i came in from my kayak fishing day and saw a fantastic sight.  a prius with a boat.  the boat was on TOP of the prius.  

 

it was awesome to see, and quite frankly,..looked over engineered.  my first thought was, "okay Darth..avoid eye contact because we dont want to help unload that thing!"  but a bunch of friends rolled up on adventure style bikes and they took the boat down with zero issues.  (they had a very pretty lady with them - not that it adds to this story in any way).  

 

it was cool to see.  and i admire the guys "can do" attitude.  i think i would have explore towing options.   The driver said it handle normally, and the bikers said he was actually fast.  

 

 

Looks like a raft too which is awesome.  I don't think they weigh too much more than a large kayak

I knew a guy that car topped two 17' kayaks on a Miata.

Cough cough Should have gotten a truck……. Cough 

Wow, that is a bit of a load on the roof rack. I recall my Toyotas had a 110 ~ 120 lb limit for roof top stowage. We would often stow our deflated canoe in the travel bag up there. Well below the load limit. Although you could feel the handling change due to the extra weight up top.

 

I'm guessing that really changes the wind loading with that additional cargo profile. I'm guessing those rotopacs (sp?), fuel containers, are for the additional fuel consumption due to excessive drag, right?

 

Interesting for sure, a bit scary too. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

(they had a very pretty lady with them - not that it adds to this story in any way).

 

Oh, I think a very pretty lady adds a LOT to the story...tell us more!   : )

 

About the pretty lady, of course.

 

I don't really care about a prius transporting a boat....HA!!

 

That red thing on the back is the gas tank for the boat, @Fishing_Rod.

I'd be concerned about wind friction ?

Aah, enlightenment provided. THXs!

It is possible for an old dog to learn. Cheers!

17 minutes ago, Fishing_Rod said:

Wow, that is a bit of a load on the roof rack. I recall my Toyotas had a 110 ~ 120 lb limit for roof top stowage. We would often stow our deflated canoe in the travel bag up there. Well below the load limit. Although you could feel the handling change due to the extra weight up top.

 

I'm guessing that really changes the wind loading with that additional cargo profile. I'm guessing those rotopacs (sp?), fuel containers, are for the additional fuel consumption due to excessive drag, right?

 

Interesting for sure, a bit scary too. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!

i think the load on the roof rack is relatively small.  the boat only.  the motor is the heavy part, and that is all on the hitch.   (remember influence line loads from college? :D)

 

@Bird  agree,  the windloads must be tremendous.  but still less than what those giant bed mounted camper shells must impart.  it must jack MPG.  like from 55 mpg down to 39?

Hi @Darth-Baiter,

Agreed with regards to a static analysis. My clarification for concern comes from the chugging along the highway and byways, I suspect the dynamic multi-axis loading might be "interesting". Just $0.02 worth of consideration.

 

Personally, I'm glad I've got the old pickup truck for transporting those size objects. I really am grateful for not having a high lift involved as most of my adventures are solo runs. Besides, I just don't want to work too hard to recreate. Cheers!

oh, i agree with you @Fishing_Rod!!

 

horking that onto a rooftop didnt look fun.  well, i saw them lift it off.  

They got off the bank when most didn't. I say congrats on figuring something out, even if it seems wrong.