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><<<<<< Kevin asked: >>>>>Do you know what caused the roof rails to pull out? Heavy cross winds, bouncing over rough roads, driving into the garage without removing the kayak, ... ?<<<<<< 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). That combined with the rough roads and sudden weight changes (due to the kayaks) from the front to back on the rack. 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. 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"). I think it was the mileage requirements that were instrumental in eliminating rain gutters on most cars in the first place though. The slight added drag from rain gutters would hurt a little on compliance testing. Of course, in the real world, those paddlers who leave their kayak racks on the car all the time are busy trying to make up for any gas savings due to no rain gutters being on most cars. We could make it a sales issue with the car companies. I eliminated half of the minivans (of the four available back in 1986) from consideration because they didn't have rain gutters. Matt Broze www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> 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 *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:36 PDT