How strong are padeyes? Good for tying down to roof rack?

Hi, just got my Oasis and figuring out how best to tie it down to the roof rack on my car.

So far, upside down seems best (rails are stiffer than hull bottom), aft toward front of car (that way the rudder is aerodynamic), and passing the strap through the scupper holes provides best front to back stability.

I want to use an aft bungie padeye to clip the aft line to rather than the handle which is stuck under the rudder. Will the padeye be strong enough?

Thanks!

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2011 Oasis - Lunalilo Express
2012 Revo 11 - Lunalilo

I don't have an Oasis but car-topping a yak with a rudder aft first seems like a bad idea. Seems like the wind can rip it off that way. If it's down behind the boat it would be safer, I've towed my TI with both the old and new style rudders up with no problem.

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It's a good Life, Let's sail!

iHop

Dune TI - 6/4/2011
Camas, WA

Many of the pad eyes are just installed with sheet metal screws through the plastic. For their intended purpose, this is fine.

However, using them as tie-down points is likely beyond their intended purpose. Unless you wish to go inside the hull and install machine screws with washers and locknuts on the pad eyes, I'd opt for tossing ropes over hull and using a "trucker's hitch" to bind it down. That's nearly foolproof and far more reliable than hooking to a pad eye.

Chexone,
I wouldn't like to rely on a plastic padeye to prevent the hull moving. The padeye itself could break or the whole fitting could be pulled out of the hull as it just a thin plastic thread cut into the hull.
The metal padeyes are much stronger. They are actually machine screwed to a molded in brass fitting and not just self tapped into the plastic.
A line loop wrapped right around the stern using the padeyes (in shear) to prevent slipping would be a better tie off point to prevent uplift.

What stringy says.

I've loaded the Oasis forward and backward -- the boat rides fine either way with no rudder issues as long as the rudder is stowed.

Thanks for the replies. Consensus appears to be that I should NOT use the padeyes. The metal thing to which the carrying handles are attached, are those called padeyes too? Since they're made to carry the weight of the kayak I assume it's safe to tie to those?

Islandhoppa27' when the rudder is stowed, it actually points toward the bow, so it seems to me that loading it aft forward would put less pressure on it.

Oldyaker, I read your post about extra parts and I don't see what it has to do wit padeyes. You tie ropes to those extra parts?

Rope over hull sounds good. About to look up "truckers hitch"

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2011 Oasis - Lunalilo Express
2012 Revo 11 - Lunalilo

I used to carry my Adventure on top of my truck, my padeyes are SS. The overhang on each end was a little more than I was comfortable with so I used the padeyes to provide some extra support. Never took up much tension on them to try to tie the kayak down, but, felt it would keep the kayak from going left or right.

Have a trailer now and use the front padeye to secure the bow on the trailer.

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I'm right 98% of the time. The other 3% I don't worry about.

I have found the easies way to transport is in kayak cradles - loading is easier & strapping down is easier (strap tension is much less of an issue since the cradles are grippy & the kayak is hardly likely to jump out of them sideways if there's any kind of tension in the straps).

I always travel with my boats stern to front of car: the rudder then doesn't have to be bungeed (in case I forget to do it) and if someone walks into the overhanging end at the rear of the car they are less likely to damage themselves on the smooth kayak hull than on the angular rudder assembly)

Use of the padeyes to tie the yak down definitely not recommended IMO.

Good info guys. Thanks.

I tried the Yakima kayak cradles, and you're right, the stickiness is nice. What I didn't like about them was that they created depressions in the hull after a while. (Note that this may have been due to user error, as I may have been tightening the straps too much).

Also, I'm (perhaps incorrectly) guessing that loading it hull UP makes it more aerodynamic. Maybe, maybe not.

No padeyes for tiedowns... that seems clear now

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2011 Oasis - Lunalilo Express
2012 Revo 11 - Lunalilo