runthe5hit
New member
here we go. i'm a kayaker and regularly find myself needing about six boats on my roof. yup, six. maybe more. sooo... this is what i've found. the factory rack for a 97 sucks. i broke the front crossbar cranking on a strap tieing boats, and it's currently splinted with a handy dandy yard stake. without question i need new sturdy crossbars.
another thing. the factory rails seem really puny. i want this system to be able to hold around 500 pounds. already when i crank on straps, i can see the rails sink into the roof, but to keep boats from flying off on I-95 (yup...:wow
you have to crank em pretty tight. so is there a way to replace these rails with something a lot beefier?
finally, for the crossbars, i want them to go to the sides of the roof, but on the occasions when that doesn't cut it for the number of boats i have, i'd like some sort of extenders that fold out to the ends of the side mirrors. this is the part where i need an engineer. how can i achieve this? i've thought about having auxillary bars that slide on the end of the standard bars, or maybe ones that fold or pivot out from storage in the middle? that's about the extent of what i can come up with.
as for total cost, i'm not going to say it's limitless, but i'd be willing to pay for a bomber rack that suits my needs and gets the job done.
ideas anyone?:shrug:
also, i could draw a (crappy) picture of what i'm thinking of if it would help get the point across. thanks,
mike
another thing. the factory rails seem really puny. i want this system to be able to hold around 500 pounds. already when i crank on straps, i can see the rails sink into the roof, but to keep boats from flying off on I-95 (yup...:wow
you have to crank em pretty tight. so is there a way to replace these rails with something a lot beefier?finally, for the crossbars, i want them to go to the sides of the roof, but on the occasions when that doesn't cut it for the number of boats i have, i'd like some sort of extenders that fold out to the ends of the side mirrors. this is the part where i need an engineer. how can i achieve this? i've thought about having auxillary bars that slide on the end of the standard bars, or maybe ones that fold or pivot out from storage in the middle? that's about the extent of what i can come up with.
as for total cost, i'm not going to say it's limitless, but i'd be willing to pay for a bomber rack that suits my needs and gets the job done.
ideas anyone?:shrug:
also, i could draw a (crappy) picture of what i'm thinking of if it would help get the point across. thanks,
mike
