RE: [Paddlewise] Safety Responsibility and Roof Racks

Please describe how the Thule and Yak racks broke, and if there would have
been any way to discover or prevent the problem prior to failure.

Thanks!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net]On Behalf Of Richard
> Culpeper
> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 1998 1:25 PM
> To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Safety Responsibility and Roof Racks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob Denton wrote:
> 
> > All of the following verbiage is undermined by the fact 
> that no one on this
> > list has lost a boat due to unavoidable mechanical failure.
> 
> --snip--
> 
> Except for the time the rain gutter trim popped off...
> Except for the time the gutter to rack attachment broke...
> Except for the time the rack slipped back along the gutter...
> 
> I know I'm not the brightest light on the block, and 
> certainly my firends and I
> never cease to amaze ourselves at just how stupid we can 
> occasionally be.  Over
> the years we have dropped a number of boats and the 
> occasional paddler.  Most
> times we can look back and say, oops, forgot to tie a knot, 
> or oops, forgot to
> check the attachment, or oops, forgot to make a harness.
> 
> This tribute to our own incompetency aside, I have to note 
> that on occasion we
> have broken racks even though we did everything correctly, 
> and had thoroughly
> checked the system prior to use.  Quite simply, metal breaks.
> 
> Consequently, I tie down my boats so that if one part of the 
> system gives way,
> the rest of the system will keep the boats secure enough to 
> give me time to pull
> over.  This means making a double harness for each boat, and 
> securing the
> harnesses to the frame at two points.
> 
> No rack in and of itself is sufficient to meet these 
> requirements.  They are
> terrific for protecting the roof of the vechicle against 
> scratches and dents,
> but that's about it.  My primary attachment is to the 
> vehicle, not the racks.
> 
> I guess I'm lucky to have started as a kid with suction cup 
> racks and large open
> canoes.  This sort of attachment was next to useless (when I 
> was old enough for
> my own car, I stopped using racks until Thule and Yak hit the 
> market), so we had
> to tie the boats down six ways to Sunday in anticipation of 
> some part in the
> system blowing apart.  This left me with a enduring distrust of racks.
> 
> Notably, each time one my my new style racks (Thule and Yak) 
> have broken, I have
> not lost any boats due to my harnessing them to the frame of 
> the vehicle.
> 
> Richard Culpeper
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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