Have you tried putting them on sideways?

Do you mean sliding the canoe up at 90 degrees to the rack and then rotating it once its up there?

If so, i’ve not. I’ll give it a go. This might work with one canoe but with two the first one on the roof would be in the way when sliding the second up. Wouldn’t it?

Also, this needs to be doable by one person (me). Mrs B is 5ft 2 on a good day and can’t reach the canoe when its on the roof.

Hi been looking for a way to load my open canoe for a long time and love the idea of the loading ramp. Do you connect the wood to the bars before loading and what length wood did you use so it wouldn’t catch on your wing mirrors.
Cheers.

@rob4424 – I use 3 pieces of wood. 1 rests between the front and rear roof bars and sits against the Thule Load Stops moved out to the end of the bars leaving enough space for the piece of wood to rest in the bars.

The 2 other pieces of wood form the ramp and are 3.6m long. I’ve cut angled notches at the top ends so that they rest on the bit of wood between the bars and remain in place when I’m sliding the boat up the ramps.

I also attach a couple of G clamps towards the top end of the ramp so that I can hook the boat over when I reposition myself for the final push.

Here’s a clip of the set up – Linky

Here’s a clip of the load process – Linky

Once loaded I strap the 3 pieces of wood to the roof bars so that I can unload / reload the boat at the paddling destination.