I remember you mentioned that earlier, and I am still thinking, how do you tow it then?It's a Honda, these don't come with a towing point in the bumper
Thanks for the response - super helpful. Yeah design #3 seems a bit flimsy to me as well. It would probably need to be significantly beefier to take the weight of a Sunfish. I like your suggestions for #2. I am thinking of making a modified version of it like you suggested. And yes, each design will probably require some kind of motor, hydraulic, etc. which I didn't really make clear. Then again, I want to keep things as simple as possible while making it as easy for the user as possible.Simple, fun to participate, and nicely presented.
Questions:
You've used a Sunfish as an example: isn't a Sunfish too heavy for design #3?
In example #2, why not include a bridle to:
1) raise the boat deck-up,
2) reduce the strain on the bow handle, and
3) use the pointy-end to guide the boat "on tracks"?
In each case, why not suggest the manner of effort? Hydraulic, hand-crank, cables, gravity, leverage, manual, electric, wrench, girlfriend? (Winch or wench).
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah - especially on smaller suv's like the one I showed a Sunfish is pretty big. And figuring out how to properly secure both the rack and the boat on top of the rack will be a whole other issue to tackle.First, let me congratulate you with the fact that you've all the right things:
- designing several models/options
- ask around at the right spot (here)
- presented it very explanatory
Sadly, what you have in mind, already exists... But at a price! 900 euros in Europe. And TBH, I've never seen one 'in the wild'.
Btw, what bothers me more is the fact that a lot of roof racks nowadays are so close together. In my old 'Volvo-days', I was able to spread the front and rear bar as far as possible to make it as stable as possible to hold a boat on the roof. Nowadays, my Honda CR-V has fixed points, pretty close together. When I put my boat on the roof on those bars, I'm always afraid that I will end up with some sort of see-saw when driving. "Oh, but then you should run a (teether)line from the bow to the towing point in the front bumper!" Uhhhh, no. It's a Honda, these don't come with a towing point in the bumper (neither does the EU version of the Toyota RAV4 for that matter...
Good point. I guess the point of the "steps" was just to bring the boat up a bit higher to make the final lift a bit easier. It might also make it slightly easier for a single person to raise the boat up - if you have two people the whole process is obviously much easier but I think a rack/topper that gives you the mechanical advantage could be useful regardless.Nice ideas, but as Menno just showed, the best alternative (number 1) has already been invented (and refined - the "steps" are really unnecessary) by the Poles! It has appeared more than once before on these pages, but I haven't seen it being sold anywhere for a long time, and I also recall that the price tag was definitely on the high side. Would you have to go to Kraków to get one...?
I remember you mentioned that earlier, and I am still thinking, how do you tow it then?
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Nice ideas, but as Menno just showed, the best alternative (number 1) has already been invented (and refined - the "steps" are really unnecessary) by the Poles! It has appeared more than once before on these pages, but I haven't seen it being sold anywhere for a long time, and I also recall that the price tag was definitely on the high side. Would you have to go to Kraków to get one...?
I remember you mentioned that earlier, and I am still thinking, how do you tow it then?
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Thanks so much for the feedback! Your solution looks great. Super secure. No I had not seen that thread - some really great ideas there.I routinely car-top my Sunfish(es) about 1500 miles.
Carried upside-down and backwards, I threaded a 1/16" diameter S/S cable through a 2-foot garden hose section. The bottom end was secured from the center of a chain bridle stretched between two stationary points underneath the truck. The top end was attached to a 3/8" bolt through the Sunfish's gudgeon. The hose was then threaded through a short length of "swim noodle" to protect the truck's finish. (The reason for the thin S/S cable was to avoid the distraction of any heavier a line).
Here, I'm using materials "at hand" to drive my Sunfish purchase across a highway—but you get the idea:
Parker, did you see these "food-for-thought" ideas in a recent Sunfish-cartopper thread?
I have an idea!
While scouting for self-driving cars, I noted that Consumer Reports magazine has photos of roof racks for their fairly large fleet of autonomous cars.Thanks for the reply. Yeah - especially on smaller suv's like the one I showed a Sunfish is pretty big. And figuring out how to properly secure both the rack and the boat on top of the rack will be a whole other issue to tackle. The rack in the video is pretty similar to design 1 and 3. The next step in the process is to do a thorough check online to make sure I'm not accidentally copying anyone too closely. I will do patent searches as well to make sure. That said, I'm hoping to make a consumer-level product for weekend boaters that won't break the bank which it sounds like this existing product is not.