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We bought an inflatable fishing craft from flycraft and anxious to start using it. I'm hoping I can take it short hauls on top of my CD without deflating the bladders. We can get it up there ok but there is no obvious place to tie it down to the bottom of the car. We have a tow hitch on the back so that can be used but I need to tie down the front and the sides. Looking under the Cayenne shows no obvious place to tie this craft down on the front or sides. We have a naked roof with no rack and I am trying to avoid the expense and hassle on putting up a Thule rack or anything equivalent. And the reason it that we're seriously considering selling our RV trailer and getting a larger class C or a Class A RV. This would mean we have to sell our 2013 Cayenne Diesel (which I love at only 109k miles) because with a class A or C we want to tow an off-road vehicle and most RVs have a max 5000lb tow weight.
We'll be towing our RV trailer behind the CD when we travel and wanted to then put the Flycraft on the roof during short hauls from the campsite to the river/lake. So, any ideas on how we can tie this puppy down without a rack? I guess we can go totally under the vehicle from front to back and from side to side, if necessary. Slippage around the front seems scary though.
TIA
Roof rails are an obvious if expensive answer. Porsche should have made them standard. Instead, they charged a grand. So a lot of people end up short on utilty.
Roof rails are an obvious if expensive answer. Porsche should have made them standard. Instead, they charged a grand. So a lot of people end up short on utilty.
When I was looking for my Cayenne the roof rails and the hitch were non negotiable must haves. Surprised at how few had the rails, isn't this supposed to be a sports UTILITY vehicle?
In any case, even with roof rails and a proper thule/Yakima rack there really isn't a good place to tie down the front of a long item like my kayaks or the original poster's inflatable.
When I was looking for my Cayenne the roof rails and the hitch were non negotiable must haves. Surprised at how few had the rails, isn't this supposed to be a sports UTILITY vehicle?
In any case, even with roof rails and a proper thule/Yakima rack there really isn't a good place to tie down the front of a long item like my kayaks or the original poster's inflatable.
The trailer hitch can be added later without too much trouble, and it might be an advantage to buy a Cayenne that has not been used to haul heavy loads.
Roof rails are the base for various Porsche accessories, including this impressive and high priced "roof cage" ...
@pyramidimaging You might consider a set of Thule or Yakima racks that hook to the roof above the windows. They claim to avoid any paint damage.
I would be concerned with paint damage with the inflatable directly on the roof...but...I'd also be concerned about wear on the inflatable from the Thule bars. The latter could be avoided with some padding.
On the front there should be a tow loop receiver. You could run a tie down from that to the front of the boat...but again, be careful of paint wear.
Factory roof rails can be added to a non-roof-railed Cayenne, if it's a must have option. They are no longer available as new parts from the dealer, but there are lots of used rail sets on eBay. And if you have a less than keen eye (since they are a bit different), you can use Touareg rails, too.
Factory roof rails can be added to a non-roof-railed Cayenne, if it's a must have option. They are no longer available as new parts from the dealer, but there are lots of used rail sets on eBay. And if you have a less than keen eye (since they are a bit different), you can use Touareg rails, too.
That's a pretty bold statement to make without going into any of the work involved in actually bringing down the headliner, aligning and drilling holes and the innumerable possible issues in dis-assembly and then putting it back together again. Not for the faint of heart or light of wallet.
That's a pretty bold statement to make without going into any of the work involved in actually bringing down the headliner, aligning and drilling holes and the innumerable possible issues in dis-assembly and then putting it back together again. Not for the faint of heart or light of wallet.
That's fair... as with anything, you need to know what you're doing. I've done it twice myself, and in one instance, total cost of parts was less than $300.
@pyramidimaging You might consider a set of Thule or Yakima racks that hook to the roof above the windows. They claim to avoid any paint damage.
I would be concerned with paint damage with the inflatable directly on the roof...but...I'd also be concerned about wear on the inflatable from the Thule bars. The latter could be avoided with some padding.
On the front there should be a tow loop receiver. You could run a tie down from that to the front of the boat...but again, be careful of paint wear.
No tow loop on the front that I can find. And, porsche states you'll damage the transmission if you try and tow with the wheels on the ground.
This is the winning response in my opinion. I ordered these $12 straps and can't wait for them to show up. Great idea, so simple.
Yeah I saw those straps as well and thought that was such a simple idea that I wish I'd thought of it. Haven't had the need to throw anything super long on top of the car but good to know for future reference. Post a pic once you get everything strapped up and let us know how they work in real life.
This is the winning response in my opinion. I ordered these $12 straps and can't wait for them to show up. Great idea, so simple.
Ok, I finally was able to get our Flycraft out to the water and use straps to tie the inflated bladders on our naked roof.
Everything worked great but added two ratchets to hold down the two front hood straps.
Went 11 miles going 65-70mph. Worked great and so much cheaper than all the alternatives. If I really care about protecting the roof I might try putting two or three pool noodles between the roof and the craft. $13 Amazon hood straps Side and rear straps. Sides were connected to the small coat hanger hooks at each rear door. Rear tied down to the holes in the hitch.
Well done. If you really want to look "pro" you can tie the back to a recovery shackle.
This is what I have, but there are less expensive non-US made options for half price:
Also comes in handy if you ever need to pull someone out of a ditch or get yourself pulled out of a ditch.
For the roof, you might want to consider buying some paint protection film for the wear points on the roof and spoiler. I'm pretty sure you can buy it online and do a quick DIY install with youtube instructions. It may not look perfect but will look more perfect than worn down paint and should be fairly easily removable.
02-12-2024, 04:28 PM
Front and side tie downs on the 958?
