fair enough Jim, I guess lightweight plastic boats are ok on sides but I still wont do it to my 18 ft cedar canvas :)

alistair

PS and no, my company does not make carbon fiber boats, just cellulose fiber ones :)

On 2012-08-20, at 7:49 AM, Jim Felder wrote:

> We don't normally do it that way down here either, Alistair. But, the reason is because it is typically impractical (most people don't have the standup racks to even carry a canoe on its side on a cartop), not because it is in any way bad for the canoe. 
> 
> I went on a photo shoot a few years back with a bunch of carbon fiber Bells (any relation, Alistair?) and we put a kayak in the middle and a canoe on its side on each side of that on top of some kind of a toyota SUV, and 
> a kayak and one sideways canoe on my westy, because they would not both fit flat. Went all over the place. What I worried about most was the gunwale of the canoe digging in to my poptop, so I used swim pads to help with that. Those boats were fragile, being fiber, but very light.
> 
> As the Executive Director of the Alabama Scenic River Trail, I help haul hundreds of boats a year around the state. The orientation of the boat has never been a problem as long as its is securely and competently fastened.
> 
> Jim