I agree with what John and Steven said. Once while on a trip to Baja our surfboards AND surf-racks got ripped off the top of our 1970 VW bus w/ no pop-top. I can still see our boards spinning up in the air behind us. Amazingly my two boards survived without major damage(they were stuffed inside a board bag) The reason they came off was the same....we got passed by a Big Rig going 85 MPH while we were going 65MPH. Interesting note: these racks that failed were solidly attached to the rain gutters! the surf racks got ripped off by the truckers wind and the weight/size of our boards. On another note, once I travelled from San Diego to FLorida with two longboards and 3 shortboards attached to my THULE racks on my Westy. My boards AND surf racks survived that trip OK and i still use these racks today. Phil
--- John Runberg <jrunberg@MAC.COM> wrote: > With even a decent used longboard going for $300+ > making sure it stays on top is important. What you > describe could possibly work, although pesonally I > wouldn't drill through the top. Seattle's a wet > place and unless it's perfectly sealed (and stays > that way) you're inviting water to collect up top > and cause mold. Only takes a little. > > Other thought: imagine the amount of lifting force > your log will have while traveling 55mph down to the > beach! This may not be the best place to save a few > dollars - Yakima 1A towers are common and cheap on > *bay and you can use galvanized plubming pipe > instead of the $$$ yakima cross bar. That just > leaves the fake gutters to abuse your bank account > (and maybe a used set of locking cores, too). > > While you're saving for all those bits you can carry > the board inside if no-ones riding in back. I > suspend a wooden dowl on the front coat hooks with > some old climbing rope. With a little padding on the > sides (to keep it from banging back and forth) and a > little foam pipe insulation on top it makes a great, > quick carrier for boards over 8'. Anything smaller > can just rest with it's nose on the floor. > > john > > > I'm considering strapping a long surfboard to the > top of my westfalia > > roof and am wondering about the wisdom of this. I > want to avoid the > > $200 or more cost of a Thule of Yakima racks, > which I've heard works.
===== Phil 84' Westy...Tiico'ed 00' Cannondale MTB 95' S9 Skateboard 04' New Balance 705 All Terrain's
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.