Date:         Fri, 26 Jul 1996 13:04:51 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Earl J.Smith" <wk677@freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
Subject:      Roof racks and misc.

We have a double kayak that weighs 130 lb.  Before buying our 84 vanagon, 
we made sure we could lift it up onto a roof rack by borrowing a friends 
and trying.  He had a Thule which is too rich for my $800 pension.  So, 
having lots of tools, I got some 1/8 in. aluminum angle and made a second 
bend to simulate the gutter.  Cut four 4 in. sections.  At he rear, I 
used one of the bolts that hold the hinge, and drilled a second hole 
through the hinge plate.  (If I had thought ahead a bit more I could have 
made the adaptor plate long enough to use the spacing that existed.  Oh 
that 20/20 hindsight!)  Anyhow, at the front, I removed the cap that went 
over the cab.  First I cleaned a ton of detritus out from the top of the 
cab roof.  (REduced weight probably increased my gas mileage!)  Then 
drilled out all the rusty brackets that were staining the fibreglass, 
buffed them clean, repainted them, and riveted them back in.  Finally, 
drilled the cap and bolted the front brackets on with a large aluminum 
backing plate to spread the stress.

Since then we have been over some of the rough logging roads here on 
Vancouver Island and there has been no sign of a problem. Next step is to 
invent a loader to hoist the kayak up because I don't want to keep 
putting my back out and every year takes its toll of strength.

Enjoy reading the V. List but will have to discontinue until I can afford 
better software.  At 2400 it takes a long time to download the digest 
file, and even longer if I do it one (wanted) message at a time.

Thanks to allk of you for the valuable info on cooling problems and 
fridges.  I found our problem was not lighting the fridge but being able 
to tell if it was alight.  Finally relized that the air intake and vent 
get hot when its working! 

                       Earl J. Smith