Re: [Paddlewise] Roof Racks

> I'm curious as well. My bet is that there were not any bow and stern lines
> from the front and back of the car to the kayaks (or if there were they
were
> very loose at the time the rack was damaged).

Well, you'd be wrong.  I think we bet one of your boats right?  =>

Just ot be clear, we are talking here about the rails that mount to the roof
of SUV's and minivans, that allow fore and aft placement of the factory
crossbars, not raingutters or any other welded on part.

I had bow and stern lines, simple braided nylon, snugged up and tied using a
truckers hitch, although I certainly could have made them tighter, it would
have risked damage to the boat.   Any movement there would be due to stretch
in the rope.

The attachement to the roof was pretty flimsy.  I think, if memory serves,
there were only 5 attachment points on each rail.  The metal was bent and
deformed where  bolts were.  I can't really describe the mounts, they
weren't true star bolts, the were simply pressed in with maybe a millimeter
all round the hole "behind" the sheetmetal.

When I removed the rack completely (upon my return home), there were one
bolts that were still attached to the sheetmetal, on opposite corners.  I
pulled them out easily by hand!

The Yakima rails I replaced them with have twice the attachemnet points, and
much more secure seeming mounts.

While working at a retail store, I saw similar things happen to two
customers cars, one also in mexico, and one on the freeway, although the
freeway one was a couple of SOT, and I don't believe tiedowns were used.
That said, it still speaks to the fact that those attachements are sometimes
pretty cheesy.





 I've had some experience with those same Baja roads. I even
> managed to deform the rain gutters a little on an 1986 Toyota Van by
> bottoming out the springs (more accurately, torsion bars) several times on
> those roads. I also put a huge dent in that Toyota's oil pan in the
Gonzaga
> area. Of course, I had three singles with a lot of the gear in each kayak
up
> there on the racks.  That just might have had something to do with the
> damage.

So your damage is excusable, but mine is due to negligence?   I had two
kayaks, including a SEDA double, in a very heavy duty layup.  The Seda
Double (as you know Matt) is pretty long, so  there is a fair bit of torque
on the rack when things do move.

Geoff
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