FlyDrawer,
During my years of canoeing, I’ve used many carry methods on many vehicles. First was a Plymouth Duster using foam blocks with tie-down lines. Next I had a little Toyota 4DR hatchback that I outfitted with Quick & Easy racks that clamp onto the rain gutters(initially with galvanized pipe crossbars, then custom-cut carpet-topped 2X4 crossbars).
In 1991 I bought a Ford Explorer and went with a Yakima system. I’ve stayed with that rack system ever since. Now it’s on a Toyota Tacoma, and the rear bar is mounted on the back of a fiberglass shell.
Yakima and Thule roof mounts have custom clips that fit inside the concealed rain gutters on the aircraft-style doors you see nowadays. (Anymore, nobody makes vehicles with raised rain gutters, and that’s a shame in my opinion.)
When I got the Explorer, the very first thing I did buy the Yakima rack system and install it. That involved pulling down the headliner at the rear hatch and drilling holes through the roof so I could attach a “bolt top loader” – a plate on which the two rear rack mounts sit.
By stretching the distance between the two rack bars to the maximum extent (from the front door bar aft to the rear bar it measured 7 feet) my canoes were held by their ends, thus stabilized to the greatest degree and they did not yaw when the vehicle was underway. But thif benefit only happens if you put on each crossbar those attachable “gunwale brackets” that you adjust to fit your canoe’s gunwales bow and stern.
Once the canoes are on the racks snuggled in between those gunwale brackets, lateral motion is prevented. You secure the boats vertically using cam-lock nylon straps. I prefer NRS 12-ft. straps, but there are other straps equally good. I carry nylon rope tiedown lines as backup.
Since this car you own now is a station wagon, I suggest you hold onto it as long as possible and keep it in good mechanical condition if you can afford to. For a canoeist, no matter which racking system you employ a station wagon is a Godsend because the roof is low enough that a person of normal height can carry a canoe up beside it and set the boat down on top of it with very little difficulty. (Whereas almost all of today’s SUVs and pickup trucks have ridiculously tall rooflines that make racking a boat extremely difficult even for tall people.)
Once you and the Missus get to where you want a new ride, bite the bullet and get her something nice. At that point she gets to drive the new car, and the oldie goldie station wagon becomes your Fishmobile. You can then outfit it any way you choose and she has no further complaint, right?
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
