# cartopping a gheenoe--advice?experience?



## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

Sometime in the next couple of months I plan on purchasing either a 13 or 15 Gheenoe to cartop and fish NMZ waters. I already have a flats boat and there is no room for another trailer at the house or in the garage so it needs to be cartopabble. So I have a few questions for all you gheenoe experts out there.

Do you have any experience cartopping one? Would you get the 13 or the 15? FWIW, I will be putting it on top of a Subaru Outback.

What kind of tie down system would you use?

Ideally, a boat configured like this would be perfect I think for fly fishing/poling around NMZ waters but I am a little worried that 15 might be too big.
http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2011-Gheenoe-No-Motor-Zone-(nmz)-98709810  I also am prob not going to spend 2k on one but will try and find a beater on craigslist and then do some mods on it when I have the time (and ambition).  Thanks for any help and advice.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

I only car topped my 15'4" highsider once, it was a pain! I imagine the 13 is easier, but not as easy as a lighter weight yak which might be a good option if you never plan to put a motor on it.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

yea i might look into some more yaks but i 100% want to stand while fishing. i think i will primarily be fishing w/ one other person as well and would like the option of putting a motor on in case the situation arised.

i would def like to find the lightest thing possible tho as i don't want to do any damage to my car or have too much wind resistance.


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## cwalden (Jun 24, 2011)

I have a 15ft Gheenoe clone and cannot imagine trying to cartop it. Especially alone! Before I got a trialer for my yaks, I used to cartop and it was a chore to get a 60lb yak on top of the car after a day of paddling. I would definatly get a yak if you are going to cartop. I can stand on my Ocean Kayak Prowlers (weight capacity of 450lbs). They also make a 4 inch wider version of the prowler, called the Big Game. I think the weight capacity on it is 600!!! They also make bolt on pontoon systems for yaks as well.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

With the 13' 'noe weighing about 120 pounds, that might be a little more than I'd be willing to deal with.
I think I'd rather go with a used quality canoe or yak for the NMZ's.
Both for the weight savings and ease of paddling/poling.
Outrigger kits for both are available to increase stability for casting and poling.


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## AfterHours2 (Aug 2, 2010)

I would go with the NativeCraft Ultimate 12 personally. Nice and stable. Easy kayak to use while standing and fishing. I think the gheenoe would be a royal paint to try and car top but it is do able..


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

Tom did it with my 13 footer before I got it ...

Video link ... Looks ezy peezy 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xAqOpSizk0


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Don't forget you still have to drag it to the water. 

Did you happen to see the end of that video. It says forget topping, buy a trailer! Lol.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

I have a kayak cart ... works great But ... I do trailer ... 99% of the time ...



> Don't forget you still have to drag it to the water.
> 
> Did you happen to see the end of that video. It says forget topping, buy a trailer! Lol.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

ive been trying to look at some other options but nothing really seems all that suitable. i mean kayaks really just don't appear to have enough space for two people (and are just as/more expensive than a noe) and im not sure how well they would pole either.

does anyone have any good reccs of other canoes or other stable vessels that i could fly fish from?


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## tgraddickjr (May 6, 2011)

look at the Jackson Coosa or the Native Watercraft Ultimates


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## Canoeman (Jul 23, 2008)

I have an American Eagle 15' square stern canoe that I carry on top of my truck. I find it to be very stable (I stand on the rear seat to pole it) and relatively lightweight at 100 lbs. It will carry two people with no trouble. To load I lift the bow of the canoe up to the rear rack mounted on my topper. Then I walk to the stern of the boat, lift it up and shove it forward until the boat rests on both racks. I'm 63 and no bodybuilder and it's pretty easy.

My power is a 4hp Evinrude 2 stroke which weighs about 35 pounds. A new 4 stroke 4hp weighs in at a hefty 66 lbs. With just me in the boat, it runs probably 10-11 mph.

It's a bit of a pain to unload the motor and all the gear (takes about 10-15 minutes), but I can launch on roads with no turn around area. I can't put a trailer in front of the house, so this works for me. 
I am, however, looking at buying a 13 Gheenoe, but I would have to trailer it. I think it weighs too much to heft. I'll look at a trailer with a folding tongue to fit in my garage.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Just so you guys know, a Gheenoe 13'r is about 100lbs, and a 15'4" is about 120lbs.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

> look at the Jackson Coosa or the Native Watercraft Ultimates


i like that coosa quite a bit but it's def a solo craft. as far as the weight i am more concerned about my car than anything else. i'm 25 and in good shape so not too worried about the physical strain of loading/unloading esp as it won't be my main fishing vessel.

i will check out that american eagle but may just try and find a cheap 13 noe and see what i can do with that. do you do anything special w/ ur rack/topper for the canoe or just standard crossbars adn slide it up on there?


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

That's my van and Highsider that Noettica posted in the picture. I have car topped a 13' and 15'4 Highsider about a 1/2 dozen times. Its not too bad if you have two strong guys to load and unload the boat. I had to do it by myself a couple times and it sucked. You can do it if you are a big guy or if you come up with some sort of loading system. 

I was putting mine on top of a minivan. The Highsider was just a little to wide to fit on the roof racks. I corrected this problem by putting two 2x4 boards that stuck out 6" on each side under the boat. There wasn't too much to strapping it down. I used ratchet straps and connected it to the roof rack. 

IMO if you want to fish from a Highsider and avoid having another trailer then you need to have a pick up truck. A 13' Highsider will fit easily in the back of a truck. I put my 15'4" in there with a bed extender from Harbor Freight. If that is not an option then I would recommend sticking with a kayak. They are much easier to car top.


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## CapnK (Jul 6, 2011)

The car height makes a difference... I have a Saturn SW2 wagon, and have cartopped my River Hawk 15 Original on it without much trouble. The RH is heavier than my touring kayak by about x2, but not any more difficult to get up there, other than needing more strength for lifting. Now, if the car was my old 4Runner, it'd be about 2-3' higher, and about 100% harder... 

My method: You need a couple of towels or carpet scraps. Put a towel or piece of carpet (fiber side down) on the roof at the back of vehicle, set the other in easy reach there as well, pick up one end of the boat and place it on the one on roof. Go pick up other end of boat and slide it forward until the carpet is about to go down your front windshield. Set the second towel/carpet on roof, keep sliding boat forward while pushing down on back end to keep the front part of the boat from scraping your roof. When it is in about the right place, set it down and tweak the position/padding before strapping down. I like to do the kayak right side up, the RiverHawk upside down.

For tie downs, I use straps run around the boat and through the front and back doors (shut doors after strapping), tie the front end with 1/4" line in a V _(to the front corners of the car if possible)_, and with a single line aft to the hitch.

In the pics below, was the day I first brought the RH home. Note lack of a back-door strap, and not much V in the front line, yet it still traveled just fine for close to an hour, running at 60mph or so. I was very watchful, though; if I'd had more strapping material, it would have been in use.

One last thing - notice the flat straps (through the door) are twisted. Be sure to do this, or they will set up a humming buzzing noise at speed that will drive you *absolutely crazy*.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

> Just so you guys know, a Gheenoe 13'r is about 100lbs, and a 15'4" is about 120lbs.


Hrmmm. That American eagle 14' is listed at 74 lbs (and made in cocoa thats kind of convenient). some canoe website also has this 'esquif canoe' that looks pretty good. The heron model is 14'6 and 69lbs it says. Found a price tho, 1600


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

Thanks for that car topping writeup as well. I'll be using an outback so should be similar height to that. I definitely think it's doable.


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## JaxLaxFish (Aug 23, 2010)

http://www.wenonah.com/products/template/product_detail.php?IID=21

If this is the Heron you are speaking of I can tell you it will not work too well for 2 people standing and I consider myself to have good balance. Personally I would not suggest any type of canoe for standing unless alone because no matter how many times it works just fine it only takes one flip to lose all of your gear. That being said I have ridden in a canoe with a giant outrigger on one side that had an outboard and it rode good but that would probably be more trouble than it was worth. My buddy has a 4runner with a setup just like what Tom was talking about with the truck and a bed extender. We just spread out a tarp in the back then load up 2 kayaks about 13 feet. I don't know how big your cargo area is exactly but I can see this working with your car. If it did work this would be the best setup because you could load everything into the boat except motor and other heavy items and spend minimal time doing so at the launch site.


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

yea it's this one. slight square back but those seats look like a disaster. i may go and check out those square back american canoes.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

Get a ride in a "Genuine Gheenoe" with a 6Hp motor 

Then get a ride in a Motorized Canoe  same motor

Run both in some "sloppy" water 

Get both up to 15  Mph , do some turns ...

Run both with a passenger that is a fidgeter   (sp?)


After actually experiencing both . then make your choice ..... 


You could Rig up a Lift /Rack system so you could switch boats at the house and share the trailer 


There's this ...


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

There is no way that is legal, and it makes making tight turns impossible. I'd get a colapsable trailer before that.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

I'd get a collapsible trailer 


I forgot about those ... Yet another option ...


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## jsnipes (May 1, 2011)

e-mailed the guy at american canoes and he sent me some pics of their models w/ the decks already installed.  the pics look pretty good and for $875 pretty solid price.  def will stand in one and check out stability and such prior to purchasing but it looks pretty good.  this is the 16', he said they are going to put decks on a 14 sometime this month to test out.  will prob wait until that happens to compare. the guy told me the 16' w decks weighs ~95lbs.


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