I hope to buy and transport a Chesapeake 17 / sailrig (15' mast version) combo within the next 1-2 days. All I have for cartopping is a Quest kayak carrier kit (2 v-shaped pads for roof racks, 2 straps, 2 bow/stern lines with hooks).
Is it safe for a diligent cartopping newbie to use this kind of kit to transport a kayak and sailrig safely at highway speeds for a 4-hour drive? I've only transported a wood duckling a mile or so at <30 mph 3-4 times, and I kind of winged it, frankly. I am inclined to just rent a big UHaul truck to transport the kayak + sailrig, as wasteful as that may be in terms of $ and gas, to ensure I don't make a cartopping mistake that would put others at risk.
Even if it's advisable to transport it safely in a fully enclosed moving truck until I work out a cartopping setup, I would appreciate learning good cartopping tricks/best practices for the sailrig in particular (i.e., securing the mast and the akas/crossbeams) given that it's an unusually complex set of parts to secure. I would mostly be cartopping on an Outback for now, by the way.
I was able to put everything but the mast (multiple pieces but seemingly glued together) and the kayak inside the Outback (long enough by a fraction of an inch - amas touched the front windshield and the gate). I secured the kayak to the car using 2 cam straps and a ratchet strap and secured the mast to the kayak using 2 more cam straps (with foam between). This allowed me to avoid having to lash the mast to the roof rack.
Having studied the parts up close, I've concluded there's nothing special about cartopping the sailrig. Similar to cartopping a small sailboat and a couple of small kayaks. I will probably lash the mast and akas to the rack in the future and feed ropes through the ama bolt holes to tie down. Need to improve my rope/knot skills, but that's key to sailing anyway.
I cartop a mill creek 13 w sailrig on a Kia niro with roof racks
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Thant's encouraging, Poopdeck Pappy (though I can't see your pics).
I was under the impression that the anas were 10'7" (as described in a review of the initial design, but the sailrig product page suggests that amas are 10' long and that the akas are slightly shorter than that. In this case, I think I can squeeze all 4 into the interior of the Outback, which would feel a lot safer to me for a long drive (but I might like to put them all on the roof rack for short drives later).
This would leave me with the Chesapeake 17 and the 15' mast for my long highway drive. I picked up 4 Thule quick loops, and it seems like I could secure the yak (through bow/stern handles) and the mast (by feeding ropes through the entire mast) to both sides of the car at both the front and the back. I can tie the kayak down with the straps in the usual way and secure the mast to the rack crossbars with some heavy-duty lashing (perhaps with the help of some rubber for friction). This ia starting to feel manageable.
The parts list (which I hadn't thought to check) implies states that the 15' aluminum mast is comprised of two (presumably equal) lengths of tube. In that case, the mast can also ride inside the vehicle, leaving me with only the C17 kayak (fingers crossed) for the roof rack for the long highway drive.
I'd still be grateful for any best practices others would be willing to share (for local trips where cartopping the whole kit is reasonable given my lack of experience).