RE: [Paddlewise] Roof Rack Spacing - Fibreglass Kayaks

Perhaps its too late for you Eric and you've already drilled your holes in your Westfalia,  but here are my thoughts:  it is important to put the bars under the kayak bulkheads.  To get around the problem of wanting both bikes and kayaks up there,  my solution was to install after-market permanent rain gutters on my 93 Westfalia Weekender (the poptop of which is not designed to handle such loads/stresses).  The racks/space bars can then be adjusted to any spacing, and they are extremely strong (disadvantages: gutters were painstakingly obtained from from Germany, and racks must be removed to raise the poptop).  I then use a 2-inch trailer hitch and Graber 4-bike hitch mount to carry bikes off the back of the van (much easier to access bikes than putting them on top).  Note:  despite having my Romany Elite bulkheads over the bars of a Yakima system,  I still can eventually get temporary dimples in the hull of the kayak on hot days/after long rides (something that bugs me a lot - but also something that may be a lot worse if the kayak is not mounted with bars below bulkheads). BTW - before I went this route,  I did try the route you are trying - and now have the Yakima mounting brackets left on the poptop as a permanent reminder - oh well. Good luck. 

Mike

Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2002 20:07:18 -0700
From: "Eric Unrau" <eunrau_at_yahoo.ca>
Subject: [Paddlewise] Roof Rack Spacing - Fibreglass Kayaks

With respect to fibreglass boats, is it important to space the roof
racks so that they are directly under the bulkheads?

I am planning to attach rack mounts to the poptop on my Westfalia
tommorow. I do have some flexibility on where these mounts are located,
but once the holes are drilled, they are permanent. 68" spacing would
place the bars under bulkheads perfectly, but i'd also like to be able
to use my bike carriers which require 48" spacing or less.

So...how important is rack spacing for fibreglass kayaks???

Thx,
Eric
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