Need a little advice about securing boat

I just installed a roof rack onto the bed of my tacoma. I'm not sure whether I should carry the boat upside down on the deck or let it sit flat on the underside of the hull. I tried it upside down age couldn't really find much flat deck space.


The other thing is when I had the boat loaded on the rack the was a small white plug that seemed to have been pulled out a bit. It's right in front of the hole for the mirage drive on the underside of the hull. I was able to push the plug back in. There doesn't seem to be an oring being it so it doesn't seem like it should be water tight.





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The white plug is mostly cosmetic. They covers brass inserts that are molded into the hull when manufactured. They might help minimize drag.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

I'm not sure if I'm seeing it right but it looks like you have the kayak lying right on top of the crossbar with a pad under it.
This will cause hull deformation when you strap it down. You should get some saddles to mount to the rack and put the kayak in them with the bottom of the kayak in the saddle

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domromer:
Looks a lot better than your old setup, I had no idea your truck bed was so short. What I would do is possibly add a removable rack over the cab to give you 3 contact points, this way you can strap the bow down on longer trips.

I have tried several different types of blocks like salty dawg is suggesting and have had terrible luck with all of them, ended up removing them all and going with more contact points, and padding on the x-bars. Keep in mind when you strap the boat down your AMA's will be right against the side of the boat, and help support the boat by the sides (you can't do this when you have the blocks). I also have my sail stuffed in between the AMA and the hull which give more support.
What I have on my trailer which works really well is 1" or 1 1/2" PVC pipe mounted on 11 inch centers parallel to the boat connecting the racks. The TI has 2 ribs on 11 inch centers on the underside that run the full length of the boat, these work great for guiding the boat when loading, and keeps the boat from sliding side to side, and also support the boat nice and evenly.
Not sure you would need the tubes to extend all the way to the front rack over the cab, but for sure the two rear ones over the bed. If you extend the tubes back a little behind the rear support a few inches it might help guide the boat when loading (preventing the front of the boat from getting out of control (sideways) when you lift the back, that has happened to me with my T-bar, and it scratched the side of my wifes car badly).
Me and quite a few guys have been using the PVC rails setup for quite a while. We just slide the boat right on the pvc tubing, we don't bother adding anything else.

Another thing I have done on all my TI's is add additional support inside the hull down the center (this prevents the hull from deforming). If you look inside the hull (look in the 8" hatches) you will notice giant grey floatation blocks running down the center of the boat. What I do is I take a 1/8" (or 3/16") x 1 1/2" or 2" x (about) 3ft long piece of aluminum and place it in the center on the top of the foam. I then build up above the foam with more foam (and sometimes spacers) to fill the gap between the top of the foam and the underside of the top deck. This adds a huge amount of strength to the underside of the hull. It just happens on my roof rack, the cross bars fall under those foam re-enforcements so I have no difficulties with hull deformation when I'm car topping, and I have the PVC bars on my trailer so have no problems with hull deformation.

Another optional point that might help, is at least on my hitch mounted T-bar it is convertible between a bead extender or a roof rack depending on which way you mount it (yours might not be the same design). If your is, if you were planning a longer trip you could add the hitch mounted T bar for additional support for the rear of the boat (a 4th contact point). On mine at least my rear contact point (strapped to the T-bar) holds the majority of the weight of my TI, the bar has 500 lbs capacity and I try to have that Tbar carry as much of the weight as possible (vs the stock roof racks on our Denali)
Hope this helps
Bob

IMO, your racks are too close together. I have an older Tacoma with a square tow hitch receiver. I bought an "extend-a-truck" L-shaped and T-bar, attached my yakima cradles to it and put a yakima bar over the cab with cradles. To load, I wheel the AI to the tailgate, lift the bow up and place it on the raised tailgate (with a carpet or life jacket over it to protect the hull), walk around and lift the stern while pushing it foreward to the front cradles, then swing the stern into the rear cradles. I would never load an AI upright unless there were cradles under it to the hull doesn't deform.

Thanks for the feedback I ended up flipping it upside down today. I read in the owners manual that the deck can support the weight with no issue so I think I'm happy with this new set up. It's kinda a pain to get it up that high but it was ok.

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I noticed the way you tied the bow down to your front bumper and was thinking about the scuffing the rope will do to the paint and plastic.
Maybe you could bolt a brass cleat with a backing plate as a hood ornament to help secure the bow, accessorize your Tacoma, and display to the world that you sail.
I'm just saying, after all, people from Texas put horns on the front hood of their vehicles.

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It's a work truck, scruffing give it more character...you should see the condition of the bed. When tacoma started making the plastic composite beds I don't think they had real working trucks in mind...it would look good with a set of steer horns though.

I've got the same truck (almost, a Frontier) and the same racks. I added the third rack over the cab (front doors). It made all the difference having three support points, as well as making it more stable up front.

To answer the question, I transport it right-side up, using the kayak saddles on the bow and stern. The bow saddles support the bow clear of the rack; the middle bar (the forward bar on the bed) has a rack pad on it, and the aft bar has saddles combined with a rack pad. Akas and mast ride sidesaddle on the rig as well.
-RH

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2013 Tandem Island "Victory Lane"
Oahu, Hawaii
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