Cheap and Easy Cartop Canoe Carrier

Have you got a canoe you want to carry to the lake and only have your sedan to carry it on.  No roof rack? So how do you haul your canoe without buying an expensive strap on canoe rack?  Easy Peasy.  Everything you need is down at Wal-Mart and won't cost more than twenty or thirty bucks.

Here's what you need to pick up:

Three Styrofoam swim "noodles" - the kind with the hole in the middle as shown at the right.

Two racheting tie-down Straps

Here are the tools you need:

1 hunting knife or sharp butcher knife
Tape measure

What else you need:

Canoe with a rope loop at the the bow and stern
Your car

Here's how to do this:

This canoe "rack" doesn't attach to your car, won't scratch your paint and hooks up in less than ten minutes.

Here are the steps:

1. Lay the canoe on the grass right side up as shown.

2. Measure the length of the gunwales (the edge of the canoe) between the thwarts.

3. Split the two Styrofoam noodles lengthwise down one side so that you cut halfway through the noodle as shown at the right.

4. Cut the noodles to fit between the stern thwart and the center thwart and between the bow thwart and the center thwart.

5.  Spread the noodle sections apart and slip them over the the gunwales.  This creates a secure Styrofoam padding on the gunwales where they will touch the roof of the car.  Wipe the noodles to make sure there is no sand on them.  Attached, the noodles look like the picture below.

6. Clean any dirt off the top of the car. Sand between the noodles and the cartop can scratch the finish.

7.  Flip the canoe over and set it on top of the car with the bow and stern extending equally over the front and back of the car (not the passenger cabin).

8.  Run the ratchet tie-down through the rope loop and hook the end hooks under the bumper in front. There are two towing loops under the frame in front that are used in the manufacturing process. They are perfect for attaching the ratchet straps.

9.  Tighten the straps lightly Do the same thing in the back of the car with the second ratchet strap as shown at the right.

10.  Split the third Styrofoam noodle and wrap it around the ratchet straps anywhere it touches the car hood or bumpers to protect the car.

11. Tighten each ratchet strap a little at a time till the canoe is pulled down tight on top of the car's cabin and the canoe rides level.

You don't need a center strap. The 4 point tie-down you've created is very secure and gives you pressure from 4 directions that keeps the canoe from sliding.

Now wasn't that fun (and cheap).   See you on the river.

Tom King