I want to carry my canoe with my Jeep with the soft top on

orange150

orange150

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Fairfax City, VA
What's the best way to accomplish this?

The rear is easy, I can just pick up one of these.

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But how to support the front is stumping me.

I was originally thinking I could mount one of those bolt on 2" receivers to my front bumper and use another one of those carriers up front, but I'm worried it would end up being too long for my canoe.
I had another great idea to use an old school light bar that mounts to the windshield, but finding a second hand one is difficult and a new one is till $250+ (which seems crazy to me).
Now I'm thinking maybe I will pick up a set of those windshield light brackets and bend a piece of tube to mimic a light bar and just make my own... problem being the only thing I can bend at home is conduit. Canoe weighs 80lbs.
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Any other ideas to consider?
 
Exposed Racks has an option to install a rack and your soft top can close over the rack. You may be able to find a way to make that work without using the windshield brackets you posted. The Exposed Racks has 1x1 holes milled into the rack and quick connect attachments that click in at various locations. So you may be able to locate the rack at a zipper corner and insert the canoe attachment into the rack through a zipper corner. They were really helpful when I called them on the phone and described what I needed and how to accomplish it. USA made in PA
 
Looked at the Exposed Rack stuff, but I want to be able to leave my canvas on, which it doesn’t look like those can do.

I’m still thinking the old school style light bar idea is the best.
Just need to either be patient (which I don’t want to be) and find a used one, or figure out how to make one…
 
For the weight of a canoe I’d go the route with the light mounts. Make a bar out of thin wall 1.75” HREW literally outlining the windshield frame and weld a couple small eyelets at the outer corners to secure a strap too. Let the canoe rest on top of the soft top and strap the tail of the boat down to the trailer hitch and send it on down the road. You’re not hauling elephants for crying out loud.
 
skyhighZJ said:
For the weight of a canoe I’d go the route with the light mounts. Make a bar out of thin wall 1.75” HREW literally outlining the windshield frame and weld a couple small eyelets at the outer corners to secure a strap too. Let the canoe rest on top of the soft top and strap the tail of the boat down to the trailer hitch and send it on down the road. You’re not hauling elephants for crying out loud.
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Agreed. Leave enough space to put you a pad on the bar as well.
 
What is the current front bumper arrangement?
 
awheelterd said:
Be cool if you could fix something to attach to the d-ring tabs
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That is my thoughts. I have hauled several Canoes and Kayaks in all sorts or configurations. Lighter weight heavy and in between. All of them catch some wind. Take a light version catching highway speed and that foot print bearing down just got a lot heftier.
The windshield and cowl looks better as a package, but longer hauls and repetitive use would seem bad.

Is a very light weight trailer a option? Repurposed ski-doo or custom built?
 
Rear insert. Two uprights in the front with cross bar. Connect front to rear. Done. Make rear beefy enough to carry the front to back loading. O use those four bolts holding the flat of the winch tray to make a bracket fitting or a front light weight receiver.
 
I think Mike Hundley from the Trailblazers had a canoe rack mounted to his front bumper of his CJ years ago when he and Robbie Mozely did the safari triathlon in FL. This was back in the late 90’s. Maybe dig up some old photos and see how he did it.
 
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