Bill’s info goes here
How to fit 3 IOMs in a WV Passat
George, Hope your holidays went well and I am looking forward to seeing you.
I took 14 pictures of the boat carrier I made. Hopefully it will give you an idea what I did. I will try and walk you through how I went through the process.
First I had to figure out how many boats I wanted to carry. As you well know the boat hulls are only part of what you have to carry. In addition there are the sails, stands, tools, spare parts rain gear and people. We have a VW Passat and I knew that I could fit 3 people comfortably in the car. To put any more in the car is just too uncomfortable for a trip of any distance.
I also realized I could not carry the sails in the car so I solved that issue by buying a car top carrier that would be big enough to carry the sail boxes. I bought a Thule car top carrier and the cost was about $600 including the racks to attach the carrier. I thought that was a bargain compared to buying a larger SUV. In addition to carrying the sails in the Thule carrier, I carry rain gear, boat stands and other items. The carrier is water tight so I even put some of the radio stuff there.
To make the boat carrier I had to figure out how big it could be. Our Passat’s trunk is wide enough for the boats in with the keels facing the length of the car. But not deep enough to fit them in with the keels facing to the side without putting the rear seats down. So that determined how the boats would have to go in and how much space I had for the length of the carrier. Once I had those dimensions I could figure how long the carrier could be. There is also a height issue to figure because when you stack the boats the whole thing has to fit.
Anyway that is the process I went through. I made the carrier out of foam sheets I purchased at Home Depot. There is a special adhesive you have to use with the foam so be sure to use that material. The adhesive comes in a tube and is very thick and takes several days to set up, but it seems to be very strong. I used screws to hold the pieces in place until the glue set up because clamps were too awkward. I just left the screws in, but the glue holds the pieces in place. I originally thought the 1 inch material for the bottom would be strong enough, but I ended up attaching some 5 MM plywood to the bottom and end. I just covered the area with the adhesive, place the carrier on top and put some weights on it until the adhesive set up. On the ends I used screws. I used a combination of 1 inch and 1 1/2 inch foam for the upright pieces.
Hope this will help. If you have questions let me know. I will have to send the 14 pictures in three emails or my system won’t work. there are 4 attached in this email.
Best,
Bill
PS: I realized after we took the pictures the tape measure was upside down.