Carrying sails on car roof - can it be done cheaply?
Paul Roberts
: Can anyone suggest an inexpensive method of transporting *monofilm* sails
: on the roof of a car (I do have a rack)? It seems to me that for monofilm
: sails it is necessary to use a hard box of some sort, e.g. Thule; however
: these suckers are expensive and I wouldn't be using it enough to justify
: the cost. I recall seeing advertized a quiver bag w/ straps for use on a
: roof rack, but I really have a hard time picturing motoring along at 60 mph
: or more w/ this setup.
Is this really a problem? At the moment I just throw my sails in the back of
my vanagon, but with my old car I had everything on the roof rack. I just
put down the board(s) first, then put the sails (in their sail-bags/quivers)
on, with the boom ontop of everything, and just strapped tight. I've never
driven 60 mph like this though (not even allowed in Norway), but at 50-55
mph it worked ok.
Paul.
--
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Paul Roberts * I think the optimum choice in the *
* University of Trondheim, Norway * circumstances would be some kind *
* * of lightweight throwing toaster. *
* email: pa...@nvg.unit.no * - Hugh Laurie - *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jim Robinson
Can anyone suggest an inexpensive method of transporting *monofilm* sails
on the roof of a car (I do have a rack)? It seems to me that for monofilm
sails it is necessary to use a hard box of some sort, e.g. Thule; however
these suckers are expensive and I wouldn't be using it enough to justify
the cost. I recall seeing advertized a quiver bag w/ straps for use on a
roof rack, but I really have a hard time picturing motoring along at 60 mph
or more w/ this setup.
Any suggestions welcome.
--
Jim Robinson
Motorola - Wireless Data Group; Richmond, BC
robi...@mdd.comm.mot.com
{ubc-cs!van-bc,uunet}!mdivax1!robinson
radi...@cc.memphis.edu
> roof rack, but I really have a hard time picturing motoring along at 60 mph
> or more w/ this setup.
>
> Any suggestions welcome.
> --
> Jim Robinson
> Motorola - Wireless Data Group; Richmond, BC
> robi...@mdd.comm.mot.com
> {ubc-cs!van-bc,uunet}!mdivax1!robinson
>
placing them outside of my car. Since I get so little good wind near home
the nearest sailing site must be reached in the shortest possible time
resulting in dangerous feats of distance vs. time.
Seriously, though I have had good results with putting 5 to 6 sails into
one quiver bag and securing the bag to the roof racks. This seems to allow
for enough stability to take them up to highway speeds (and a little more).
As long as the bag was fairly full of sails and didn't have too much loose
material it worked pretty well.
I also managed to get my hands on some 8" PVC drainage pipe,
as well as manufacturing tubes from 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms knocked
out, but the weight made my Nissan Sentra list to port.
Hope this helps. I finally bought a van and stuff it all indoors.
Robb
Robert A. Dickson
radi...@cc.memphis.edu
Joakim Wiklund
(Jim Robinson) wrote:
>
> Can anyone suggest an inexpensive method of transporting *monofilm* sails
> on the roof of a car (I do have a rack)?......
By fastening a platic pipe on your roof you will be able to transport both
mastpieces (two part mast) and a monofilm sail on top of your car without
damageing then.
I use a sewagepipe (unused ofcourse) with a diameter of 25 cm (10") and a
length of 2.5 meters (about 8.5 feet). I have made special fasteners to
make i simple to mount and demount the pipe. Its also easy to put two pipes
on top of each others if you like to be able to have many sails at the same
time.
The pipe costed about 10$. Nice price, is南t it.
Ed Bustya
that has straps so you can strap the quiver on top of a board (not to the
roof rack as others have suggested). I have this bag,
which I use for trips down South in the winter, and the airlines have not
been able to destroy it. I think it would be the ticket for what you need.
The straps are attached at the bottom of the bag, so when you cinch them down, they
won't crunch those fragile mono sails. And the board that you attach it all
to acts as the solid bottom, to keep the sails from bending and the bag
from being tossed by the 65-85 mph :^) wind.
Of course, I'm not affiliated with North Wave, but I spend a lot of money
at their place. They make really good stuff.
-------------------
Ed Bustya
n4...@oregon.cray.com (consulting at Cray Research)
WindWriter Software, Inc. Specializing in:
P.O. Box 6092 On-Line Product Demonstrations
Aloha, OR 97007-0092 On-Line Documentation
(503) 629-0619 Multimedia Presentations
AeroNautical Software for
the Windsurfing Industry
Trevor Pretty - SE Auckland, NZ
Trying to catch a ferry in France I had a softe quiver bag at a shade under
95 mph - car wouldn't go any faster :-)
No problems. You don't NEED a hard box.
Regards Trevor
Frank Newman
pass a tie-down strap through the loops and to our roof rack. This setup has
worked fine for the past two years.
Wayne Berthiaume
> Jim Robinson (robi...@mdd.comm.mot.com) wrote:
>
> : Can anyone suggest an inexpensive method of transporting *monofilm* sails
> : on the roof of a car (I do have a rack)? It seems to me that for monofilm
> : sails it is necessary to use a hard box of some sort, e.g. Thule; however
> : these suckers are expensive and I wouldn't be using it enough to justify
> : the cost. I recall seeing advertized a quiver bag w/ straps for use on a
> : roof rack, but I really have a hard time picturing motoring along at 60 mph
> : or more w/ this setup.
>
> my vanagon, but with my old car I had everything on the roof rack. I just
> put down the board(s) first, then put the sails (in their sail-bags/quivers)
> on, with the boom ontop of everything, and just strapped tight. I've never
> driven 60 mph like this though (not even allowed in Norway), but at 50-55
> mph it worked ok.
>
> Paul.
>
> --
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> * Paul Roberts * I think the optimum choice in the *
> * University of Trondheim, Norway * circumstances would be some kind *
> * * of lightweight throwing toaster. *
> * email: pa...@nvg.unit.no * - Hugh Laurie - *
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Before I bought a Thule box, now I use a Windwagon and the Thule is
for my skis, I used the North Sails quiver bag. I would strap it to my board
and go. I've traveled in excess of 80mph with that configuration and used it
on 900 mile trips. I do prefer the Windwagon. It's more areodynamic and makes
for a cleaner package on my roof. =%^)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Berthiaume wa...@wally-gator.us.dg.com
"One man can make a difference and every man should try." -unknown
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wilhelm Eickhoff x527
getting my 7.5m sail inside the car with enough space left for people.
Just throwing it on the roofrack in a bag and tying it down hard would
cause untold damage to the monofilm. Like permanent creases that will
eventually turn into cracks.
After much deliberation I went and bought a lenght of pvc drainpipe.
6 inch (150mm) diameter and cut it to the lenght of my sail.
Rolled up tightly the sail fits in nicely. The ends are capped with
plastic caps from the Plumbing supplier.
The tube is held onto the two roofrack bars with 2" wide rubber rings
cut from an old truck or tractor inner tube. String 2 or 3 together for
the right lenght. Loop them around the bar, over the sail-tube and pull
them over the protruding ends of the rack (thule).
You can fix one or two mast along the tube at the same time.
Use more tubes for more sails. I tried to get large diameter tube to fit
more than one sail into, but it gets very expensive for anything over
6 inches. and also too heavy.
This setup will cost you about $20 per tube including caps.
Bill
Scott Smith
> I spent a few months thinking about this one, because I have problems
>getting my 7.5m sail inside the car with enough space left for people.
>Just throwing it on the roofrack in a bag and tying it down hard would
>cause untold damage to the monofilm. Like permanent creases that will
>eventually turn into cracks.
I spent a few seconds thinking about this one...and winched the sail
to the roof! After a number of such treatments, the monofilm doesn't
look too much worse for it, but it does show some signs. Its
interesting that only the bottom 1/4 of the sail (outermost part when
I roll it up) shows any damage. So, I bet I could just wrap something
around the outside of the sail (like an old, shitty sail for instance)
before sticking it in the bag and it wouldn't get any wear on it. One
thing that helps, I don't tie it down too tightly on the roof. You
don't have to flatten the sail to get it to stay.
I have found with my monofilm sails that the seams, battens, etc give
out before the monofilm. I had a brand-new monofilm sail that my dogs
attacked (they thought it was an invader in our house), but I just
taped it up and now several seasons later the battens and seams are
going but the tape is still holding.
Scott