canoeing with a scamp

[PatchWork]

Hi. We are purchasing a new 13" Scamp and want to know how long a canoe will fit on top of our tow, a 2002 4 cyl. Toyota Tacoma, and still be a comfortable fit for towing, turns, etc. Any canoers out there?
Faith

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by PatchWork

Hi. We are purchasing a new 13" Scamp and want to know how long a canoe will fit on top of our tow, a 2002 4 cyl. Toyota Tacoma, and still be a comfortable fit for towing, turns, etc. Any canoers out there?
Faith

My Tacoma was a 2003 quad cab. The fifth wheel scamp limited the hauling of a canoe, but a 16' old town is shorter than the truck. It should not interfere with towing your bumper hitch trailer.

[tractors1]

Simulate the length of the canoe with something (like a couple of long 2x2s nailed together or one 20 ft length of PVC pipe) on top of your tow. I think the length of the Casita tongue from the hitch/ball to the shell is 3 ft.

Some TACOs are longer then others, mine is a 4door with a 6 ft bed.

Charlie Y

[Dennis mn]

Originally Posted by tractors1

Simulate the length of the canoe with something (like a couple of long 2x2s nailed together or one 20 ft length of PVC pipe) on top of your tow. I think the length of the Casita tongue from the hitch/ball to the shell is 3 ft.

Some TACOs are longer then others, mine is a 4door with a 6 ft bed.

Charlie Y

Your truck is newer than a 2002 or as mine was, a 2003. They did not have an available long box quad cab for the previous generation.

And mine was a four door with a five foot bed; mine was the same length as the club cab style with a 6' bed, so mine was as short as it gets. I think my truck was 19' overall. I hauled a canoe so that the front was about 9" in front of the front bumper, and used the tiedowns at the front of the bed to lash the back of the canoe. I know that I would not have had an issue with a regular trailer of any type.

[padlin00]

Do you have a cap or a rack for the canoe? You should be able to go about 2' off the back of the truck and as far forward as you're comfortable with. When I had my Ford Rangers (with a cap) and my Starcraft trailer I would carry from 12' to 17' and had room to spare. It all depends on how you want to carry it. If you want to carry it in the bed of the truck, add 2' to the bed length.

[Mike Magee]

Don't go canoeing with a Scamp, you'll ruin the plywood floor.

[stevebaz]

I was thinking more like a Scamp on top of the canoe might be kind of tippy.

I can add that I put bikes between the back of my Pathfinder and my 13' Scamp and you have close to 2 feet but that may be even less than that when the rear wheel of your truck goes into a dip. The higher the canoe the closer the trailer gets.

[padlin00]

Originally Posted by stevebaz

I was thinking more like a Scamp on top of the canoe might be kind of tippy.

Outriggers

[Dennis mn]

Actually, unless you have a square stern canoe, turning is not an issue. If the canoe were long enough to touch your trailer when going straight, it will only get farther away when turning. Think about the geometry!

The interference issue would be going over dips!

[Glenn Baglo]

Not the same vehicle or trailer, but I carry a 16' canoe on my RAV4 without a problem.
You don't say what cab your Tacoma has. You want to have both racks on the cab, or have both racks on the bed so that the canoe isn't twisted with the cab leaning one way and the bed the other on rutted roads.
Pic shows position on RAV, even though it's not connected to the trailer in pic.

[Hazel in Sk]

We tow our Trillium with a Honda Element. I just checked with my guy and he said our canoe is a 17 ft with the end squared off for an outboard (we use an electric one). No problems- can also fit a small kayak on top at the same time. The inflatable goes in the back of the car.

[Gordon in Idaho]

I have a similar situation. The toyota is 17' long and the canoe is 16' long. I use a ladder rack on the passenger side, and it overhangs the side wall a little bit (easier to load). So...right turns were a concern until I tried it. I don't like the way half the canoe is unsupported in the front, so I'd recommend some sort of full over-the-cab rack where you could load the canoe from the front of the truck(with or without the trailer hooked up), and secure it well. Here's the rig:

[PatchWork]

Thanks so much for all the helpful info; I'm feeling much more comfortable with the whole idea. We do have a cap on the truck, so it will have more support. Not sure how to go about loading canoe over the front though.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by PatchWork

Not sure how to go about loading canoe over the front though.

Nor I. I load and unload from the side. Would be easier if I had help.
From your description, it sounds like you want two racks on or over the cap.

[Raz]

Hello Faith and welcome to the forum. I suggest a rack of any kind over foam blocks. Securing the canoe to the truck makes for a safer and more comfortable ride. My canoe is 16' long. Raz

[Gordon in Idaho]

Well, my canoe is light, and it's not too difficult to walk it right on to the rack and off my shoulders.
The rack I have in mind for next year is like this:
Kargo Master Pro III Truck Bed Racks - Truck Rack
Another idea is this:
https://www.usrack.com/beachcomber_rack.php
Anyway, if your trailer is hooked up, you could walk in on from the front of the truck, resting the bow on front bar of the rack, and feeding it rearward. Rollers or foam pipe insulation would be a very good idea.

Gordon

[Glenn Baglo]

I like that Kargo Master.
Now all I need is a truck.

[Scamper Jim]

Gordon,

I can understand your concern for the current rack system. A large degree of the canoe's weight is on the front hanger, right in the middle of the canoe. Until you decide on which of the new mounting systems to buy, you may want to place a long 2 x 4 along the hangers so that there is more support forward along a greater length of the canoe.

[Dennis mn]

I've hauled my canoe using foam blocks, on a soft top Jeep Wrangler, factory roof racks, on Jeep Grand Cherokees and on my Toyota, a Yakima roof rack. All systems have worked well for me, as I believe the key is finding good solid tie down locations, especially at the front. The 2003 Tacoma had the chrome bumper package, which provided a well located hole on each side through which to pass the ropes. Then at the back, I used the Factory tie down points at the front of the bed. The ropes at the back are angled to keep the canoe from moving back, and the ropes at the front, angled to keep the canoe from moving forward.

[Glenn Baglo]

You often see people carrying a canoe tied like this \-------\. Rope from stern to rear of vehicle and from bow to front of vehicle. That keeps the canoe from going backwards, but there is nothing keeping it from going forward in a panic stop.
It should be tied /-------\ with a rope from a thwart to back bumper and from bow to front.