Geoff wrote: <Snip>>>>>>>A trip to Bahia de Gonzaga in Baja ripped the factory rails out fo the roof, though still firmly attached to the Yakima gear. Made my $150 doller trip into an $800+ trip, as body work was required to fix it. Major bummer. <Snip><<<<<< Matt said, <Snip>>>>>>>...Speaking of cars and kayakers, I sure miss rain gutters. Maybe this is the issue we should all write our congressmen and car companies about :-). Either bring back rain gutters on cars or make decent factory racks that are suitable for carrying three or four kayaks (to encourage carpooling and less vehicles needed for long shuttles--if you want to argue "green"). ...<Snip>>>>>>> ********************* ....good point, Amen-Brother, bring raingutters back. I had real welded integral gutters on an old Mitsu Montero. We carried WW canoes and kayaks for 5 on oversized racks, also doubles and singles in Baja on heinous "roads" with no problems. The newer Tacoma pickup was too short in the rear shell for good support with the fake raingutters, so I dropped the headliner and bolted fake raingutters over the cab for a longer support base for sea kayaks--from cab to back of shell. The fake gutters are bolted into the overhead framing members, with spacers in the hollow core of the framing. Nothing is visible inside with headliner replaced. The trick is to bolt into meat in the roof, not just skin-and avoid the wires. They're on there for good, but who's afraid of c-c-committment. The fake gutters come with a rubber gasket that goes between the body and gutter, with silicone sealant. It helps to pinch the ends of the ~ 6" piece of aluminum fake rain gutter so that the feet can't slide past the ends if not tight. No need to buy new feet for the Thule racks. Again, no problems with rough roads and multiple kayaks, trips in Baja, etc. I always use bow/stern lines with slight tension, sometimes tied in an inverted "V" pattern. That is, tied to 2 points on the vehicle, one at bow/stern. Am looking into a loop of stout bungee in the lines to keep tension. (The newer non-raingutter feet appear weaker than old style. A less positive grip.) It's funny how carmakers try to cultivate this outdoorsy marketing image, then make such cheesy attchments for the stuff people will carry if indeed they really DO these outdoorsy things. (End of rant.) It might not be popular to "test" factory rails on a car lot, by trying to wrench them loose with a gorilla grip, but it would be good to know what's really holding them on. To be fair, I have seen advertising-laden Subarus apparently loaned to WW Kayak competitors that were so loaded with boats that you could hardly see the car underneath. They did not appear to be worried about losing the load, despite many long-distance trips. I'll scrutinize the setup they use next time I see one. Regards, Jay Gingrich *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Feb 05 2004 - 06:14:29 PST
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