IM off to drive the great ocean road from Adelaide to Melb next week. Im contemplating taking a SUP and using soft racks on a hire car. Any one had experience with soft racks and hire cars and SUP boards. I read on one site that you shouldnt go over 60mph . Could be a problem.
Yep, I've used them before, it won't be pleasant driving for that length of time. Very noisy, you'll have to tweak your setup to get it right. I remember hearing a constant annoying drone that would vary in intensity depending on the speed I was traveling at.
I drove from London to Wales ( 3.5 hours) using a soft racks for a SUP, apart from the constant fear of the board blowing off and the loud noise, it was fine.
Hi I spent a week driving around Margaret River with a SUP on soft racks on a hire car a couple of months ago.
Once you get them set up right they work fine.
Things to watch are try and get a hire car which does not have a radio aerial that will get in the way. I had an Audi with one of those aero profiles with a sharp point on top and if I put the board in the center of the car as the nose lifted when you pick up speed it wanted to dig in to the board so I had to hang the SUP off the side which worked but looked scary.
If you get droning wind noise twists the straps and it goes away, don’t have them flat.
Watch you don’t damage the door seals as usually in your rental contract it will state you are not allowed to put anything on the roof. (You might have to hire the car and then drive around the corner to put the SUP on)
Get a 4 door car, some two doors don’t allow enough spread between the racks
But after you go through the initial fear the SUP is going to fly off, and stopping 10 times adjusting the straps and twisting them up to stop the noise they work fine.
The constant fear of the board blowing off goes away after a while. Twisting the straps didn't help the drone for me. Turning the radio up helped a bit. Make sure you hire a four door and it will help if the straps are as far apart as you can get them.
I would also suggest you don't get a car with too much of a dome in the roof, like I did, as tightening the straps too tightly, in an attempt to stop the fear of the board blowing off and reducing the noise, could end up damaging the roof. I could see how an antenna in the middle of the roof would be a problem.
Just make sure that you buy and use the FCS soft racks, they have a wider strap that buzzes less once twisted on each strap in between the car and the boards and the main thing for your boards security they have a D ring buckle rather than a alligator type clip. This tightens itself as the boards pull against it. Like a motorbike helmet chin strap.
I have driven from Gold Coast to Melbourne at speeds over 110 and never even thought it about it with these.
We used another brand on a trip to Ballina and stopped and re-tightened twice.
The other main thing with these racks is they have neoprene feet on the bottom to protect the paint on the roof. Also the wider straps do not damage the door seals.
