Towing boat to Lake

When towing your boat to the lake, do you put your boards in the rack on the boat?

your about to have a ton of people tell you how dangerous it is, and how you should never do it if you want to keep your boards in one piece...

yep thats what i was thinking, what do you do with your boards then?

we put them in back of truck or in boat with something on top to keep them down.....just common sense stuff...

I put them in the back of my truck or in the boat.....

we have a cover that is made to be towed with. so we throw the boards in board bags so fins dont hurt anything and to protect the edges. and just throw them in the boat.

Just to prove David was right...
Boat at 35 mph puts a fair load on the boards and moves them back in the racks.
Boat on trailer at 70 mph does not put double the load. It puts on 4X the load. That's like picking up an 60# kid and then picking up a 240# football player. Add that to the turbulence from going by a truck. It's just a bad plan.

It depends on how far your towing your boat imo. I tow 10 minutes to my dock, with a stop in between to get gas, and I never get over 35mph. Also, my boards are swiveled inside the boat so if they did happen to fall they would fall into the boat. They've never fallen.

I used to trailer a lot to a popular public lake. I have seen the damage a flying board makes when it strikes a following car. I have also picked up damaged boards just a few miles down the 55-mph zone leading away from the launch ramp. I also have spoken with a person how lost a board from the interior of the boat when it bounced at high speed - the wind caught the board and it flew out - leaving a gash on the vinyl en-route.

My boards are in the back of the SUV at road speeds.

I wouldn't carry the boards unrestrained in the rear of an suv either.

Why not?
Carrying boards in the racks whuile driving is a bad bad idea. In the back of a pick up or SUV not not that big of a deal, or even in a boat with a cover on it for that matter

(Message edited by cjh1669 on January 11, 2010)

A reasonable rule of thumb would be if you are towing at speeds slower than your boat goes on the water over short distances, you are probably OK, but the obvious safe bet is always in a compartment or inside the vehicle out of the wind.

i put mine inside the boat. i usually tow on the interstate about an hour or hour and fifteen. there have never been any issues.

Loose boards in the rear of an SUV have the potential to fly forward during an accident. Bag them and or just strap the bindings down, simply insurance if something went wrong.

it only takes a second to throw them in the racks once you get to the boat launch. Do yourself and everyone else a favour and leave the boards in the boat/tow vehicle until you get to the water. I'd rather err on the side of caution.

don't do it! bag em

My buddy had his board laying in the back of his pickup and while going from the ramp to our campsite, it blew out and went thru the window of a parked car.

has anyone ever used their Thule or Yakima snowboard racks on their SUV to transport boards?

Yakima board racks are just another accessory to add to the price of wakeboarding. I wouldn't waste my money. Finding a good place to keep your boards on the way to the lake isn't rocket science, it's common sense. Use your imagination...

we have 4 boarders in the family.. add that with all the camping gear, 2-3 friends that come with and all their gear as well.. all of a sudden its hard to fit 7 boards in a SUV.. I think the snowboard racks would be an awesome idea

".....just common sense stuff..."

^ this