Adventures delivering kayaks to & from Everglades

Ok, so my friends and I just returned from a wonderful road trip to the Everglades for 4 straight days of backcountry camping and kayaking far from civilization. I'm afraid poor Prius had a HORRIBLE time but I am happy to report that at least my car was not destroyed on this trip (cause it really did go through everything else).

We left on January 2 (from Western Massachussetts) with 2 kayaks strapped to the roof. And when I say strapped, I mean strapped. No fancy pants convenient car rack for us. I decided I would rather not spend the $400 on a Thule rack, so instead we used the soft foam blocks and straps that came with the Kayaks to strap the two boats to the roof. We were a bit concerned but both Kayaks did fit side by side, top down on the roof so we thought it would work sufficiently for our trip.

Unfortunately, when this theory was tested, a godawful humming sound emanated from the roof at highway speeds that would be unbearable for a roadtrip. So we taped plastic over the openings in the tops of the kayaks. No improvement. One of my fellow travelers realized the humming was from the straps that stretched between the two kayaks. So we covered these parts of the straps with towels wrapped around them and Prius was now travel ready 2 hours after our initial departure time of 4am.

We drove for 3 hours and stopped in CT somewhere to discover that the 2 rear foam blocks had fallen off and the kayak butts were resting directly on the roof of my car! I proceeded to pretend not to see the scratches on the roof while my friends produced an extra foam block and a towel to prop up the kayak bums again. 3 hours later, our next stop reveals that the replacement foam block and towel are now gone too! We are slowly polluting the Northeast with cushiony things while our kayaks viciously continue to grind their rear ends into poor Prius's roof. Fortunately, we are prepared with more towels! Said towels are duct-taped to the bottom of the Kayaks and we continue on our way.

The next stop is the most surprising of them all. The towels are still with us but one kayak has managed to shift it's position from flat on the roof to resting at an angle on the other kayak with one side of the seat opening grinding into the black rubbery groove on the side of the roof. I pretend not to notice this fact and we decide to continue on our way. At our next stop, the shifting kayak has shifted a bit more so that it is no longer resting in the soft rubbery groove, but is now perched directly on it's side on the poor vulnerable unprotected roof. Again, I pretend not to notice this disturbing trend and we continue down to Florida.

Suprisingly, the Kayaks have completely stabilized themselves and move no further during our trip. Though my roof is REALLY scratched up, I pretend it doesn't bother me and that goes a long way towards it really not bothering me much at all, surprisingly. Oh, and the mileage took a HUGE hit. I usually get 50mpg in the summer and I was expecting about the same in the warm (81 every day) Florida weather but we never got better than 35mpg! A huge factor here though is that the speed limit is 70 and we averaged 75mph on the highway. Around here in the summer I average 60/70mph on the highway.

So we go kayaking in the Everglades and have a really really wonderful time! :mrgreen:

When we pull up onshore again, back in civilization, I experience the horrible realization that my key is missing. My friend calls AAA who tell her that not only can they get into the car, but they can make us a new key. I find this highly difficult to believe so I call Prius Roadside Assistance to get their opinion and they tell me that AAA can indeed provide us with a new key onsite. Weird.

The poor tow truck guy arrives and spends an hour setting off my car alarm. I won't say how since this is a public forum. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work and he comments that he's been doing this for 28 years and has never had such a difficult time breaking into a car. Both he and passers-by (there are quite a few, this tiny island doesn't have much entertainment apparently) comment that the car is too smart for its own good. Eventually he gets in though, and disconnects the fuse box under the hood so the car will stay unlocked. Then he towed the car to my mother's house. He was not too amused that AAA thought he could make a key for the Prius.

We put the Kayaks on my mother's Camry to bring back to her place. Surprisingly, the Camry is not as wide as the Prius so it is even more difficult to get the boats arranged on the roof of her car.

I tried contacting Toyota for a replacement key but the local dealership was absolutely clueless about how to replace a key without an original (and they didn't have a blank fob on hand anyway) so I had my housemate send the extra key from Massachussetts.

Meanwhile, we get our hands on an interesting "handi-rack" all purpose car rack that my dad found online through Prius chat. Fortunately, it gets the job done and my friends managed to attach the 2 kayaks to the roof without too much difficulty. It wobbled quite a lot in the wind, especially as big trucks passed by, but it did the job and there didn't seem to be much slippage. Yay!

 

Re: Prius adventures delivering kayaks to & from the Eve

More pictures

 

I have no idea and I don't plan to pay to fix the damage to the roof of the car. I should've bought the Thule rack or come up with some better solution. I didn't. Such is life. I learned my lesson. The handi-rack was only $60 and worked pretty well. No damage from that.

If someone asks, I'll just say a gator attacked my roof.

My house-mates who I travelled down with are really interested in trying to fix it themselves with the touch-up paint. I'm inclined to let them take a stab at it.

 

They were actually facing head-on into the wind when we started. The larger one was shifted back by the wind. This is why I recommend tying down the fronts of the boats to the front of the car to prevent them from slipping backwards. Otherwise I think we would've had bigger problems.

It's hard to say if the mileage changed due to slippage seeing as we started with 81 degrees and ended with about 34.

 

I thought French was more interesting than English. I don't speak or know french. I'd rather have spanish (which I know some) but the options are limited.