> The obvious concern is that if there is some significant flexing or > movement between the cap and the cab, the kayak might be stressed or the > finish scuffed over time. But there's movement on other racks -- > observed on others' vehicles -- and we survive. The intuitive reaction > is that forces will damage the boat. Does anyone have first hand > evidence corroborating this -- or, better, refuting it? Not directly, but similar. I had a Ford Explorer, with Yakima towers and cross bars mounted to the factory roof rack slider bits. My wife and I did a trip to Baja, carrying a surf kayak and a 22 foot Seda Tandem. We drove some amazingly bad "roads". At a checkpoint, I went to shake the boats, to make sure the straps were tight, and the rack moved. Huh? I checked closely, and the rack and TORN the sheetmetal. The expansion bolt things had ripped the metal of the roof, on opposite corners of the rack, clearly from the flex of the truck versus the rack. And this was on a one piece SUV. Both boats were fine. I almost would have preferred the boats to be damaged, as I can do fiberglass repair well, but don't know much about bodyshop repairs. Funnily enough, my wife and I had chosen to do a trip to Mexico as an inexpensive vacation, and had a great time. We spend about $250 for 6 days vacation, mostly on gas. Great right? Except when we got back, I spent about $1600 fixing my truck, body repair, 2 new tires, new alignment, and a new battery, as we'd cracked the case on the old one. We probably could have flown to Cabo cheaper. Geoff ____________________________________ Geoff Jennings geoff_at_texaskilonewton.com http://www.kimandgeoff.com/ "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Teddy Roosevelt *************************************************************************** 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 May 23 2007 - 03:44:47 PDT
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