We just posted a video with tips on how to strap boards to cars safely and efficiently, please check it out and let me know what you think of it:

Great vid!

Thanks

Well done! I have been strapping boards and kayaks to cars for many many years. I learned a lot from your video.

I have one small comment that may save someone a wet interior of their car. When you throw the tail end of the strap inside your car and shut the door. If you leave it that way over night in the rain the water will track down the strap into the car. Don't ask me how I know!

Bob

Good video Robert. Thanks. Would be good for newbies.
I was wondering if you guys or anybody else on the forum have any tips for strapping boards on in 15, 20, 25 knot winds.
Especially difficult if it is coming from the side and you are by yourself.
You guys get those regular winds so I would think you would have it mastered.
A few years ago i had a $180 repair. Board never looked the same but is a keeper as it looks like a $50 board.
Laird 11ft. Still goes well for an 11footer.
cheers

I like that foam idea. Does look better than my soft racks. Don't know where we would buy that type of foam here tho.

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bigmc said..
Good video Robert. Thanks. Would be good for newbies.
I was wondering if you guys or anybody else on the forum have any tips for strapping boards on in 15, 20, 25 knot winds.
Especially difficult if it is coming from the side and you are by yourself.
You guys get those regular winds so I would think you would have it mastered.
A few years ago i had a $180 repair. Board never looked the same but is a keeper as it looks like a $50 board.
Laird 11ft. Still goes well for an 11footer.
cheers

Lockrack

Personally I tend not to have the buckle on the rails......I have the buckle on the hull.....usually a bit just before the rails.

Also, useful for big boards on a windy day try to position your car facing directly into or with the wind so there is less board to catch those gusts.....important on downwinding days!

Great video. One thing about the oh sh** strap, and thru-car & soft-racks in general, in my wife's car the strap at forehead height, often wondered what would happen in a crash, a bad haircut at least. On my SUV, the strap is above head height, so I'm cool with that.

Why not put the "oh **** strap" through the back doors so that the strap is behind you?

Bob

Thanks for the comments guys, these are my thoughts:
-Yes, I should have mentioned that any straps through the car doors will not only cause the rubber door seal to leak but will actually divert water into the car, which can quickly become a lot of water in heavy rain.
-I use the one strap method shown in the video when loading by myself in windy conditions, that way I can hold the board down (on the windward side of the car) while I'm strapping it. I put the strap on the car roof before loading the board so I can keep one hand on the board the whole time while I'm strapping it with the other hand. You can add an extra strap in the front once the board is secured with the single strap.
-Putting the oh s**t strap in the back is not as effective as it's intended to prevent lifting in the front. It would work if it's at least in the middle of the rack but that would put it right over my head in my car. I usually place it in front of the front roof rack.

You learn something every day. I was stressed watching him leave the strap twisted. Yes, I am anal about flat straps. Vibration has not been a problem for me, but I wondered if a twisted strap would vibrate more because more of its surface area is exposed to the wind. I guess not!

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cantSUPenough said..
You learn something every day. I was stressed watching him leave the strap twisted. Yes, I am anal about flat straps. Vibration has not been a problem for me, but I wondered if a twisted strap would vibrate more because more of its surface area is exposed to the wind. I guess not!

Definitely not, flat straps vibrate, twisted ones don't.
Sometimes you can get away with flat straps if the board is rounded (convex) and the strap has good contact right across the board but as soon as it is flat or has a bit of concave a twist is a must.
I am often loading boards in windy conditions and another tip when throwing both ends of a strap across boards is to place the loose end of the strap into the buckle so it has a little weight and doesn't blow around.

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cantSUPenough said..
You learn something every day. I was stressed watching him leave the strap twisted. Yes, I am anal about flat straps. Vibration has not been a problem for me, but I wondered if a twisted strap would vibrate more because more of its surface area is exposed to the wind. I guess not!

Sometimes you can get away with flat straps if the board has a cover but otherwise a twist or two is definitely the go. I also put a twist (or two) after the buckle before feeding it through the car door (for the excess). Nothing worse than sorting the straps on the board and finding the straps vibrates against the roof rack arm or the car roof!

If you put the straps around the bar with a simple "under-return" the load on the buckle is the full belt tension load. If you wrap the strap completely around the bar (at least once, but 5 times will give you full capstan effect) , the load tension on the buckle reduces towards HALF, and with wraps at both ends tends toward a quarter. You are less likely to get loosening amd you straps will also last longer ( less surface tearing).

BTW the lift on a board is not just the windscreen diversion load but also the fact that a board is almost a perfect lift generating wing when nose down. Take a good look. Unfortunately turning it nose up on bars doesn't give you much downforce, because the bars underneath disturb the flow that would help.

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gregjet said..
If you put the straps around the bar with a simple "under-return" the load on the buckle is the full belt tension load. If you wrap the strap completely around the bar (at least once, but 5 times will give you full capstan effect) , the load tension on the buckle reduces towards HALF, and with wraps at both ends tends toward a quarter. You are less likely to get loosening amd you straps will also last longer ( less surface tearing).

BTW the lift on a board is not just the windscreen diversion load but also the fact that a board is almost a perfect lift generating wing when nose down. Take a good look. Unfortunately turning it nose up on bars doesn't give you much downforce, because the bars underneath disturb the flow that would help.

How many times do you twist the strap across the width of the board? And how tight?

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gregjet said..
If you put the straps around the bar with a simple "under-return" the load on the buckle is the full belt tension load. If you wrap the strap completely around the bar (at least once, but 5 times will give you full capstan effect) , the load tension on the buckle reduces towards HALF, and with wraps at both ends tends toward a quarter. You are less likely to get loosening amd you straps will also last longer ( less surface tearing).

BTW the lift on a board is not just the windscreen diversion load but also the fact that a board is almost a perfect lift generating wing when nose down. Take a good look. Unfortunately turning it nose up on bars doesn't give you much downforce, because the bars underneath disturb the flow that would help.

I don't wrap the strap around the rack multiple times because one side won't tighten properly. The side with the buckle ends up taking all the load as the other side won't fully tighten due to the wraps so the load is not spread over both sides. It also takes a lot longer, I prefer using the "oh S**t" strap if I want to have less tension on the straps and roof rack.
When you say nose up creates downforce, I assume mean tail forward with nose up in the back, right? That way it creates downforce in the back like a spoiler but not in the front where uplift can be a problem at high speeds.