyester is the most resistant material to UV and is also the most resistant to stretch. It also has a nicer hand than polypro, very similar to nylon. And it can be sublimation dyed into many interesting and lasting colors.

 

[Odyssey]

"Black color delays the UV damage." Amazing.
I've already picked my sublimated pattern...plaid. How cool is that?!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

"Black color delays the UV damage." Amazing.
I've already picked my sublimated pattern...plaid. How cool is that?!

Well, I've read that dying polypro straps a color delays UV damage and that black is probably the best protective coloration. I'm not sure there are scientific studies. I have noticed my green and orange straps have faded a lot more than my black ones.

If you're going polyester, then you don't have to worry about that stuff at all.

If you're going to have Strapworks (or anyone) make you cam buckle straps, I strongly recommend the sewn buckle pads for each metal buckle. The pads help avoid the metal buckle's scratching or chafing the hull.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Forgot something.

While I have used cam lock straps in preference to ropes for belly strapping on all my canoes and kayaks for 20 years now, I still use rope for the bow and stern tie down lines. In fact, I usually use my canoe painter lines.

Using web straps for stern and especially bow tie downs can prostitute your car topping pleasure with bad hum jobs.

 

[sloride]

Truckers Hitch can be made with any secure loop. I use the Alpine Butterfly just because I like it and it's simple to tie and quite secure. Give it a try

The straps I purchased have loops at both ends so it's just a matter of a truckers hitch and I have the canoe tied down.

 

[Guest]

I use straps over top and polo rope with truckers hitches front and back. My straps don't hum,but if yours do it's because they don't know the words.
Turtle

 

[oldschool]

Glenn, since putting a couple of twists in the belly straps eliminates the hum, I wonder if twisting bow and stern straps would have the same results.

 

[red langford]

I don't like the hum of straps.

Teach them the words.

Been using cam straps and nothing else for almost 20 years, travelled for days on the highways with them, for weeks at a time around the city and long arduous roads in the bush and never have lost a canoe

 

[Philtrum]

Re trucker's hitch: Make it like a simple quick-release knot and it's liable to get so tight it won't slip or come undone. That's why it's better to twist the rope twice (i.e., make a loop and then twist it again). That way it won't over-tighten. To look at it another way, it's a figure-8 knot with a quick-release.

 

[daveo4]

More than once I have seen boats broken from someone using ratchet straps.

 

[ppine]

Dave is right. Never use a ratchet on a canoe . You can break the spine.

 

[Odyssey]

Moderation helps. My hull is <50 lbs, which seems a bit flimsy up top there on a windy drive, but snugged down "just so", with two belly straps and ropes keeping bow and stern in place, I see no problems. You have to show restraint in retraining the hull. If you see the hull starting to deform as you tighten, then you've gone way past moderation IMO. I fear the greater danger on the highways, and have seen it myself; poorly fastened canoes flapping and shifting as the driver chugs his coffee. If they don't understand my frantic hand language, or flip me some rude hand signs of their own (I've had that happen) , then I slow waaay down and give them a couple miles headstart, and wonder of I may pick up a roadkill boat to call my own fixer upper.
Nothing wrong with rope. I have had it stretch while driving in pouring rain and high winds. Pulling over and checking out the load is always a good idea, even when you're sure everything's fine. Say, at every gas up or coffee stop. Only takes a minute to walk around the vehicle. I don't doubt damage can be done with over- tightening. I suppose moderation can be tricky.

 

[Odyssey]

Lordy lordy, look what I found!! I reached into my pile of ratchet straps, to see why there were blue ones in there I'd never seen before...and they were cam straps! It may be that someone left them in my box of straps this past summer, but I don't remember that. I used them to bundle up a futon mattress tonight, to haul upstairs. They worked great of course. I may trust them enough for the canoe next season, we'll see. If you leave ratchet straps alone long enough in storage, do they have a litter of cam straps?

 

[Holmes375]

Truckers Hitch can be made with any secure loop. I use the Alpine Butterfly just because I like it and it's simple to tie and quite secure. Give it a try

The straps I purchased have loops at both ends so it's just a matter of a truckers hitch and I have the canoe tied down.

Just looked into that Alpine Butterfly on Animated Knots - very slick loop knot indeed. Thank you for the heads-up.