Re: Fishing Vehicles and pontoon boats on top . . .

[Ray Wallace]

Yakima makes great racks. I bought some kayak saddles that fit the factory rack on my Rav4. I can also use the saddles on the Yakima rack on my 69 Bronco. The saddles make it much easier to load my South Fork by myself. My South Fork is very heavy. I have it all decked out with extra pockets that are very full of fly boxes, fish finder and battery, cooler, anchor, lucky rabbits foot, etc. Once the boat is on the roof and in the saddles I tie it down with four ratcheting straps. The saddles make it much easier.   Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: Ryan S. Petzold To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 11:20 AM Subject: Re: Fishing Vehicles and pontoon boats on top . . . Two words:  Yakima Racks A freind of mine has them on his canopy and he can strap down any pontoon boat as tight as he wants.   Ryan ----- Original Message ----- From: rderedfield To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 9:41 AM Subject: Fishing Vehicles and pontoon boats on top . . . It seems that some of you transport your assembled pontoon boats on top of your rigs.  What kind of distances do you feel comfortable in travelling?  What kind of speeds?  What do use to strap them down?  I suspect the boats and wind (like we never get that in Eastern WA, right?) cause some issues.   I have a PAC 800 that I have used only a couple of times.  It's a great craft, but it does get to be a hassle assembling and disassembling the frame and inflating and deflatingthe pontoons each time I use it.   By the way, I have a '95 Grand Cherokee that is a very good vehicle.  It serves as both the recreational and the around town vehicle, and although it does not excel at either, it does well in each.  An assembled 9' rod fits inside it.  It's comfortable, reasonably economical (it's a straight 6), and seems tough.  It has a 108k miles on it, but it's still tight and appears to be running just fine.  The downside is sometimes it is a little tight for room if I'm hauling 3 guys and all their gear.  However, when using the vehicle around town (which 90% of the time, unfortunately), the slightly smaller size (relative to a Suburban, Durango, or Tahoe, say) allows it to be very maneuverable in traffic and park easily.   I see the vehicle choices like boats; they are all compromises in one or another, and there isn't the 'one' answer or perfect vehicle or boat.  Like my dad told me, the well-equipped, versatile sportsperson should have at least 6 different water craft.  I'm still trying to convince my wife of that; and, if I'm ever successful in that endeavor, I'll write a self-help book on it.  :-)   Richard Embry