canoes on the roof rack?

I recently put a 28 foot extension ladder up there for work, to give you an idea.

I put the 13 foot sportspal on the roof rack and the gunnels were just a little bit wider then the top curve of the cross bar. It worked but next time I am going to put two 48 inch 2x4 tied to the cross bars to stick out 4 inches on each side beyond the rails to make loading, unloading, and final tie down easier.

For what it is worth, i used three rachet cargo straps with s hooks to go through the side rails of the roof rack. Went over the canoe, around the siderail, and then back over the top of the canoe again. I have found that if you go around the canoe under it, the unsupported strap makes a terrible vibration and noise such that over top twice is the way to go. 12 foot long ratchet straps were long enough. S hooks to fish them through the siderails.

I see a lot of cargo with two straps going down the road, be it canoes on top of vehicles, trailers, whatever. I always use three straps in case one strap fails for one reason or another. If a strap fails, i might get some vehicle damage from the flailing strap but my cargo is going to remain until I can get off the side of the road safely. In a two strap system, one strap fails and your cargo could fly off and kill somebody.

Regards,
Crankster

Any suggestions - Need some help getting a canoe on top

I have a 2022 XSE Prime with the POI installed rails and cross bars, just hooked up a Thule Portage canoe carrier but even my smallest 14' Old Town canoe is too wide in the gunnel to fit at the positions that the cross bars are mounted, since the factory cross bars are too narrow -(they have a longer 'bracket' on each side where the cross bars fit into to, takes up 3 inches on each side so this narrows the usable cross bar width by perhaps 6 inches) the Thule blocks fit great on the cross bars themselves, but there is not enough room for the canoe - how far BACK can you slide the rear cross bar, ( so the narrower part of a canoe could fit) I have mine at the distance that it arrived from the dealer - or should I just forget this entirely, as Crankster mentioned, but I cant see how to strap a 2x4 to the cross bars a and return the Thule Portage ? If so, whats the best way to attach 2x4 to the rails?

thanks for any advice!

Bembel

I've had great success using the OEM crossbars with the Malone Big Foot Pro canoe carrier. This summer we put approx. 1000 km carrying a 16 ft canoe the way it is setup in the pictures below. Unlike the previous Yakima gunwale brackets I used (on square Thule bars on previous SUV), the current combination is solid and absolutely did not move/shift or feel squirmy - to the contrary it felt as solid at the end of the journey as it did at the start. Highly recommend!