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-   -   Suggestions for improving kayaking MPG. (https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/suggestions-improving-kayaking-mpg-17060.html)

torrent99 04-27-2011 11:45 AM

Suggestions for improving kayaking MPG.
 
Folks,

I'm a keen kayaker, and frequently load my car up with up to 4 kayaks on the roof. ( The boats are likely different shapes)

Needless to say this isn't particularly good for the old FE.

So I'd love some suggestions on how to improve the FE in this situation?

So far I thought of some sort of lycra sock to put over the front of the boats so as to smooth the 4 boats into one...good idea or waste of time?

Cheers

Steve

Ryland 04-27-2011 12:22 PM

What kind of mileage drop do you see with the boats on top? and how do you fit 4 kayaks on the roof of a car? I would go with a small trailer, but that is just me.

some_other_dave 04-27-2011 07:34 PM

Easy: Cut up the boats into small pieces and put them inside the car! :D

Oh, wait--you want to be able to use the boats again later? Hmmm.... Nevermind.

-soD

bestclimb 04-27-2011 08:51 PM

slow down so the aero drag is less significant.

Or fair them all.

Inside of a faired trailer

jakobnev 04-28-2011 06:42 AM

What kind of car and what kind of kayaks? (some pictures might be needed for some of us to have any idea of the size and shape of the kayaks)

bikin' Ed 04-28-2011 08:33 AM

Try it all
 
I like the idea of the trailer and the lycra. Perhaps you could fashion it into a pseudo boat tail of your car.

torrent99 04-28-2011 10:41 AM

Here's a pic of the sort of thing I talking about.

h t t p s:// picasawe b . google. com /marc.labuhn/RegentSJanuary2010?fgl=true&pli=1#5433038460316152 146

(remove the extra spaces from the URL to see it. I can't post links/pics yet)

The car is a Vauxhall Astra G Slushbox 1.6... I haven't really measured but the effect of 4 whitewater kayaks on the roof is at least 10mpg.

The boats themselves are about 6-9ft long (I take different boats at different times), & about 2 feet wide.

How do you fit 4 boats on a car? Easy.
1 roof rack
2 uprights in middle of roof rack.
2 boats on their side on each side of the uprights.
4 long straps.
Pull hard on straps....

As suggested a trailer would be ideal, but not practical for me as I live in a small flat/apartment with only 1 parking space on the street, so no storage for trailers.

I was thinking along the lines of some kind of fabric fairings to even out the irregular shapes that the boats present. Not sure if this would really make any significant savings though.



Cheers

Steve

Bill in Houston 04-28-2011 11:23 AM

I like the idea of a fairing. Maybe fabric at first, but then maybe you could cook up something more shapely and substantial that would also serve some other purpose, like transporting bits of gear from the car down to the water's edge, or from your car back up to your apartment.

Phantom 04-28-2011 11:38 AM

Instead of fabric to start I would get a tarp with eyelets and place that on the roof first then wrap it over the top and pull it tight to the straps that you are using. Doing this you might need to reposition the boats so they do not cause and pockets that will trap air and cause more drag.

jakobnev 04-28-2011 11:54 AM

Custom trunk-lid with kayak holes?

Joenavy85 04-28-2011 12:08 PM

what body style is it? coupe, sedan, hatchback?? I would say a 4x8 trailer, and build a plywood box on it to put the kayaks in, you could taper the rear of the trailer to help the airflow (if you have a hatchback you could even do a teardrop style trailer to help the aero.

http://www.travelizmo.com/archives/c...op-trailer.jpg

that gives the general idea of the shape, you could design it the be a little bit shorter in height than your car, and have a small wing to help the air across the gap inbetween

bestclimb 04-28-2011 05:08 PM

Where do you store the kayaks? could a folding trailer fit with them?

sid 04-28-2011 10:27 PM

This is a guess, but if his situation is like mine, probably only one of the kayaks is his and the rest are friends who he is shuttling (where put-in and take-out are located miles/km apart) or they are car-pooling. So the other boats would probably differ in size and shape between trips. In most of my shuttle situations, the shuttle is planned rather on-the-spot and is rather hard to prepare for before the trip. But that is because we usually do multiple trips in a week or weekend, with the trip for each day chosen based on local conditions, like weather, water level, crowds, etc. Also, we don't often know who is going to show up for the trips until the day of the trip.

Mifunego 05-01-2011 01:36 AM

Honestly, do you think there is *any* way to improve FE with 4 kayaks on the roof? That sounds like an aerodynamic nightmare.

On the kayak theme though, I had a single 12-foot kayak inverted and mounted on a roof rack on my Mazdaspeed3. I got 29+ mpg, with a fully loaded car on a road trip, a/c on, and cruise set at 60. My best mpg ever, and I have only been able to duplicate it once since then, without the same inefficiencies. Go figure.


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