You've just bought a new kayak and now it's time to load it onto your car and take it home. All you have to do is tie it down to the roof rack and you are on your way. Simple, right? Not exactly. Properly tying down your yak will mean the difference of keeping your yak or car in one piece. More importantly, it will prevent you from creating an accident and possibly hurt others or cause damage to their property. It's highly recommended you use bow and stern tie down straps that attach to your bumpers to add additional control of your yak while its in transit. This article will address only how to use the tie down straps on your luggage rack.
The pictures below will show you how I tie down my yak and secure the straps to prevent it from unraveling while you are on the road. I have two foam blocks and straps and both are tied down exactly the same way in the pictures below. The front of my car is to the right. This is impor Enlarge
STEP 1 Here is my yak up on some foam blocks, that are attached on my luggage rack. Notice my scupper hole to the right of the hanging strap (for demonstration purposes here). This should be over your foam block to add strength to the hull when you cinch down the straps and stop the straps and foam block from denting the bottom of your hull. Also, you can see the cam buckle on the left of the strap. What you don't see is that the strap has been thrown over the top of the yak, to the other side, and looped underneath the crossbeam of my luggage rack and then thrown back over the top to where it started to arrive at this point.
STEP 2
Now I have added twists into the strap, threaded it through the hole in my luggage rack, and passed it through the cam buckle. The twists in the strap prevents it from vibrating during highway speeds and threading it through the hole in the luggage rack prevents the yak from sliding from side to side after turns.
STEP 3
Now, take the tag end and form a loop like in the picture. Remember, the front of the car is to the right.
STEP 4
Take the loop and wind it behind the strap that is cinched by the cam buckle forming another loop.
STEP 5
Now, thread the first loop through the second loop and tighten it down with a few good tugs. It should look something like this when you are done.
STEP 6
Now, form another loop like in STEP 3 and slip the loose end through the new loop and tighten down again.
STEP 7
After you snug down the knot a second time, it should look something like this. Notice the loose loop will be facing the back of the car. The reason why you want the loose loop end to the left is because the wind will push against the knot and the loose end. In this fashion, the wind will keep the knot tight. If the loose loop was facing the front of the car, the wind will eventually loosen your knot and may lead to the whole strap coming loose and result in a tragedy. The straps in the pics are nylon and have a tendency of stretching, so you should frequently check to make sure everything is good and tight during your travels.