check your straps

so with all this cold wx we have been having lately, i would suggest checking your straps that you use to secure your kayak to your vehicle, especially if you leave your yak on the truck for extended time periods like i do for those quick assaults and last minute phone calls, wife got up this morning and decided to hit the gym before my usual monday meeting, so i run out and make sure everything is secure for her drive, yak is fine(so i thought) and off she goes, then 10 min later i get a call from her on the cell, thats not good, it takes her 15 to get to the gym, shes in tears on the freeway and the yak is in the middle of two lanes, luckily a good sam pulled over and got it out of the road and threw her and the yak in the back of his truck and got her back to our truck, by this time i am on the bike and sprinting to her,a few miles away. so as she was getting on the freeway some ass@#$% from oregon cut her off and almost made her crash, the on ramp at old redwood hiway is not the greatest merge and this idiot doing well over the speedlimit made her slam on the brakes and over correct as she nearly hit the front of the truck, this must be where the straps snapped, about 1/3 mile later she sees and hears the yak fly off, when i put the yak up and run the straps through the cams i do a double overhand not so they can not slip back through,and the straps were no longer attached to the truck, the only thing i can think happened is that with the cold and age, two years, they just snapped, i run my hand over them everytime i secure the yak to the truck looking and feeling for abbraissions and frays, and there have been none, so maybe a build up of saltwater and freezing temps made them brittle, i dont know, all i can say is i'm glad no one was hurt or killed, wife is shaken and the boat will survive but lesson learned, going to buy new straps once a year and do a better inspection when i load the boat, hope this helps someone in the future from this not happening, also i just relized this should have gone into the "this happened to me" forum so mooch move it if need be, cameron

Ugh, so sorry to hear about that happening to you and your wife    That would definitely freak me out if my yak flew off the car and was laying in the freeway.  Me, i'm really paranoid about that happening, and kind of stress the whole way to or from the water, constantly eyeballing my yaks to see if they have shifted during the drive.  If I ever have a hard stop, I make it a point to check the straps before moving on.  It can feel completely secure when you first strap them down, but often they wiggle during transit and loosen up on the road. 

Glad no one was hurt, and hope the yak didn't take too much damage!

Glad no one was hurt.
Did you have either the bow or stern tied down?
I have been using the same ratchet straps for at least 5 years now with no probs.
maybe it's time to sew some new ones together.
Thanks for the heads up.

glad your wife is okay. I think I'll go an inspect all my straps....

wife is shaken

Boy you are going to get an earful when she calms down at least she will have some ammo during the Holidays  Blame it on the crab fishing.

Cam glad all worked out I buy straps evey 2yrs but I don't fish much and they don't see much sun old straps are good for rolleez.

This is a good WAF moment for the rest of us don't tell your Wife this story till you want to take the Focus off you.

Thanks for the post.. I am thankful everyone is okay.  I get nervous transporting my kayak on my g6, that I double strap it.  I also notice on my last late night adventure that my kayak wheelz because of the cold were way under air, so I had to inflat it up for the cold just yesterday, while winter cleaning the garage.

But the straps are nerve racking for sure.

Wow! Glad everyone is OK. You kind of expect these type of things to happen to the guys that just throw their kayak in the back of the truck or tie it down with old poly rope. I'm going shopping for new straps.

yeah mike she is refusing to drive the truck anymore with the boat on it, there goes my plan of her not knowing when i fish since the boat is always on the truck

wife is shaken

Boy you are going to get an earful when she calms down at least she will have some ammo during the Holidays  Blame it on the crab fishing.

Your in the doghouse now Cameron. I know a great way to test for leaks...Let's Go Fishing! Good to hear no one got hurt...yet...sleep with one eye open.

Those tarpons got thick hulls!

I use motorcycle tie downs (Ankra) to be extra sure, WAY stronger than kayak straps.
A little more $$$ but they last almost forever and never slip or slide.

I put on so many road miles I change my NRS straps every year. I also use a cable lock as a backup for strap failure and thieves.

Glad your wifey is ok...When buying my straps I went cheapo on them. After reading your story I'll make sure to spend the extra $$$ for some better straps.

I always use a bow strap. If it looks loose, I always stop to take a look. I'm sure a bow strap takes most of the stress from the other tie downs. Even when I tow my truck behind my motorhome I use a strap in the front.

Great post.  90% of the time my yaks are able to ride in the bed of the truck, but the 10% times they ride up on the roof I'm always a little freaked out.  Glad to hear nobody got hurt, that could've been really bad.