Car-toppable?

R

Reyeswalker

New Member
As you'll soon be able to tell, I'm new. :O)

I learned on a laser, have sailed them quite a bit, but never owned one. So, I've never had to transport one. Now I'm looking to buy one, but am hoping I'll be able to skip the trailer. Is it possible (and safe?) to carry a laser on a roof rack? Am I a twit? Thanks in advance!
 
L-P Gauhtier said:
http://drlaser.org/plfCarTip.html http://drlaser.org/plfCarTop.htm
Click to expand...

Using the technique described on the "car tipping" page I can easily get a laser onto the top of my minivan by myself (I'm middle aged, 5'10" and in fair to OK condition but not a gorilla by any means) I haven't yet figured out how to get it down without help, though. I end up with the laser standing on its stern leaning against the side of the van, and I just can't make the leap of faith involved in pulling it backwards towards me to catch it as it falls.
 
I have to admit that I'm in love with my Aluminum trailer/dolly (a custom Trailex knockoff). It's light enough that I can launch right off it, and it makes it easy to drive over to a different (local) lake from where I normally sail for the Sunday evening race.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
I'd love to help you out Chris but I have never used those techniques to car top my boat... I guess the solution is get make some freidns & bring them wherever you go with your boat to help you out :p
 
Before I had my trailer and dolly made for my Laser I used to car top. The Laser is supposed to be a one-person boat, so often it does not make sense to have to drag she-who-must-be-obeyed down to the waters edge to help the boat on and off the car-top.

I made up a set of roofracks for the car, which were made from a C-shaped box aluminium (three sides of a square tube!). I made a frame that had pegs that would slide along inside these "rails" which allowed me to slide the frame all the way to the edge of the rails, then drop down onto the ground. I then rolled the Laser upsidedown onto the frame, and then by picking up the bottom edge of the frame, I was able to lift the entire system to the same height of the car-top, then push the frame to slide the boat onto the car. From there I just tied the boat down to the roofracks. (I hope this makes sense!)

The problem with this system was, altough I could get the hull on to and off the roof of the car, I still couldnt get the boat into the water without dragging it across the land. Another person was still required to assist. Also after a hard day sailing it did take some strength to lift the entire boat single-handedly onto the roof.

My recommendation, get a trailer and dolly.


Hope this helps.
 
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