Re: ingenuity marches on

Posted by gober on Mar 7, 2006

Paul,

I have two MC13�s now I know that�s nothing compared to a double. I bought a Saris rack from my neighbor, hey the price was right! Now I was planning on taking these boats all the way from Fort Worth Texas to Key West Florida. When I installed the rack on my Nissan Sentra the rack looked a bit too close together especially for such a long trip. The Saris racks are sort of oval in shape. I was concerned that the boats may tend to want to slide left or right. So I went to the local big box store and bought 4 2x4x8, 4 pieces of flat metal strap (the kind used for framing a house), some carriage bolts, washers, nuts and some pipe insulation. I spent about 20 bucks. I then cut the 2x4 down to 6 ft each, these were laid flat (2 in tall 4 in wide) at the end on the racks running front to back. I drilled holes in the 2x�s then used the carriage bolts, nuts and washers to wrap the metal strap securely around the racks. One bolt on each side cinched the strap really tight on the rack. I then took the other 2x4�s cut them to a smidge longer than the rack was wide. Then I ripped them down to about 3 inches. Next laid them on top of the other 2x�s and placed the yaks on top to get an idea of where they would ride. I marked the ideal place for the yaks. I then took the 2x�s to the table saw and notched out about � inch slot, nearly a foot long, where the yak would ride. Then I bolted the notched 2x�s to the others basically in a box fashion. I took the pipe insulation and taped it over the notches. With these notches the boats can not slide side to side when strapped down. By adding the 2x�s the point of contact grew from about 3 ft to 6 ft. When I take the rack off I leave the 2x�s attached so I don�t have to redo it every time. Maybe it was overkill but it only took a few hours, 20 bucks and I felt much better about driving 3200+ miles. I know your yak doesn�t have a flat bottom but I am sure you can adapt the idea. Look at what Kurt Maurer did� http://members.aol.com/mauair/Finale.htm Maybe you could incorporate both ideas. If you want I can post some pictures.

Gober

In Response to: Re: ingenuity marches on by Paul S on Mar 7, 2006

Replies:

• Re: ingenuity marches on by J.Schott on Mar 7, 2006
  • Found the pics by J.Schott on Mar 7, 2006
    • Re: Found the pics by Moe on Mar 8, 2006