~What's that flying off my car??~
Written: Sep 17 '02 (Updated Jun 21 '08)
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Pros: ~Easy to mount one board~
Cons: ~If you have more than one board, don't even try it~
The Bottom Line: ~One board... GREAT! More than that? Grab a soft-rack.~
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| Kieli's Full Review: Yakima Strap Thang |
Once in a lifetime, at least, everyone has looked into their rear-view mirror and wondered if the piece of {insert litter here} was indeed from their car. No one ever wants this litter to be a $500+ surfboard flying off the roof of their vehicle. Such was the case with me.
I have multiple boards. As most surfers I know, we buy boards for different waves. Long boards for smaller waves with little break, fun boards for the 'tweens and short boards for the super-fast, quick breaks that you have to maneuver. Well, try stacking 3 boards on this rack, and you'll regret it.
Amidst the promising news breaks about tropical storm whomever, I was too excited to think that this rack might not live up to expectations. So, ok... I admit a bit of the problem was "user error". More than that, however... I was just too stoked about the promise of mid-large size waves in N.E. Florida to care about it at the time. Half-way to the park I usually surf, I realized that the board flying down the road behind my car was mine. It was just my fun-board, but it still blew nonetheless.
I paid about $80 for this rack (not too much at all) and the straps look long enough to hold 3 boards. I tried to sandwich my fun-board between my long board and my short board, but to my chagrin, my fun-board (which has no fins) didn't catch on the strap like a normal board would, nor did my wax grip between my short & long board. Stupid me.
Luckily, nothing else flew off. My fun-board (being the cheapest of all my boards) wasn't a key loss in this case, however, next time I won't be so ignorant.
This particular model clips onto the top rails of your vehicle roof. It doesn't fit particularly well on a PT Cruiser, but it does fit extremely well on a Honda Civic. I guess it just really depends on the roundness of your particular roof. The installation is fairly simple, in the fact that most everyone that has installed a temporary roof rack for their boards knows how to clip these on quickly. It's no different, but I'll explain the process. In short, you open your car door, position the first side of the rack where you want it and tighten the bolt until it is secure, then you proceed to the opposite side of the car and on to the second bar. These come separately (instead of the normal two-part, two-bar set). You have to buy the crossbars ($45 each) and then two of these (another $40 each) to insure that you have secured your BOARD. After you've secured the bars to the roof of your vehicle, you then proceed to slide your board onto the rack and into position. Most surfers place their fins at the front of the vehicle, to insure that something will catch onto the strap in case they haven't secured the straps tightly enough. This is provided your board has fins. After you've positioned the board on the rack, you then tighten the straps by pulling on one side until secure and clipping the end of the strap over the cross-bar. It's a little like a bungee. Like I said, this isn't rocket-science, folks.
Brief over-view is that for one board, this rack is fine... two... it's ok, just make sure your board has fins. I just wouldn't bet on this thing holding more than one board. $500 was a lot of board to lose, not to mention it was custom from a local shaper who is retired now.... Yah, I've slapped myself for being hasty. C'est la vie....
`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,..,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,.·´¯`·.,¸¸,..
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 40 per strap
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Epinions.com ID:
Kieli
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Member: Kieli Is maith an scathan suil charad B'fhearr liom uisce beatha
Location: ~Go hifreann leat!!~
Reviews written: 76
Trusted by: 92 members
About Me:
~Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted.~
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