Transporting Queen Mattress and Split Box on Cartop

[jdmagaw]

I want to avoid delivery charges for a new queen mattress and split box spring by transporting via car roof rack.  I'd appreciate any tips to carry safely and damage free.  Thanks.

[bobechs]

1. Foundation on top of mattress

2. Tie it down securely- fore & aft and athwart. Run the lines or straps inside the cabin and down to the underbody.

3. Ratcheting straps are good.  Use lots of them. Cheap ones are fine but use twice the number you think is adequate.

4. Hold your speed under 30 mph, less if you can.  Do the metric conversion yourself if necessary.other ones

[Johnez]

If you're using twine, double it up. By this I mean take length you need, now double it. Tie the ends together. Now use the length as you normally would. I would try to explain how to knot it, but I can't with words, sorry.

Might be self evident, but so not tie your doors shut. I see people try to do this a lot when they leave the doors shut and try tying through the windows.

[Beridian]

I would not trust twine (or rope and knots for that matter).  Invest in a pair of ratcheting cargo straps (maybe $15 at Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon,  or Walmart).   Open the car doors and use the cargo straps to tightly ratchet the mattress set to the car roof with the straps as far forward and rearward as you can get them (just close the doors over the straps).  Put the ratchet mechanism inside the car to avoid scratching the paint.     Then go slow and take the side streets.  I have done this in my Ford Escape without a problem (it does have a roof rack which helped to stabilize the mattress set).  Those cargo straps are up to the task and come in handy for many things.  I have even used them as clamps when gluing up wood working projects.