Date:         Wed, 4 Jan 1995 11:13:31 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         DerekDrew@aol.com
Subject:      Re: MORE ROOF RACKS

>The solution is to 1) ignore their weight limitations as being put there for
>insurance reasons, 2) reinforce their basic bracket by adding some metal
>under the pop top to distribute the load around better, or 3) add a 3rd or
>4th cross bar. 

>I do a little of #1 and a little of #2.


Derek:

Could you give a little more detail regarding your #2 solution?

OK:

1. Sorry I am still fabricating the reinforcement methods for my Yakima racks
so the design is not finished. Nevertheless, what I think is the best way is
to skip the expensive Yakima pop top brackets all together and bolt the
brackets that hold the Yakima cross bars directly on to the pop top roof with
a gigantic washer to distribute the load around on the fiberglass. If you
have purchased a Yakima rack you can see that the rain-gutter piece is not
neccessary and that you can bolt the other piece directly to your roof. This
presents a much more compact design and keeps the cross bars near the roof.
Maximum strength on the fiberglass is made by mounting the brackets near the
edge of the roof. I expect to be finished my design by the end of next summer
as I am too busy to work much with the van right now (and it's cold out).

2. I never use a ladder. I just stand on the tires. If I need to get up
there, I go by means of an open front door. You can push a canoe on the van
from the rear. I put a reinforcement on the rear edge of the figerglass so I
could push the canoe on and off up there repeatedly without scraping the
paint off the fiberglass. I then attach the canoe up there by means of
D-Rings I put in the roof for general utility purposes. I use D-Rings that
are in their own little plastic recess to keep things looking nice. With
these D-Rings and some rubber strips I put on the roof (from the rear of a
metal Vanagon bumper) I find that I have no need of a roof rack unless I am
driving with both my roof top storage box and the canoe at the same time or
two canoes at once.

derek