Car Racks for Sunfish sailboats

Parker Blezek

New Member
Hey all,
I'm a product design student at the University of MN and also a sailing enthusiast. I am designing a boat roof rack/topper and conducting a short survey to find how out how interested people are in my ideas. Here is my survey: Small Boat Transportation
I would greatly appreciate if you would take the survey! It should only take a couple minutes. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
 
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). ;)

.

.
 
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...

 
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...?

It's a Honda, these don't come with a towing point in the bumper
I remember you mentioned that earlier, and I am still thinking, how do you tow it then?

_
 
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). ;)

.

.
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.
 
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...

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.
 
Last edited:
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?

_
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?

_

I have a tow bar/hitch (whatever you want to call it) at the back for a trailer. But some cars (like my town-runabout Volkswagen) has round-shaped small 'port' in the front bumper. When you open it, you can insert a pin with an eye at the end. Just in case your car won't move under its own power. That gizmo is missing on the Honda. Granted, there's a contraption under the bumper near the front wheels. But running a line from there, up to to the bow of the Laser, will jeopardise the front bumper; at least it will damage the paint!

Further: what LaLi and I already noticed, the Polish solution is pretty expensive. But when you look at the construction (I sent them an email through FB and got a nice brochure from them in return) it's hard to imagine to make a less expensive unit and still make a profit. The whole contraption in the brochure looks like something I've seen when people want to transport their wheelchair on top of their car.

@ Parker: PM on its way!


Menno
 
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 :cool: :

Parker, did you see these "food-for-thought" ideas in a recent Sunfish-cartopper thread?

I have an idea!
 

Attachments

  • GEDC0057-002.JPG
    GEDC0057-002.JPG
    1.7 MB · Views: 89
There was an article in a recent Windward Leg edition bu Mark Kastel about car-topping a Sunfish. He offers some good information. It should be available on the class website.
 
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 :cool: :

Parker, did you see these "food-for-thought" ideas in a recent Sunfish-cartopper thread?

I have an idea!
Thanks so much for the feedback! Your solution looks great. Super secure. No I had not seen that thread - some really great ideas there.
 
The only difficulty I found with my little truck's mounting was that my various Sunfish were subject to 18-wheeler buffeting, and can shift on its axis CCW a few degrees. While it doesn't seem very substantial, the relatively thin S/S cable basically disappeared from the driver's seat view—and will be using it again.

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.
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.

Utilizing what appears to be the little cars' door frame gaps, a suitable roof rack could be devised for Sunfish.

Fullscreen capture 1182018 91326 AM.bmp.jpg


While I didn't give your design #1 much credit, I'm starting to agree with it. And I recommend that others here contribute to your research that begins in your post #1.

If your ideas catch on, there are going to be a lot of cheap trailers coming onto the market!

.
 

Back
Top