How to Load and Strap Your Paddleboard to the Roof Rack
(by yourself!)
So, we want to make sure that the paddleboard fin is up over the windshield. So, you don’t want the fin at the back of the board and you don’t want it face down. You want it up in the air and towards the front of the vehicle. This is so that when you’re driving down the road, if the straps start to loosen, the fin is going to catch on the straps before it starts flying off the back of your vehicle.
So you’re going to start with the front of the board towards the back of the vehicle and the back of the board, where the fin is at, away from the vehicle. The deck pad is facing away from you so you’re at the back of the board.
From there, you’re going to go grab where the fin is at and you’re going to pull the board up over your head. Then you’re just going to walk your hand down the board.
You can then lean it up against the car.
From there, you can grab it from the bottom and lift it.
Then, you can roll it right onto the car.
Then to strap it on, we’re gonna take the buckle and throw it up on top of the board.
Then, you’re going to take the rest of the strap and thread it underneath the crossbar.
After you thread it underneath the crossbar you’re going to throw the excess to the other side too. You should have two straps and two crossbars, so make sure that while you’re on this side of the car that you prep both straps.
On the other side, you are going to thread the strap underneath the crossbar just like you did on the other side.
Then you are going to grab the very end of the strap and you’ll be able to thread it underneath and through the buckle, pulling on the buckle to get it nice and tight.
You’ll have a lot of extra rope depending on how many boards you’re stacking up on top of your car so you’re just going to put it together and either tie it around or thread it under so it doesn’t fly around so much on the freeway and then you’re going to do the same thing with the second strap and you’ll be good to go.
As far as getting up on your vehicle enough to be able to reach, if you have a short vehicle it’s going to be easy to do just from standing. If you have a taller vehicle you can just stand on the tire or you can keep a little step stool in the trunk or in the back of their car.
If you need to put two boards on top of your vehicle you’re going to have the first board be a little bit further forward and then the second board is going to be a little bit further back so you can have both fins stay on the boards. If you have one board that’s longer than the other the longer one is going to go underneath and then the shorter one right on top. You’re gonna strap them up just the same.
One more thing. A common question we get asked is if we can transport inflatable paddleboards on top of your roof rack just like a hard board. You definitely can! You just want to make extra sure that it’s fully strapped on there so it’s not going to blow off especially on the freeway. If you have a really long inflatable paddle board or if you just want to take extra precaution you can attach an extra strap to the D-ring at the end of your board right where your leash attaches and then attach it underneath the front of the vehicle.
We also have rack wraps available in our store. They are to put over the crossbars on your vehicle to keep the deck pad safe on the board. Those come with straps. If you need just the straps we sell those as well, and they have the rubber buckle bumpers to keep your boards safe so that you’re not throwing the metal buckle up on top of your vehicle. They are twelve foot in length, so you’ll be able to strap a couple boards up on top and still have a little extra wiggle room with them.
Great video on my own and thin si weight of board wad an issue.