[94 Accord EX F250 owner]

Originally Posted by Rodeez

I've hauled two canoes on top, without incident, but also without a great degree of confidence. The first was a 16' fiberglas, about 65 lbs., using the foam blocks resting on the OEM roof rack cross bars, strapped tight to the rack and anchored fore and aft with ratchet straps.

There was too much movement up there (luckily the trip was short) so on the next haul (a 14', 75 lb. Madriver Adventure) I used a padded strap affair with one set of straps that cinched up through the cab and another set that wrapped around the canoe's hull. Again I ratchet-strapped fore and aft. Oh, and I also removed the roof rack cross bars—not an easy task; you have to disassemble the rails at the rear mounting point to slide the cross bars off—so that the padded straps rest on the roof itself. That's nice and cozy, if your canoe is narrow enough to fit between the rails.

Strapped down tight, the canoe rides OK, but scoops up a lot of air. Again the trip was short and slow, but the next one will be long miles and Interstate highway speeds. I'm considering a hitch-mounted t-rack, something that will anchor the stern down tight and move the canoe to the rear of the truck.

UPDATE: With hitch-mounted t-rack prices at $65 - $200 + I decided to build my own, using a 2" box aluminum upright and a wooden "T" across the top. The whole thing came in at a bit over $12 and worked just fine, except for a weak aluminum angle bracket that I made to bolt the upright to the hitch. I"ll replace that with a steel bracket if I ever haul the canoe again. The main consideration with the hitch rack is preventing fore/aft/side movement, but well-placed straps to prevent T-bar movement should do the trick.

Moving the canoe to the rear took care of the rotation and noise problems mentioned above. A 14' canoe with 2' of the stern hanging over the back rack puts the bow only about 6" in front of the top of the windshield. No straps needed over the hood. Two trips of over a hundred miles at Interstate speeds proved the reliability of this setup (except for the aforementioned angle bracket).

If you are able to do pictures, I would love to see it. I am looking for an inexpensive solution myself--one that does not provide contact to the painted surface of the body through foam blocks or anything else. I do not have a roof rack and don't want one for various reasons.