Kayak Toggles

I am using standard plastic toggles on my Wood Duck Hybrid 12. They work fine but tend to beat the hell out of the deck while on top of the car. Question 1. Any suggestions as to how to eliminate this problem? Question 2. I have seen nicely tied rope handles, does anyone have instructions at to how this is done? Thanks in advance for your assistance.    


14 replies:

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RE: Kayak Toggles

I tie an overhand knot in mine on the wood duckling, so the handle is right against the padeye.

 

On my shearwater, the cord goes right through so it's a strong loop, and through a hole in the hull. Then I hook my bow and stern lines to it.

RE: Kayak Toggles

i just tied mine with a square knot.  which has held and is comfortable when carrying.   It would be really nice to use three strand classic line and splice it into a nice continuous loop.  Never learned how though!  should have watched my dad do it more!  probably some websites that can show you how to do it or get a book about it.  Marlinspikesmanship!

 

RE: Kayak Toggles

Your toggles beat up your deck when on the top of the car? Hmmm. Sounds like someone isn't using bow and stern lines. Big No No! Bow and stern lines are cheap and add to the security of hauling your boat. If you are doing highway transporting of your boat without these you are only asking for trouble. Malone makes a nice ratchet style line. Quick and easy. 

RE: Kayak Toggles

I use a  long splice, with a taper, with 1/4" black three strand nylon line.  You can find how to do it on several websites that have Marlin spike directions.  It isn't that hard once you figure it out and get the flow.  You need about 18" for the loop.  I made some very nice wood toggles that looked great, but just paddling had them hitting the stem, and it was very annoying.

RE: Kayak Toggles

let me take a crack at the 'beating' toggles problem.  i can appreciate what you are saying and how frustrating it can be to have something banging around when you are paddling.

here is a neat, simple way i solved the problem and use it on all my kayaks. 

begin with the assumption you have the normal toggle tied with a strong line to the hull....

becuase there is no tension on it....it will flop around.

for this approach you will need a small length of 1/8 or 3/16th nylon line and some bungee cord (you can use 3/16).

around the line between the hull and toggle, tie a small loop of the nylon line.  attach one end of the bungee to the nylon loop, and the other end of the bungee to an anchor point on the hull (i use one of the nylon strap points that is already in place for the deck line.  pull the slack out of the bungee line and secure it.

when you need to pick up the boat with the toggle, the toggle easily stretches out the bungee and the full load of the boat is actually on the original toggle lines..  when you let go, the bungee pulls the toggle back tight on the deck....no banging.

to make it look nice, you can play around with the arrangement, but the basic concept is some bungee cord to pull the toggle back down onto the deck when its not being used to lift the boat (or being used as an anchor point for a bow/stern line)

give it a go....i think you will be quite pleased.

RE: Kayak Toggles

I've been using these....

Which are easy on the hands and don't bang around as much as the stock plastic toggles

Dan

RE: Kayak Toggles

SEA-LECT Designs Kayak Carrying Handle Set provides an elastic retainer to keep the handle in its cradel until neede.

RE: Kayak Toggles

I have been using a wood dowel with a hole through the middle and some 1/4 cord for the handle.  When not used to carry the kayak I just tuck them under the end of the deck lines. In my boats the deck lines go through a transverse hole near the end and then come up and cross on the deck before going to the holders along the deck.  The toggle is tied through the same hole. 

When on the car I tie through the toggle to hold the bow down and across to the second kayak to keep the bows aligned.

Ed

RE: Kayak Toggles

For some more ideas and information about toggles:

Everything You Need To Know About End Toggles, But Never Knew to Ask (Part I)

Everything You Need to Know About End Toggles (Part 2) 

Hang on to Your Kayak (End Toggles Part 3)

Of course any line left to blow in the wind will cause damage. I always try to secure all covers and lines when attaching items to any vehicle.  If any lose end catches to onother object, something is going to give.

RE: Kayak Toggles

Glad you asked this question because I've never thought of it as a potential problem.  I haven't transported my WD tandem yet.  We've used it so far only on the small lake we live on.

That said, I guess I've lucked out here because I used the brass padeyes CLC sells, and I just attached the toggles by making a loop out of the cord and then passing the loop thru the padeye, then the toggle handle thru the loop.  That makes them easy to remove.  When I do cartop my kayak, and with the wisdom of your cautionary experience, I think I'll just temporarily remove the toggles so they don't beat up the boat.

Dave

RE: Kayak Toggles

here are a couple pictures that illustrate the bungee concept i described earlier:

 

RE: Kayak Toggles

Two nylon straps/bands screwed to the deck a bit back from the toggle. Add a bungee to strap around the toggle's handle. No banging at all. Your all set for a nice quiet paddle!!

 

RE: Kayak Toggles

Here's my WD12:

It's just a piece of nylon line spliced back onto itself, sort of like dave10990's idea except I deliberately did not taper it. I wanted the extra thickness of the splice to protect my hand while carrying the boat.

As far as bow/stern lines go, they're not necessary as long as you have enough separation between your racks. The point of the lines is to resist the torquing moment from the bow to the front rack and from the stern to the back rack. The closer the racks are to the bow/stern, the less the torque. On my wife's car the racks are just over 2 feet apart and her boat is 17 feet long. Lines are mandatory.

On my truck, however, the tracks are 6 feet apart, so the torques are much smaller, well within the holding power of the straps. And for my 12-foot WD, the torques are 60% smaller than the 17LT on the car. So lines never needed.

Be careful and conservative when deciding whether to use bow lines or not. Using them when you don't need them is better than the other way around.

Laszlo

 

RE: Kayak Toggles

For my Wood Duck hybrid, I carved toggles from 1/2" mahogony attached with cord to bow and stern bronze padeyes..

 Since banging around during any transit could damage both the hull and the varnished toggles,  I bought foam pipe insulation from Home Depot (really cheap) and cut to fit the lengths of the toggles.   A couple of rubber bands secure the tubing.  Works great.

For short, fequent trips, I just leave the covering on while paddling.

RichMPL

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