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 Post subject: Van Top a TI ???
PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 11:35 am 
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Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2014 12:45 pm
Posts: 28
Location: Emerald Isle, NC
I have the chance to buy a used TI, it's about 200 miles away. Is it possible to get it home by putting it on top of my Toyota Sienna Van?? I do have an older trailer to use once I get it home but not sure it can make the trip to pick it up and get back home. The van has the factory side rails and cross bars from when it was made. Wondering if I could strap the TI to the 2 cross memebers for the trip home. I do not plan on car topping it again, just this once. I will replace my trailer in the coming year but want to see if we need to trailer the TI or if it's a local boat only. Thanks for your thoughts.


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 Post subject: Re: Van Top a TI ???
PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:54 pm 
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Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:33 pm
Posts: 338
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Sounds like a real challenge.

You would need to load the amas separately after the hull.
At minimum you would need to transport the TI upside down as the gunwale is stronger.
Loading it upside down would be difficult to get over the akas going across the hull.
Turning it on the roof could prove impossible.
The cross rails may be too thin to spread the weight over a larger area of the hull.
Perhaps some timber on the cross rails going front to rear, under the gunwales to spread the weight.
The TI is heavy and bulky and the side rails and cross rails on the vehicle may not hold the weight.
If the cross rails are too close together, you may have too much overhang.

Having said all that, I and many others car top permanently but use all sorts of devices to overcome
the above problems. Personally, I would hire a trailer and have lots of carpet, cushions, timber and rope to get the TI home in one piece.

Let us know how it goes.

_________________
Cheers, Brian in South Australia
Tandem Island -
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 Post subject: Re: Van Top a TI ???
PostPosted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:21 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
I looked at pics of your type of van, and it's not what I imagined (I was imagining like an econoline van or something (really tall) in my mind (I don't do foreign cars).
I see no reason you couldn't get the TI onto the roof for transport, it's actually not hard to get up there since you only ever lift half the hull at any time (around 50 lbs). With the setup in the pics below we have a couple hundred thousand road miles with the kayaks on the roofs of our vehicles (we are campers and use to tow our camper around the country so the trailer hitch was occupied (we actually wore out 2 Yukon Denali's doing this), and are near end of life on our third one).

Just for transporting the boat home you might not need the T-bar hitch (requires a reciever on the vehicle) if you only going to car top once or twice. The Tbars have 500 lbs capacity and support the bulk of the weight of the boat, so on long trips, they are pretty nice, and give me a feeling of added security.
You will need some scrap carpeting (to insure you don't scratch the roof). I would bring along 5 or 6 foam pool noodles (they cost like a buck apiece at Walmart) and you stuff them under the boat to even out the load. You will also need about 4 1 inch wide x 15 ft long cargo straps (to strap the boat and AMA's down to the roof). I would also take some additional strapping or rope along so you can strap the bow down at the front in a V shape to prevent the vow from waving side to side.
Take everything out of the hull including all seats, AKA bars to get it as light as possible. All the pieces get stuffed into the back of the van before putting the boat up there typically.

We have the T-bar (about $80 bucks from Amazon), If I was going to order a new one I would definately order the type that tilts down next time around. You don't have to have the T-bar if your only doing one time.... (that's what the scrap carpeting is for)
Image

You can see the front straps in this pic.
Image

The procedure is place the hull only on the ground behind the car with the rear of the hull centered in the middle directly behind the car sitting on a piece of scrap carpet. Place the front of the boat with bow along side the car about even with the rear wheels of the car.( the boat is at an angle). Now you place another piece of carpet onto the roof near the rear of the car (the boat will sit on that). You now lift the bow over your head (your only lifting half the weight (around 50 lbs), so it's not that hard (get help if you need it, I'm a small guy and have never needed help the thousand times or so I've done it). With the boat kind of on your head walk back hand over hand so you are behind the car. Now walk sideways and place the bow of the boat in the center of the roof (on the carpet). If you have a helper, they can steady the boat so it doesn't go sideways on you (I never needed anyone). Now you walk back to the back of the boat lift it up and start sliding it forward. I usually roll mine on the pool noodles (makes it easier to roll). Keep on pushing forward until the boat is where you want it. You may need a pool noodle over the drivers seat area to prevent the boat from tilting forward. Now just start stuffing in pool noodles everywhere you can find to even out the load on the roof. Now you shove you sail (in the bag) along side the hull (close). Next you throw the AMA's on the roof one on each side of the boat. With ours the spacing is perfect and the roof rack traps the boat and AMA's from moving side to side. Now strap the whole works down with multiple straps. If you have something similar to my pic below for the bow you should be ok (all those straps I have are 800 lb min, nylon cargo straps).
If your not doing the T-bar thingy, you will need to do the same strap thing on the back of the boat. If the back of the boat is more than 4 ft behind the bumper, you might want to hang a red flag back there (optional but probably not neccessary), we have never been stopped, and have been in most of the states.
I wouldn't recommend trying to put the boat up there upside down, you will wreck your car. When we are in Key West (where there is no parking, and any parking is very expensive, and there are two trailer parking spaces on the whole island at Simonton st launch ($2.75/hr just for the trailer, then $2.75/hr for your car on top of that). We just keep the kayak on the roof for up to a month at a time, then take it down daily when we want to go out. We have motorcycle locks to lock the hull and AMA's down to the car roof rack. Besides, the TI has an automatic theft deterrent system designed in at the factory (it's 18.5 ft long and not very light, I just can't see two teenagers running down Duval st with one of these on their heads ( lol) just sayin.
Another big deal is our boat is titled and registered (at the advise of our insurance), it's an automatic grand theft felony (like stealing a car) if stolen, anyone with any brains realizes this.
Getting the boat up and down from the roof is actually the minor part (just takes a few minutes), it's all the rigging, putting the seats in, lacing the tramps, putting the AKA bars in, etc that takes about an hour for us, but I have massive sails (260 sq ft), outboards, etc on mine (way more crap). When we can use our $140 harbor freight trailer, we do, it just takes 15 minutes to launch, plus we store the boat fully rigged in our garage, nothing is ever removed from the boat. When done sailing locally in Sarasota we pull the car in the drive rinse the boat off, and pull into the garage (takes all of two minutes).

This is the trailer setup we use when we don't have to car top (much preferred)
Image

Good luck
Bob


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