Kayak security when traveling

[Ihatework]

I am planning an overnight trip for SMB. (Out to the clinch river) I will have at least one night with the kayak on top of the car. I have a good cable type lock. Is there anything else people do when traveling? I'm looking at if I can kind a krypotonite U-loop lock that would fit. Thanks in advance.

[J.A. Veil]

My fishing guide in Tampa, Neil Taylor, stores several kayaks on a trailer parked in his yard. They are secured by Steel-Core straps. Neil's review of the product can be viewed at http://capmel.com/steelcore-locking-straps/.

[bunnielab]

I used a length of 1/4" aircraft cable with eyes swaged at each end. I would run them through a pair of scuppers and then around my car's rack, secured with a cut-resistant padlock.

Thick aircraft cable is very hard to cut quickly with bolt cutters, to make it work you have to pull and crush a small area for quite a long time to weaken it to the point where you can cut it. I learned this one day at remote work site where the previous crew had neglected to pass off the correct key. It took us, with a high quality set of bolt cutters, about 45 min to gnaw through the cable securing out gear. There are special cutters for cable but they are very expensive and not commonly available in most stores. I would trust any system that incorporated decently thick cable and where the lock could be set so that bolt cutters could not get to the shackle.

I do refuse to use keyed locks for anything, which is what kept me from buying the Steel-Core straps, but so long as the cable they use is thing enough, it should be a good system.

[silasvirus82]

I just use a bike lock through the scupper and around the roof rack. It's just a deterrent, like anything else if they want it bad enough they'll get it. A much easier solution to cutting through any cable is to tear off the roof rack itself. There is nothing that will stop a dedicated thief.