Personal Pontoon/Raft on Car Top?

Fourbtgait

Fourbtgait

Life of the Party
Anyone consistently do so at freeway speeds?
Looking at my OC Clearwater on a Subaru Forester.
For once I’m uncertain.
 
DerekWhipple said:
Doesn't work for me. I have an outback, and once I get above 40, it starts trying to liftoff. The cargo areas probably don't help.

I would be curious if anyone has a solution.
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Heck your outback is bigger than mine.
Cargo area works if fully deflated, I really don’t want to but…
 
sadly, did not test at highway speeds....but did great at 50.

PXL_20210905_192218080~3.jpg

My Commander is deflated in the back too, so that works....
 
To save some time I secured a partially inflated 106" L WM Kodiak on my Infinity SUV's ("upscale" Pathfinder) ~60" long roof rack *rails* a number of times without a problem for 50 miles roundtrip with about 15 miles of that being freeway.

I used 4 heavy duty rubber bungie straps around each tube, and 2 inexpensive cargo straps over both sides of the raft near the bow and stern.

I haven't tried it with the much shorter 42" long stock rack bars with crossbars my 4Runner has, yet.

And yes deflated in the cargo area doesn't take a lot more time with a portable battery pump so I haven't been in a big hurry to try.
 
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Fourbtgait said:
I think a pontoon might go better because of streamline.
Have you tried the Commander or quick to inflate?
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no, because with my electric pump it still only takes me under 5 min to have it completely ready to go from completely deflated (for either the Stealth Pro or Scout that I now have).

but yeah, pontoon is definitely going to be more streamlined.
 
clarkman said:
sadly, did not test at highway speeds....but did great at 50.

View attachment 186481

My Commander is deflated in the back too, so that works....
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Where carrying the raft externally really makes a difference is fishing multiple locations, like using a rodsafe. I'll have to play with that.

🤔 Looking at @clarkman 's rigging I could do that, with the raft's length centered on the bars. But I'm a "process guy" and that could change the workflow - process at the launch - takeout site because the WM would stick out a behind the roof and it might interfere with an open tailgate without un-assing - securing the boat with the tailgate closed. It might take me two or three times to make the workflow efficient. But the 4Runner crossbars are higher above the rack rails than the Infinity's so it might work just fine.

I rigged the WM stern forward on the Infinity with the seat attached but secured downward that held it in place in the wind. Also, I would not want the stern to start a pitch oscillation in the wind, especially against the roof. That's a simple fix with either securing the stern with an attachment under or through the front windows, or possibly even to the wheelwells over the hood.

I like using the rubber bungie straps with the cargo straps because they will do some self-adjustment for pressure inside the partially deflated tubes as they contract and expand with temp or altitude keeping the boat tight to the rack bars. And the cargo straps act as a final fail safe, and give me enough time to pull over and resecure, which I have only had do once.
 
Fourbtgait said:
Anyone consistently do so at freeway speeds?
Looking at my OC Clearwater on a Subaru Forester.
For once I’m uncertain.
Click to expand...
Is not a small trailer an option ? Would solve getting on top of a car , can be backed to the water, and launched , etc etc .
 
I always let half the air out of the pontoons and then tied it securely to the roof rack with rope. Worked just fine, My fishing buddy thought just bungee cords would be sufficient until he saw in his rear view mirror his pontoon doing cartwheels at 70 mph on the freeway amazingly still attached to one of the cords. Luckily it survived with minor damage. I bought one of those little trailers which worked quite well leaving me room in the rig for camp gear. I got rear ended by a guy in truck that couldn't see the little trailer. I was lucky cuz it was just a light tap but a lesson was learned. Now I put it in the back of the truck and I'm gonna sell the little trailer.
 
bobduck said:
I bought one of those little trailers which worked quite well leaving me room in the rig for camp gear.
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My mid-sized Infiniti was significantly smaller than my 5th gen 4Runner that has almost as much cargo room behind the front seats as a Tacoma long bed with a shell on it so I have options smaller crossovers may not provide.
 
Fourbtgait said:
Anyone consistently do so at freeway speeds?
Looking at my OC Clearwater on a Subaru Forester.
For once I’m uncertain.
Click to expand...
Clarkman’s success aside, my experience says it’s just not a good idea for any length of time/longer travel. It might work out great for a while, but it also might not. I couldn’t relax even with lots of straps.
 
Matt B said:
Clarkman’s success aside, my experience says it’s just not a good idea for any length of time/longer travel. It might work out great for a while, but it also might not. I couldn’t relax even with lots of straps.
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I wouldn't exactly call my experience a success as it was just shuttling along backroads. For that, hell yeah it worked!

@Fourbtgait, what is your ultimate goal? to save a few minutes launching? or saving on interior space? If the former, it literally takes less than 5 min for me to fully inflate either the Commander (when I had it) or now the Stealth Pro and ready to fish (I use my Ryobi battery powered air pump for the main filling, then a K pump to top off). If the latter, I have folded up my deflated Stealth and put it in the basket on top of my car with both straps and a net keeping it in place. THAT, I've done at hwy speeds & it works great!
 
clarkman said:
I wouldn't exactly call my experience a success as it was just shuttling along backroads. For that, hell yeah it worked!

@Fourbtgait, what is your ultimate goal? to save a few minutes launching? or saving on interior space? If the former, it literally takes less than 5 min for me to fully inflate either the Commander (when I had it) or now the Stealth Pro and ready to fish (I use my Ryobi battery powered air pump for the main filling, then a K pump to top off). If the latter, I have folded up my deflated Stealth and put it in the basket on top of my car with both straps and a net keeping it in place. THAT, I've done at hwy speeds & it works great!
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Space, time. I just figured out the leaf blower hack, adapters for them. I already have the K pumps. And of course a 12 bolt slow ass pump, which is why for 4 years it’s stayed inflated and hauled in truck.
it goes back to what DerekWhipple said in the beginning, bow and stern both have fabric floors that act as a sail. At that point, i had already abandoned the idea from his experience and my uncertainty looking at it on the vehicle.
So by my simply asking, it led me down the rabbit hole of leaf blowers, especially for deflating as well.
 
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Fourbtgait said:
it led me down the rabbit hole of leaf blowers, especially for deflating as well.
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:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

The only reason I use the Ryobi is because I have a bunch of the tools that all use the same battery. It's really pretty fast though.
 
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