I own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and it has as few unusual things about it for carrying a canoe, so I thought I would write up a quick description on what I did. I realize I'm not breaking any new ground here, but seeing examples of what others have done really helps when planning these things out. So hopefully this will help out someone in the future.
I started with the Tesla OEM mounting bars. These install into four clips under the glass roof. If you don't get those installed properly, you crack your roof. It's not difficult to do, but there is a heavy penalty for not paying attention!
I had purchased the Thule Portage kit. It includes just about everything needed for carrying a canoe. One thing I really liked about it was that the "blocks" to hold the canoe were low profile and rubber lined. They come with a clamp style set up so that they can fit around just about any cross bars.
When I went to pick up my canoe, I found them difficult to tighten by hand, and they loosened up on me on the way home. Nothing tragic happened, but there were a few moments of excitement as I found a place to pull over. I wasn't really planning on using those clamps anyway, since there is the Xadapt12 kit that Thule sells to put them on a track-style bar, which is the type I have. This kit is just a T-bolt and barrel nut for each block, plus an appropriately sized allen wrench. It was quite easy to install and was much tighter than what I could have done with the clamp. The hardest part was getting the rubber seal back in the track after installing the blocks!
After that, I had to work out how to connect the front and rear tie-downs. The kit suggests using either the tow hooks or find something to hook to under the car. The tow hooks on my car are off-center to the canoe, and there are no exposed chassis parts to hook to under the car, so I decided to use the webbing loop method instead.
The front of a Tesla has a front truck, or "Frunk" with a gasketed, sealed area for storage. Around that is a plastic trim piece so that it looks nice. All of the fender bolts are under this trim piece, or inside the frunk, which would mean disturbing the seal. The only thing to be done was to pull out the frunk and see what I had to deal with. Removing the frunk tub is pretty straightforward. There are a couple trim pieces to remove and about 10 bolts to remove. Everything is 10mm so it took me a few minutes to find my one remaining 10mm socket. Here's what it looks like under the plastic. The piece of blue tape marks where the front of the canoe sits.
Next I had to find a bolt long enough to hold the web loop and close enough to the sides so that I had enough loop exposed. That was harder than it sounded as a lot of those bolts are no longer than they need to be. But I found two, and they are behind the front of the canoe, even if just barely. Here's what that looked like:
Closing everything up was as simple as just doing everything I did before,but in reverse order. Here is everything buttoned back up. The web loops fold back and sit between the frunk gasket and the edge of the hood when not in use.
For the back end of the canoe, I just used two of the "hose-in-a-web-loop" things in the trunk lid since there are no easy places to attach a line.
The last thing I needed to work out was the line between the car and the canoe. The kit comes with a carabiner to hook arrangement that would no longer work with my plan. It also had a small plastic jam cleat mechanism that I liked, but it was designed to close a permanently arranged loop instead of pulling a line taunt like I was trying for. I finally arrived at an arrangement that combined a locking carabiner and a Cam Jam XT mechanism. Now I just run the line between the web loops on the car and then pull through the Cam Jam and everything is tight. I use the locking carabiner so I can exchange the hold down arrangement for painter lines once I arrive at my destination.
I like how everything works, but I think the 1/4" line provided in the kit is a bit bigger than necessary and the Cam Jam also feels a bit bigger than required. I'm thinking I may go to some paracord or something if I can find a smaller tightening mechanism. Or not. There's really nothing wrong with what I have now. In putting this post together I just now realized that there is a smaller version of the Cam Jam available, so I may try that one out, too.
My plan was to put something together that allows me to securely affix the canoe to my car in as short a time as possible. I think I accomplished that. Here's the whole kit and kaboodle:
I started with the Tesla OEM mounting bars. These install into four clips under the glass roof. If you don't get those installed properly, you crack your roof. It's not difficult to do, but there is a heavy penalty for not paying attention!
I had purchased the Thule Portage kit. It includes just about everything needed for carrying a canoe. One thing I really liked about it was that the "blocks" to hold the canoe were low profile and rubber lined. They come with a clamp style set up so that they can fit around just about any cross bars.
When I went to pick up my canoe, I found them difficult to tighten by hand, and they loosened up on me on the way home. Nothing tragic happened, but there were a few moments of excitement as I found a place to pull over. I wasn't really planning on using those clamps anyway, since there is the Xadapt12 kit that Thule sells to put them on a track-style bar, which is the type I have. This kit is just a T-bolt and barrel nut for each block, plus an appropriately sized allen wrench. It was quite easy to install and was much tighter than what I could have done with the clamp. The hardest part was getting the rubber seal back in the track after installing the blocks!
After that, I had to work out how to connect the front and rear tie-downs. The kit suggests using either the tow hooks or find something to hook to under the car. The tow hooks on my car are off-center to the canoe, and there are no exposed chassis parts to hook to under the car, so I decided to use the webbing loop method instead.
The front of a Tesla has a front truck, or "Frunk" with a gasketed, sealed area for storage. Around that is a plastic trim piece so that it looks nice. All of the fender bolts are under this trim piece, or inside the frunk, which would mean disturbing the seal. The only thing to be done was to pull out the frunk and see what I had to deal with. Removing the frunk tub is pretty straightforward. There are a couple trim pieces to remove and about 10 bolts to remove. Everything is 10mm so it took me a few minutes to find my one remaining 10mm socket. Here's what it looks like under the plastic. The piece of blue tape marks where the front of the canoe sits.
Next I had to find a bolt long enough to hold the web loop and close enough to the sides so that I had enough loop exposed. That was harder than it sounded as a lot of those bolts are no longer than they need to be. But I found two, and they are behind the front of the canoe, even if just barely. Here's what that looked like:
Closing everything up was as simple as just doing everything I did before,but in reverse order. Here is everything buttoned back up. The web loops fold back and sit between the frunk gasket and the edge of the hood when not in use.
For the back end of the canoe, I just used two of the "hose-in-a-web-loop" things in the trunk lid since there are no easy places to attach a line.
The last thing I needed to work out was the line between the car and the canoe. The kit comes with a carabiner to hook arrangement that would no longer work with my plan. It also had a small plastic jam cleat mechanism that I liked, but it was designed to close a permanently arranged loop instead of pulling a line taunt like I was trying for. I finally arrived at an arrangement that combined a locking carabiner and a Cam Jam XT mechanism. Now I just run the line between the web loops on the car and then pull through the Cam Jam and everything is tight. I use the locking carabiner so I can exchange the hold down arrangement for painter lines once I arrive at my destination.
I like how everything works, but I think the 1/4" line provided in the kit is a bit bigger than necessary and the Cam Jam also feels a bit bigger than required. I'm thinking I may go to some paracord or something if I can find a smaller tightening mechanism. Or not. There's really nothing wrong with what I have now. In putting this post together I just now realized that there is a smaller version of the Cam Jam available, so I may try that one out, too.
My plan was to put something together that allows me to securely affix the canoe to my car in as short a time as possible. I think I accomplished that. Here's the whole kit and kaboodle:
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