Can you drive on highway with wakeboard in wakeboard rack?

[dansshin]

Now that we took out the "bandwagon" tube (I didn't realize how huge until I tried to lift the box it came in, LOL) and storing it in floor storage bin of my 212x I need to find another place to transport the wakeboards. For now we are just throwing it in the back of our MDX but was wondering if putting it on wakeboard rack that 212x comes with is an option if you drive on highway at speeds of 65 MPH?

Thank you in advance for any feedback and input.

 

[jcyamaharider]

I don't have Wake boards but I wouldn't. I do not transport my kneeboard or surf boards in the racks while trailering.

 

[dansshin]

@jcyamaharider Thanks. That's what I thought as well but wanted to verify as I'm running out of space in the boat to store with the tube taking all the space under the floor. Also having it in MDX is not a good option when we need to put the third row up.

By the way how do you put your knee board on the rack? Knee board seems bit thick to fit in the 212x rack and it was too wide to even put it in the floor storage.

 

[jcyamaharider]

@jcyamaharider Thanks. That's what I thought as well but wanted to verify as I'm running out of space in the boat to store with the tube taking all the space under the floor. Also having it in MDX is not a good option when we need to put the third row up.

By the way how do you put your knee board on the rack? Knee board seems bit thick to fit in the 212x rack and it was too wide to even put it in the floor storage.

I have a wake/kneeboard fingers and a wake/surf fingers.

 

[dansshin]

Wow. I like those. Did you replace the factory wake board racks? Would those work on 2013 212x towers? Where did you buy it from?

Thank you.

 

[jcyamaharider]

No I just bought the cheap 100 dollar racks off of eBay and robbed the forks off of those and put them on my racks. I wasn't worried about bolt holes lining up because I have access to CNC equipment that can take care of anything. But I didn't need them, bolt holes lined up perfect. I just needed to buy some different hardware, flat head cap screws. I did have to mill a slot in the fingers for a place to stretch the nylon cord to, but that could be done with a bimetal jig saw blade as well.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I wouldn't. I would think that it wouldn't be much different than moving through the water at 'x' mph, but the big difference is IF they somehow come loose and fall off. On the water, not that big of a deal. On the road, only the board will be trashed if you're lucky. If you're not, you could do major property damage or injure or kill someone in another vehicle if they hit it.

 

[robbo3]

You would also be over the max width for your trailer with the boards in and could possibly get a ticket (I've heard of this done before). Also, be careful how you set boards in the boat, they will fly out at highway speeds, we lost one this way and were fortunate that it didn't hit anyone.

If you need seating, you could add a Thule ski carrier to the MDX, they hold a few boards perfectly.

 

[dansshin]

@MOA_Chaser I agree it's probably not good ideal to leave the board in the rack while driving in highway speeds.

@robbo3 Thanks for the info on Thule ski carrier. I'll take a look to see if that's an option for us. When the 3rd row seats are up there isn't any room left in our MDX for wake board or knee board so something like this may come in handy.

@jcyamaharider I could definitely use more space to store away things like a knee board as it doesn't fit in 212x rack. Then it occurred to me. I have more storage space above that I could potentially utilize. But is there anything to help secure it?

 

[itsdgm]

I wouldn't tow with board on the rack. Especially if you're towing on a major highway at highway speeds. While the speeds are similar to that out on the lake, I'm still yet to see a semi tractor trailer pass me on the lake. Those things (along with larger RV's and tall boats on trailers like ours) can "push" a lot of air and cause a ton of turbulence. Also, I'd hate for a mirror on a truck like that to grab hold of something sticking out a few extra inches as they passed on by.

 

[Matt Phillips]

I always tow with the trailering cover on so things are completely covered. That being said, it's still a challenge to find a place to put the wake boards. The best place I've found is to place one of my tubes in the bow seats and then put the boards on top of the deflated tube with one end of the board on the port seat and the other on the starboard. They don't seem to move and don't scratch the seats that way.