Needed to get our sunfish home to do some repairs and dry it out a bit. I don't have a trailer and wasn't sure how I was going to manage it. My wife lent me her Subaru Forester but while it has roof rails running front to back it does not have rails running across. I had read somewhere on here (I think) where someone used old bicycle inner tubes to tie down roof racks so thought I would give that a try. I used some 2 x 4 's as the cross rails and cut some strips off of an old tractor tube that was shot. The rubber inner tube material worked really well to completely secure the 2x4's. I used some old foam under the 2x4's so I would not scratch the roof rails. and also on top of the 2x4's so I wouldn't scratch the boat.
I positioned the sunfish alongside the vehicle and lifted the back onto the 2x4's (they were a bit wider than the vehicle so I could just set it on the edge without it falling) Then grabbed the front and moved it up. It was no problem on my own.
After adding a couple tie down straps I headed back home on the 2 hour trip. It never budged at all. I did add a strap to the front and another at the back but I think those were not necessary as I couldn't even budge it when I tried to move it back and forth from the front.
It was a very low cost solution that worked great and I will definitely do the same thing for the return trip.
hope the pics help show what I did. I didn't get a pic of the loading so took one of the unloading which shows the same technique.
I positioned the sunfish alongside the vehicle and lifted the back onto the 2x4's (they were a bit wider than the vehicle so I could just set it on the edge without it falling) Then grabbed the front and moved it up. It was no problem on my own.
After adding a couple tie down straps I headed back home on the 2 hour trip. It never budged at all. I did add a strap to the front and another at the back but I think those were not necessary as I couldn't even budge it when I tried to move it back and forth from the front.
It was a very low cost solution that worked great and I will definitely do the same thing for the return trip.
hope the pics help show what I did. I didn't get a pic of the loading so took one of the unloading which shows the same technique.
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