Can anyone advise me on what size boards can go on small car roofracks?
Suzuki swift has 30kg rated racks which is obviously less than a 12 foot board but do I need to take wind force into account or not? Any help appreciated

Cue DJ. Ta da

This may help->

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/14-Board-on-a-Suzuki-Swift/

&

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/My-car-board-support-thingie/

Rated load would be more for deforming gutter rails, roof etc due to excessive weight. The force of wind trying to rip a board upward at front rack and somewhat hinge at rear is going to be different ie test the clamping force of racks and be putting the gutter rails in tension etc . There are some engineers on here .

Or just run it and find out. If you have the option to move the racks fore/aft, then space them as far apart as practically possible...

No probs.. .. I've done many interstate trips with 3-4 boards on my Swift.. Sometimes without that rear support..

Pics here.. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/My-drive-to-Merimbula-pics/

Just wondering where are you.. and do you have a tow bar?

No problems with 2 by 10' x 33" SUP's on a MINI Cooper either. I had rails installed to the roof though, not on gutter mounts, but it does regular 110kmh trips of around 1-2 hours with absolutely no problem

Im in WA ,no tower but only 1 board.
thanks for all replies very helpful

Last weekend I picked up 2 boards... one 14' DW and one 12' Touring.
I strapped 12'er on top of the 14'er on my Honda Civic (compact)
I stack nose forward and down, because I want the wind pressure pushing the boards down onto the rack, rather than lifting or neutral.

Drove 386 k at 120 kph with no worries.


ha ha.... how about 650 km with 8 boards in boxes.... shortboards, but boxes have a lot of wind resistance.

Strapped with rope only

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lukemin said..
Can anyone advise me on what size boards can go on small car roofracks?
Suzuki swift has 30kg rated racks which is obviously less than a 12 foot board but do I need to take wind force into account or not? Any help appreciated

it's all about how robustly the rack attaches to the car - I have known people with (ostensibly) very sturdy racks on (ostensibly) study vehicles that on the highway have lost not only boards off the car but their racks as well (no names, no pack drill eh).

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808-Obsession said..
No problems with 2 by 10' x 33" SUP's on a MINI Cooper either. I had rails installed to the roof though, not on gutter mounts, but it does regular 110kmh trips of around 1-2 hours with absolutely no problem

That's a nice looking tractor you have there!

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magillamelb said...

808-Obsession said..
No problems with 2 by 10' x 33" SUP's on a MINI Cooper either. I had rails installed to the roof though, not on gutter mounts, but it does regular 110kmh trips of around 1-2 hours with absolutely no problem

That's a nice looking tractor you have there!

Not the most practical SUP-mobile around, but we get 2 SUP's plus paddles on the roof, and anything else we need inside, so it's not bad! Would certainly be easier to have a van or big wagon but it does the job!