Best straps for kayaks and canoes

Kayaks and canoes are strong along their length and easy to dent across the deck. The strap that fails them is usually not a weak strap. It is a strong ratchet used as if the hull were a pallet. Break strength is almost irrelevant here. The skill is stopping.

A ordinary rack or truck-bed setup

1. Know the vehicle's roof-load rating if the boat is going on the car. The strap does not raise that rating. The roof-rack guide stays on this.
2. Put the boat on padded crossbars or on a bed that will not point-load the hull. Cradles and gunwale brackets exist because webbing alone is a thin contact patch.
3. Run two straps over the hull, perpendicular to the boat, and add bow and stern lines so the boat cannot pivot or slide forward under braking. Lines to the bumpers or tow hooks should be tied so they cannot slip off.
4. Pad where webbing crosses a sharp coaming, a skeg, or a rack edge.
5. On a cam buckle, pull until the boat no longer shifts under a firm shove. On a ratchet, use the handle for one or two clicks after the slack is gone, then stop. If the deck changes shape, you have gone too far. Back the strap off.
6. Soft loops from the AUGO kit can wrap a crossbar when an S-hook would slide along it.

Fifteen feet is enough for a pair of straps over a kayak on a midsize rack or across a pickup, with tail left to tie. A 27-foot freight strap is needless webbing in the wind. A 6-foot cam buckle can be perfect across a narrow rack and too short once the boat sits high on a stack.