I will get very serious and tell you I tinker with this and that and you could probably buy your vehicle with the $$$ I've put into racks. I approached the problem with aerodynamics and gas money in mind. The racks should disappear when not in use and so offer no wind resistance. Well...........I'm on the mark 2 model and while it works, and it is very strong, I'm not entirely happy with it. Mark 2 is the weaker version and I think it could handle 700 pounds or so. Way overbuilt, however, it will securely hold the kayaks when going 80 mph or so. I have am aluminum "tonneau" cover on the bed. Attached to that are Yakima rails and bars. Two foot verticals oak 1 X 4s boost the height and 2 more bars carry the kayaks. Two aluminum braces stabilize the whole thing and snap pins hold it together. 5 minutes and it's up or down. Not entirely pretty though, and I'm working on mark 3, but when you don't need it does disappear and your mpg is back up to normal. All in all I could have saved a lot of money by just going the commercial route, and I think you can fit a rack to the Tacomas cab regardless of the absent raingutter. I could have bought a camper shell too and just tossed the boats on top and tied them down, but what can I say? I'm afraid to calculate the figures on how many miles I'll have to drive without the rack to equal the difference in gas money expended. It will have to go up to $5.00 a gallon, or I'll have to live to 140 and still have this truck. So am I not going for mark 3? You bet I am; I still think I can do it better. Kevin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jan 15 2003 - 14:04:50 PST
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