I just took delivery on my new BPS Blue Heron 9. Only took 3 months to get it due to backorders from the factory.

Looking for suggestions on "Car Topping" it. It has 9' pontoons that are 16" in diameter. The width is about 50", so it should fit up on top nicely. What about "hold-downs"? What about putting some sort of "padding" between the pontoons and the roof of the vehicle? What about...well, you get the idea.

Thanks.

Gary Miller
texasflyfisher@ev1.net

I’ve gone and strapped my kick boat to the top of a Honda Civic.
Rolled up a couple of towels to protect the top of the car.
I think we rolled down the windows, used ratchet tie downs.

Driving down the road the car looks real funny.
If we each put out an arm out the window while driving the freeway,
I could swear we would take off like an airplane. :+

I used to carry my 8-ft Outcast PAC-800 on my Honday Accord, with a Thule (brand-name) roof rack (the type with just two bars going across the width of the car). Like Joey says, it looked like I would take off any second -- those banana-shaped tubes were damn near as long as the car! :+ With the roof rack, though, it really made it simpler to tie down. 70 MPH or better -- no problem!

As for the tie-downs themselves, I went to our local 'Sports Rack' store (see them on the web @: www.sportsrack.com ), where they have what they call their "Cushion Wrap Tie Down - TD15C." See the picture below. You can probably find this type of strap wherever you would find bike racks, etc. I also got some from Outcast -- www.outcastboats.com -- they call them 'cam straps.'

They work incredibly well. I have about a dozen of them, cut to different lengths, to cinch down securely anything I have to attach to my car, truck or RV (or even to the wall or ceiling in my garage!).


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1241.jpg


Hope that helps!

Thanks for the advice. I'll pick up some cam straps this week.

I strap my kickboat to the top of my compact wagon. I do have roof racks but i dont think they are really needed, except to protect your roof. I use 12 foot straps and pass them through the open doors, connect the S conectors together and sinch them up and shut the doors right on the straps. Been doing this for over 2 years with no damage to the weather stripping. The straps are finally geting a little wear. Best place to get staps are at Harbor Freight. They are a fraction of the price and are very good quality. Try to get the spring loaded latches. The ratchet type can be a real pain.

TexasFlyFisher-

Where are you located? I'm in New Braunfels.

Gartooth

How far is that from Old Braunfels?


Lzydeus Pisceus

Gartooth -

I am in Kaufman, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas.

Gotta wonder why there isn't a Float Tube/Kickboat Club in Texas, or is there?

I think "Braunfels" references some place in Germany. So... we are thousands of miles from there.

TexasFlyfisher- you fish the lakes around DFW?

Gartooth

I would think Lake Fork would be a great place to build a kickboat club around. It's close to Dallas too isn't it?
Lake Fork Bass-n-Tubes!?! hmmm....

Lake Fork is fairly close I suppose. A little large though, don't ya think?

Nah. Clear Lake is big. Heck, the ocean is HUGE and lots of guys fish that year round in southern California. The size of the water doesn't really matter much. It's really more about access. I would be more worried about GATORS! :o But for all I know, there are none in Fork. Guys in the ocean git ta think about GREAT WHITE SHARKS.
I'll bet we look like great big scampis in a giant donut! lol :D
Mmmmmmm.... donuts.
Y'alls(plural, right?) should start a new BnT region down there. With John's blessing of course. :) Talk to him!

Chris

y'all is plural (no 's')
:-)

Hmmm...OK
I heard somewhere, I think on a rodeo program on OLN, that "y'all" was singular and "y'alls" was plural. LOL :+ All I know is it took me 2 years to quit saying y'all after I left the army. I was home, here in California and people would keep asking me "Where are you from?" I'd say "San Francisco" and they'd get this confused look on their face. LMAO

Later DUDE
Chris

I think Water Mocassin's (Poisonous water loving snakes w/ a BAD attitude) probably have something to do with the unpopularity of tubing down there. I tube and kick the salt even after seeing a GW hit a seal (not while I was tubing), but I'd think twice about it with Water Moc's around.
Tight lines,
Wade