Re: [Paddlewise] Racks on pickup cabs

Hi,
Some notes with racks on pickup cab:
I've had lot of experience hauling single and double kayaks all over,
including the back country of Baja and Mexico using a Toyota Tacoma with a
shell on the back-using Thule rain gutter mounts.  The worst luck you can
have in Mexico is to hit a stretch of back road just after an off-road
race has trashed it by tearing through there in race cars at 60+ miles per
hour.
It is even worse for some pangero who must  haul fish and ice over this
road in a 25 year old truck with little left of suspension components.

 Previously I'd hauled kayaks with an old Montero, which has very meaty
welded in integral rain gutters.  No problems there-all one unit.  The
concern is that a pickup cab is suspended independently from the box,
which carries the shell. The setup described below has worked fine on all
kinds of roads from 4WD, to dirt with 3" permanante (washboards.

I keep the front kayak rack slightly looser to allow for twisting- and of
course use bow and stern lines.  Shock cord loops in these lines, with
backup of rope, seem to help hold the boats securely on rough roads,
without having to over-tension the ropes.  This is done so that if the
shock cord fails, the longer rope loop will take the load.  Also, It is
good to cut these bow and stern lines _just_ long enough to reach the tie
point-but no longer.

For rough road travel, it helps to rack the boats with racks that fit the
hull contours evenly.  Racks are best placed in line with bulkheads or 
other structural elements.  An extra strip of foam can be taped to the
racks, for a bit more cushioning than the hard rubber rack faces. 
Sometimes the racks want to spread, allowing the boat to drop onto the
cross bars. To control this, a length of stainless cable with a loop on
each end can be tied to each half of the rack.

  I didn't like  the  cheesy clip-on Thule feet  for the 2000 Tacoma cab
roof (which has no rain gutters).  I decided to bolt on those "fake rain
gutter" clips meant for shells.   This was not easy, involving dropping
the headliner and picking the location with the most back up metal in
the roof supports.  Stainless carriage bolts are best, using locking
nuts, with marine waterproofing behind the clip.  I also used backing to
fill a void between two pieces of metal in the roof structure.  The
gutter clips with closed ends, might make a tighter job.   This way the
feet can't  move past the end of the clip. I prechecked the angle, of
the clips with regard to the feet to ensure good support.   In fact, A
heavy piece of aluminum extrusion with ends welded closed might make a
better unit than the gutter clips often sold by Thule and Yakima for
pickup shells. Also note that Thule and Yakima feet and clips are
different lengths.  If in doubt about this work, a body shop should be
able to do it.  Naturally, I'm not advocating that anyone do any of this
modification-just passing on my experience.

Cheers,
Jay
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