Anyone drive a Ford Escape?
Curious as to how you attach your boat to it for traveling distances at speed.

yep...just bought a '13 Escape w/ roof rails especially for carrying boats. I have a set of Yakima racks that attach to the rails.

Had one from about 2001-2005 when I traded it in on a Honda Element. The Escape got better gas mileage, but always felt like it didn't have enough room for 2 and gear on long trips since my wife can't pack light. It was very reliable and a good canoe hauler and good shuttle vehicle.

I have a Mazda Tribute which is the essentially the same as the Escape. Its my standard canoe hauler and it works great. I've used both a yakima canoe rack that attached to the roof rack and also put it straight on the roof using the foam gunnel pads. Both work just fine.

I've never had an issue with it being too small to hold all my gear plus dog or dog crate. The seats should all fold down flat giving you a pretty large flat cargo area.

I've even folded down the seats and slept in it during a mid november deer hunting trip. Worked well although I'm 6'4" and I did have to curl up a little.

quote Longpaddler: "yep...just bought a '13 Escape w/ roof rails especially for carrying boats. I have a set of Yakima racks that attach to the rails."

I would like to see that.
I was in the chat forum last night with Kanoes and Cowdoc among others and we discussed this issue a bit.
I have a 2012 Escape with factory rails and crossbars. I can't seem to get my Malecite to fit with the factory set up and the foam block system. I get a boat that moves at speed, thus begging the question... what good are they? OR am I doing something wrong?
This is my first boat and first attempt at tying one onto a car top.

2wd RAV4 with roof rack, 30-32 mpg

the two cross tie down is the main secure
back tie for sudden braking
front for acceleration and frontal force of air

I have an '01 Escape. Two Cross Ties and the front secured. The canoe may shift slightly with a heavy cross wind, but it's never loose.

The Escape wasn't long enough to hold my Otter Cabin fish house, so I got a 2008 TaurusX. Last payment next month! Woo-hoo!

quote PompousPilot1: "

quote Longpaddler: "yep...just bought a '13 Escape w/ roof rails especially for carrying boats. I have a set of Yakima racks that attach to the rails."

I would like to see that.
I was in the chat forum last night with Kanoes and Cowdoc among others and we discussed this issue a bit.
I have a 2012 Escape with factory rails and crossbars. I can't seem to get my Malecite to fit with the factory set up and the foam block system. I get a boat that moves at speed, thus begging the question... what good are they? OR am I doing something wrong?
This is my first boat and first attempt at tying one onto a car top."

Some pics of my car racks:

rather than try to secure the rear tie to the rear of the canoe use a thwart which is forward of your rear car connection point. This will keep canoe from moving forward if you have to hit the brakes hard.

quote ZaraSp00k: "rather than try to secure the rear tie to the rear of the canoe use a thwart which is forward of your rear car connection point. This will keep canoe from moving forward if you have to hit the brakes hard."

EXCELLENT tip! I have a couple short straps that I do just that with myself, unless I'm just running a short shuttle.

quote ZaraSp00k: "rather than try to secure the rear tie to the rear of the canoe use a thwart which is forward of your rear car connection point. This will keep canoe from moving forward if you have to hit the brakes hard."

do you have a picture of this?

quote aholmgren: "

quote ZaraSp00k: "rather than try to secure the rear tie to the rear of the canoe use a thwart which is forward of your rear car connection point. This will keep canoe from moving forward if you have to hit the brakes hard."

do you have a picture of this?"

Looked through pictures and can't find a picture where you can see my safety strap on the car's rack, but here's a pic of how I sometimes do it on the truck. The blue one in front will keep the canoe from going forward if braking suddenly or when going down steep inclines like we have getting to river accesses here in the Ozarks.

Don't know if my Hyundai Santa Fe qualifies as a small suv but I love it and will buy another.

I probably missed this but why add after market bars to the OEM rails? I just lash to the cross bars that came with the car.

I like having the comfort of gunnel brackets on the yakima's, especially at highway speeds....between the straps and the gunnel brackets, I don't need bow and stern straps/ropes

Plus, my factory racks are not wide enough to accommodate two canoes.

quote Longpaddler: "I like having the comfort of gunnel brackets on the yakima's, especially at highway speeds....between the straps and the gunnel brackets, I don't need bow and stern straps/ropes


Plus, my factory racks are not wide enough to accommodate two canoes."

Seriously?!
That's great.

quote Longpaddler: "I like having the comfort of gunnel brackets on the yakima's, especially at highway speeds....between the straps and the gunnel brackets, I don't need bow and stern straps/ropes
Plus, my factory racks are not wide enough to accommodate two canoes."

Securing the bow is to protect those behind you. Straps, racks, welds, etc can and will fail. I have gunnel brackets too, but you need to re-think not using bow tiedowns.