I too have been pondering roof racks ever since I bought my Westy. I typically carry bikes (I think I'm going to use a draftmaster hitch rack for that), but I am also a beginning whitewater paddler and would like to be able to get a couple of kayaks on the Westy as well. So here's what I've been thinking lately. I might buy a Yakima or Thule rack with the tallest towers. I think that with these I could attach the rack to the rain gutters rather than the pop top. True, I wouldn't be able to pop the top up with the rack in place, but my experience with Thule racks in particular on rain guttered roofs is that they are easily attached and removed. THerefore I would simply take the rack off when I wanted to pop the top up while camping. My understadning of why Thule and Yakima recommend against carrying boats on Westys is an issue of lift--the wind under the boat at highway speed might pop the top up while driving. But, if the rack were anchored to the rain gutters, you don't facet this problem. mac == Residential Life Coordinator, Berea College 80 Westy (the Turtle) 97 Klein Mantra (Dr. Livingston) 93 Bridgestone XO-2 (Zippy) 91 Bridgestone MB-2 Fixed Gear (Earnest) _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com |
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