nick_m
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Re: Roof rack for a canoe
Buzzcut1 wrote: I have my 13.5' Hobie kayak on crossbars using Thule footers to secure it to the Maggie rack My buddy Pat uses the same set up with his kevlar canoe. He did add a fore and aft deck cleat to the roof to tie in a bow and stern line for extra security Are the cleats directly below the canoe, or are they fore/aft of the ends? I'm trying to figure out whether it's better to have the lines pull straight up from the roof, or at an angle. I think a straight pull would hole the canoe more securely, but would have greater potential for pullout over a bump. Any suggestions?531Views0likes0CommentsRe: Roof rack for a canoe
Kayteg1 wrote: Yakima bars are 3/4" steel pipe with plastic coating on it. Whazoo's canoe has ends curved up, so flipped canoe goes on the top of AC. Looks like it adds `18' of height, so not possible for most of solid walls TC. My canoe is flatter, so canoe "hugs" the AC, while adding maybe 4-6" to the height. Also being flatter- all it takes is 2 bars to stay solid. Weight is important. My first canoe was 80lb and even I could easy carry 150 lb at the time - pulling 80 lb sucker on the roof was quite a challenge. So I got 45 lb Wenonah and that thing makes everything much easier. I'm familiar with the Yakima bars - that's what I've used on past SUVs. I wanted to know how the towers that hold the bars are attached. Yakima offers a track system that appears to be fastened every 12-18 inches, which seems like it would do a good job of spreading the load. It would also raise the canoe less than a Maggie rack, which adds its own height. I have a solid wall TC (Eagle Cap 850) so height is a concern. If I remove the yoke and mount over the AC I don't think it would add more height than mounting on either side (which would present other challenges). In either case it shouldn't sit much higher than the AC - sounds similar to your case. My Northstar 16 weighs only 39 lbs so hauling it up shouldn't be too bad, and the additional weight on top will be minimal. I'm more concerned about the lateral and lifting forces. That's why the load-spreading of the Yakima tracks is appealing.530Views0likes0CommentsRe: Roof rack for a canoe
whazoo, Wow - 4 crossbars... that's not going anywhere! Where does the canoe make contact? Is it only on the front and rear crossbar saddles or is it stabilized by something behind the AC? Mine doesn't have as much rocker so it wouldn't clear the AC. I might have to remove the yoke as Kayteg1 did. I've used nothing but Yakima for the past 25 years, but mounting on a camper roof has a new set of challenges, so I'm looking at all options. Still, I like the Yakima tracks because they attach over a very long span. Is that what you use, or are your towers fixed directly to the roof? I'm not familiar with the slide out bar (although I can guess how it works). What is the advantage over tipping it off the rear?530Views0likes0CommentsRe: Roof rack for a canoe
Buzzcut1 wrote: I have my 13.5' Hobie kayak on crossbars using Thule footers to secure it to the Maggie rack My buddy Pat uses the same set up with his kevlar canoe. He did add a fore and aft deck cleat to the roof to tie in a bow and stern line for extra security Thanks, Buzzcut1. Does your Maggie rack have an intermediate support or is it ends-only? I was wondering what to do about the bow/stern lines; deck cleats - great idea! Did he just use standard cleat hardware?532Views0likes0CommentsRoof rack for a canoe
I have a 16' Kevlar canoe that I'd like to carry on top of my camper (2010 Eagle Cap 850). There appear to be 3 options for mounting a rack: 1. Fixed crossbars with a foot at each end attached to the roof. 2. Crossbars attached to rails, which are fastened at each end (e.g. Maggie). 3. Crossbars attached to rails, which are fastened throughout their length (e.g. Thule, Yakima). Is one of these methods best for mounting on a TC roof?2.3KViews0likes10CommentsRe: Happijac alignment issue
AnEv942 wrote: nick_m wrote: ...Can you clarify what you meant about "try loosening the 6 bolts... to see if it would move"? No matter where I moved the jack prior to tightening the bolts, the round hole square peg arrangement always forced it back to the same orientation. The 3 bolts at either side of extension, between ext and jack and the 3 between ext and camper mount flange. IF there is any clearance of thru holes and bolt diameter, might gain a bit. By your description though sounds like maybe pretty snug. I dont know how tight the tolerances are. Going to take a small file to open hole horizontally without enlarging to much. Dremel would work but only 2 holes. When jacks were bolted direct to camper flange was this 1 1/2" noticed? Yes - there is clearance, and I can plumb the jack when the bolts are loose, but the square shoulders on the bolts force the jack back to the same orientation when tightened. I could eliminate the forced-centering by filing off the shoulders, but then only friction between the plates would prevent rotation - that's why I considered using dowels. I never noticed an issue with the direct connection. The problem with the swing outs is the tolerance stack up: you have two additional interfaces, plus the slop in the hinge itself.390Views0likes0CommentsRe: Happijac alignment issue
AnEv942 wrote: Huh captured carriage bolts...You could slot the hole that threaded portion of bolts go thru. At the mounts likely only need 3/16 to 5/16" to rotate end of leg 1 1/2". Or split the difference between the 2 flanges. Drilling larger holes would accomplish, I wouldn't, think load wise vertical height should remain. Id lean toward slotting the square holes if mine. File top hole & bottom holes in direction needed, making square slots, pivot on middle hole. Require disassembly but retain contact, non rotation of bolts while allowing jack to pivot. I'd try loosening the 6 bolts 1st(not camper mount) to see if it would move. As to capacity, simply replacing bolts, if that would solve and there is clearance between head and barrels would be easiest and first choice. A LOT stronger than a carriage bolt. Slotting - that's brilliant. The carriage bolt heads are recessed, so slotting the squares would be too involved, but slotting the upper and lower holes on the brackets would be straightforward. Maintaining the same hole diameter (slot width) would also allow the carriage bolts to lock into the material, so I wouldn't need to use dowel pins. Sounds like the least amount of work. Can you clarify what you meant about "try loosening the 6 bolts... to see if it would move"? No matter where I moved the jack prior to tightening the bolts, the round hole square peg arrangement always forced it back to the same orientation.390Views0likes0CommentsRe: Happijac alignment issue
BradW wrote: BradW wrote: Are the holes in both plates square? Or just the plate with the bolt head? You wouldn't need to file on the square hole side with the bolt head; just the thread side hole. Those jacks are so long, you wouldn't need to remove much metal to get 1-1/2" at the bottom. The holes in the brackets are round and the ones in the swing out are square. The bolts are round with square shoulders, and roughly 1/16" of the square shoulder engages with the round hole to keep it centered. If I remove (file) the 1/16" shoulder, I could use the excess tolerance in the round hole. If I used round bolts, I'd have the tolerance of both the round and square holes, but I'm reluctant to replace HJ's bolts without knowing their capacity. I suppose that's the next call.390Views0likes0CommentsRe: Happijac alignment issue
BradW wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy6gKROASGQ Can you loosen the bolts make some adjustment and then retighten them? There will be some slop in those bolts holes that may give just enough movement to get things lined up. If not, maybe a few strokes with a rat-tail file will get you what you need. Bradw The bolts have square shoulders, so they force-center into the holes - that's how they keep the faces from rotating. No adjustment is possible. I was thinking of grinding off the shoulders on the swing out bolts and opening up the holes in the brackets to get more play. To prevent rotation, I could dowel the swing out and the brackets using 0.250" pins. I really want to avoid having to shim the Z-bracket, because that might require new holes next to the old ones in the corner of the camper.392Views0likes0Comments
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