Carrying boats

I sometimes carry boats on a roof rack. For stability I like to secure them bow and stern to prevent rocking stresses on the roof rack and roof. Unfortunately the aero covering on the bottom of the 2016 Prius makes it impossible to reach any point underneath to attach the tiedowns to. Just as well, because having straps coming up over bumpers tends to scuff them.

So I have been using the towing eyes. There are two little hatches in the front bumper and (in the 2016) one in the rear. Using a thin knife blade, you lever these out, screw in a towing eye, and voila you have a nice solid ring to tie straps to!

The car comes with just one towing eye in the tool kit, so I ordered two more through Toyota Parts Express. Cost is $30 each plus shipping, part number is 5196147010 but double-check this if you order.

I was doing the same thing on my 2011 Prius (which lacks attachment points on the rear bumper, instead it has a permanent eye underneath each end of the bumper). Beware: even though they are the same shape and length, the towing eye from the 2011 would not fit in the 2016 because it has a different screw pitch and slightly different thread diameter.

When not carrying boats, it's easy to remove the towing eyes and replace the hatches.

Obviously mileage suffers when you have boats on the roof. But it's probably better (in the 40's) than most other cars would get if they were carrying boats.

 

The boat I carry are rather long (though light), so I want as much separation between the crossbars as possible. So I have been using the Yakima Track system. Two tracks are permanently screwed to the roof, one on each side. One major plus is that the crossbars clip on and off in about 10 seconds, so it's really easy to take them off when you're not using them and eliminate the air drag (and wind noise) of the bars.

You can also have fixed mounting points screwed to the roof. Not quite as adjustable and does not spread the load over the length of the roof.