Carrying a spar on a roof rack. How much overhang does the law permit?

Poignard

Poignard

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In my case I want to carry a 6 metre spar on a 4.2 metre long car. Is this legal (assuming it's properly secured and has red rags hanging off the ends!)?
 
That link doesn't work very well for me on an iPad - just a generic Highways Agency page. The document you want is
http://assets.highways.gov.uk/speci...elines/A_brief_guide_to_overhanging_loads.pdf
which seems to suggest that a 2m overhang is ok provided you make the rear end clearly visible.

Having transported a Pandora mast on a car roof rack, your main problem might be to stop the whole thing flexing violently. Maybe tie it to a length of 3x2 and lash the ends to the towing eyes under the bumpers???
 
Reminds me of a silly incident in my youth.

I had built a Unicorn A-Class catamaran - two 18ft plywood hulls held together with mast section cross beams. I had loaded it (disassembled) onto a roofrack on a Mini (yes - a mini) together with its 25 ft mast.

I was driving along the Southend sea front and had to stop when the bus in front pulled into a stop. I realised, as passengers tried to get off, that the front of the mast was poking into the passenger platform at the back of the bus.
 
Ah now if you are in CYPRUS, then it realy does not matter. You can have as much as you want on the roof overhanging and no signals, no brake lights. In fact it is just lovely and takes me back to my childhood days.
 
An interesting point.If you want to transport a longer spar (I sold a 28 ft mast to someone who wanted to carry it on a Defender roof) is to tow a small trailer (like a dinghy trailer)behind the vehicle. The overhang can be above that as the rear of the outfit is now the trailerboard. Even if you turn very sharply the overhang will still be within the allowable overhangs to the side. (unless you are on full lock, most unlikely on your road journey).

The problem of preventing it whipping up and down still needs to be addressed.
 
Lakesailor;4147151 The problem of preventing it whipping up and down still needs to be addressed.[/QUOTE said:
Yes - I saw a professional boat builder picking up a wooden Stella mast as you recommend. He put a strap near the front to stop it whipping around. As he tightened it, there was a crunch and the mast broke in two.

Luckily it was at a glue line, so he now has extra work to repair the mast as well as the boat.
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tillergirl said:
'mazing what Google will find!
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You see young lady, if I had simply googled my question I wouldn't have had all these helpful replies and amusing anecdotes :D

Talking of anecdotes, I remember years ago seeing an incident in a slow moving queue of traffic in Liverpool where a small pick-up truck had an unmarked length of steel reinforcing bar sticking out at the back. The driver stopped suddenly and a lorry behind, whose driver hadn't noticed the steel bar, skewered its radiator on it.

A very satisfactory scouse slanging match ensued as the radiator emptied itself on to the road.
 
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Lakesailor said:
An interesting point.If you want to transport a longer spar (I sold a 28 ft mast to someone who wanted to carry it on a Defender roof) is to tow a small trailer (like a dinghy trailer)behind the vehicle. The overhang can be above that as the rear of the outfit is now the trailerboard. Even if you turn very sharply the overhang will still be within the allowable overhangs to the side. (unless you are on full lock, most unlikely on your road journey).

The problem of preventing it whipping up and down still needs to be addressed.
Click to expand...

Did exactly that a few weeks ago, in cahoots with another fine forumeer..... It may well be that the idea/confirmation came from here.

For reasons that shall remain obscure, I purchased and picked up a 30' mast and rigging, and mounted it on the car's roof rack. Both the front and the rear overhangs were just 'within the letter of the law' as I was also pulling an unloaded box trailer. The weight was within the limit of 75kg, and there was lateral constraint from the mast to the towing points under the front and rear bumper panels.

I drove this ungainly load for a couple of miles, to rendezvous with said f/forumeer in a pub car park, where said mast, etc. was handed over and re-mounted onto a BIG trailer. Result! :cool:
 
I have carried a 27ft mast several times on my (granted big by UK standards) car roof. I don't know if was legal but would do it again. I just drove very carefully. I would say that a 6 metre mast on 4.2 metre car gives .9 metre overhang which is not much.
I tied the tip and base of the mast down to the corners of the car to stop it bouncing and locate the mast fore and aft. I then tied the mast to locate it sideways in the middle of the roof. I sat the mast on cushions at front and rear of the roof. It still made horrible oil can type noises but no damage. good luck olewill
 
savageseadog said:
Use a Hi-Vis vest(s) to highlight the end(s). There's plenty at the sides of roads.
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When I was about eight, we had to tow a Wayfarer from Emsworth Sailing Club to my grandparents' house in the town. For reasons I can't remember, the mast was hanging over the back of the trailer instead of the usual arrangement of up and over the car roof. So we needed a rear marker. Cue much hilarity as my granny produced an enormous pair of crimson frilly bloomers, which highlighted the end of the mast beautifully :)

(Sadly they were actually from the dressing-up box she kept for visiting children, rather than her own underwear drawer, but the other motorists didn't know that.)

Pete
 
The warning that the overhang sweeps a big arc, reminded me of driving this outfit to Italy.
image125.jpg
 
Sooner you than me. I worked out that my CoG for a tiddler Foxcub fin was about a foot above the keel root (ie Somewhere between those pads on your trailer). Bit of wind, downhill corner.....eeek
 
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