Hey Dan canoe's by design have hard rails they rest on. We have a 16footer I've hauled on several cars including our OB. Simply lay it upside down over the cross bars. Use a truckers hitch on rope or even webbing across the center of the canoe tied to the cross bars. This is your primary hold on the canoe. The stock cross bars have ribs on the underside that help keep your tie from sliding side to side. This keeps your canoe put also. Then hood straps up front one line from each side of the hood to the bow of the canoe tied finger tight to keep it square and from stressing the hull with side to side wind loads etc. Then a simple single tie from the rear and your good. No need for the fancy little bar chalks. My Yakima bars are slick and are a little more tricky to tie too and to avoid slipping side to side but thats easily fixed with cross tie which keeps the ties to the bars at the edge of the canoe from moving side to side. Not a big deal not really worth spending money on.

When I need a wide bar width on the OB I simply use the old Yakima rail grabs on the stowed stock bars then either run my 54 inch bars or 66 inch bars pending what I need. I haul my 54inch wide 12ft long 130lb sailboat up there like that also works great zero issues.

 

....... The stock cross bars have ribs on the underside that help keep your tie from sliding side to side.
......

SS, Those are gone on the 2013's so it will take a bit more attention to prevent side to side slipping.

 

I would say the best money I've spent on rack gear has been the Yakima Rail grabs and our Thule box. Both have been used on countless vehicles with zero issues and have proven to give me lots of options when I've needed them.

By the way 66 inch bars will fit your standard 16ft canoe and narrow ish roof box. Our box is about 32inches edge to edge width wise. Fits with the 16foot canoe easily.

 

you could also probably just use some wood working clamps and clamp the cross bar creating your own bumpers that keep the canoe square and from sliding left of right. Maybe put a little leash line on them just incase they work loose they stay with the car.

 

Long time lurker here, but, had to register as a fellow canoe and Outback owner to inform you of a new product just released by Yakima.

My Outback is a 2003 LL Bean, on which I use the Yakima crossbars and canoe gunnel holders with straps. This combo works very well, but is not compatible with the current generation Outback.

I recently attended a Paddlefest, where a Yakima exhibit and factory rep where present, and they have a new product called the "Keelover", which attaches directly to the Outbacks factory cross bars. It is designed so that it works with many automakers, so I'm sure it will be popular. It comes with straps and retails for $99.00. Hopes this helps.

 

That helps a lot! Thanks! I think this will be perfect...

 

Do you have a hitch?

If you have a hitch, I recommend using a goal post type extension.

http://www.prolineracks.com/thule-997-goal-post.html

The benefit is that you can load it by yourself without scratching your car.

My canoe is about 100 lbs and is too cumbersome to load by myself. My last car shows the scratches from doing so.

The hitch mount also takes some of the weight off the roof.

 

I use the Thule 450 Crossroad Railing Foot Pack clamped on to the stowed factory crossbars along with Thule Square Load Bars and Thule Canoe Carrier. This combination is very secure, easy to use, and holds the canoe in all directions to prevent shifting. It comes with easy to tighten cross straps and front/rear lines. I've hauled the canoe many thousands of miles in all weather conditions (even snow) and never had a problem. I wish I had back all the time in my life spent messing with ropes, questionable bars, straps that vibrated, and noisy carriers prior to getting the Thule equipment. Do it right and save yourself unnecessary hassles.

 

If you have a hitch recommend you consider a canoe trailer. The car will handle better with out the canoe upsetting aerodynamicsof the car. You may get better mpg with a trailer.

 

When you haul a boat hull inverted on the roof of the car especially a hull like a canoe that sits flat upside down the impact on mileage actually is not very large. Bikes on the roof have a much larger impact than the upturned hull of a canoe.

 

Yeah - no room for a trailer in my garage - it's filled with canoes! Well, just two - MNII & a Bell Magic. I do like the trailers for hauling 4 canoes plus gear, but otherwise it's the roof for me!

 

Dstedman: The Bell Magic is a fast and maneuverable solo canoe. I also have two in my garage, one is a Bell North Star, which is sort of a two seat version of your Magic; and the other is an old Moore Peter Pond fiberglass which is used for river running.

I noticed in your signature that you have a 2013 Outback 3.6 Limited with Nav and Eyesight, which is exactly what I am considering, as my 2003 LL Bean is at 133k miles. Although I have test driven it, I have not had the opportunity to get it out on an Interstate to see how it handles at 65mph or higher. I have noticed quite a few threads here regarding wandering and other steering anomalies at cruising speeds, and was curious whether you have experienced any such problems?

Thanks. If you purchase the Yakima 'Keelover" let me know how it works for you, and good paddling!

 

not a 2013 but hauled a 17footer on my 2011

 

Do you use bow/stern lines? What do you attach them to?

 

Hood loops very simple nylon webing straps with a grommet. You unscrew one of the fender sheet metal screws under the hood right along the fender and screw it back in through the grommet. Then you simply pass the nylon strap/loop through the hood/fender gap and you have a bow tie down. I have them on my truck and will eventually toss them on my OB too.

Takes about 5 minutes to install them. Works great for bow tie on the boats.

 

Great thread, we picked up our 2011 this past winter, and am now trying to figure out how to strap canoe down. We have a Old Towne, planning on making a few trips down the St. Croix and BWCA. I've always used the foam blocks, but would like to explore other options.

SS, could you post or send pictures of the set up you were talking about?

Thanks,

 

Here's a video of the Yakima Keelover and talks about hood loops.

 

Here's a video of the Yakima Keelover and talks about hood loops.

Yakima 8004069 KeelOver Universal Canoe Carriers for Roof Racks - YouTube

Good video only one thing if you do the straps do not mount them where they did in the video. Mount them to the side of the hood so when they tensioned they are pulling on the bolt and not on the hood. Example would be the side corner bolt in that video would have allowed them to pass the strap through the fender/hood gap and avoided any pulling load on the hood its self vs where they did it all the pulling load is placed on the hood and yes it will bend your hood.

 

Excellent point, Thanks SS!

 

Thanks SS. Traded in my pickup for an Outback. So much to lean since I can't just put things in the back any more.

 

LOL been there done that. Rented alot local open Uhaul trailers for house projects finally got my own trailer two years ago.

Having lots of various rack gear you can toss on the lid for various hauling needs is nice. I collected a bunch of Yakima stuff over the years via craigs list. I have enough rack gear to put racks on all three cars now though we generally only have one or two cars racked at anyone time. The 66inch long cross bars have been nice for hauling the roof box and the 16ft canoe or the 54inch wide 12ft long sailboat. The standard 54 inch long bars work well for the narrow roof box and two bikes which is our usual set up.

 

One thing I saw in the video that I did not like. The bow strap was in contact with a painted body surface. If you go very many miles like that it will damage the paint. It will also damage the paint even if you put a rag or something between the strap and body part.

 

I also carry my canoe on a trailer. I built two H frames using 2 inch galvanized tubing that I recovered from an old children's swing set. The horizontal bars are set rather high up, such that I don't have the canoe obstructing the view in my rear view mirror.