Canoe Roof Rack

[bufbooth]

Hello All, I am about to put a Canoe Rack on the top of my 90 Odyssey. Has anyone done this before? My current plan is to lay down some 3 inch wide by 1/4 thick by 4 feet piece of steel to run along the roof edges, held down by some self threading sheet metal screws. For my front and rear rack, I am going to use galvanized 1/2 inch water pipe, which will mount directly into the steel plates.

[keitholivier]

Mr bufbooth

I think you should check out the combined weight of the mount + the canoe (/s) before you do this. My 14ft plastic Kayak weighs about 60lbs and the smaller 10ft one for my wife about 40lbs. Of course really nice stuff can be lighter if you have a fat enough wallet.

I have carried both Kayaks on the rooftop of a van and found that the combination of weight and windage decreased handling stability substantially. Something else to think about is that it is an awfully high location for something as large as a canoe and the canoe may interfere with vent operation when it is up there.

Lastly, I don't know your roof construction, but generally for anything load carrying the recommended method of attachment is with through fasteners, adding something into the core/cavity to carry the compression load of the fastener (a hardwood insert) to prevent the structue from collapsing. On the inside surface, you will want to use fender washers to spread the load to reduce stress. Self tapping screws will be yanked out the first time you are passed by a semi and hit his wake turbulence....

Keith

[bufbooth]

I have a 1990 Toyota Odyssey, which has an all metal roof. The roof is Steel Reinforced and

advertised as being "2 Ton Torture Test". From the looks of it, I have steel beams running along

the sides, and about every 15 inches a beam going across. The self threading screws/bolts were

going to go directly into the steel beams, four of them per 4 foot section. The rack itself will be

made out of 1/2 water pipe and it will be bolted to the metal plates.

[bufbooth]

I forgot to add that I will only have one canoe on the rack, it weights about 75 pounds.

The canoe will actually go right over the AC unit and my roof vents, but will keep the

canoe about 4 inches above the AC unit.

[86rader]

I would like to do something similar. The sunrader has a very stout roof and I might get by with lag bolts into it's fiberglass/plywood/fiberglass sandwich, but, I believe in ridiculous overkill when possible. My plan is to make what they call in the sailboat world, a chainplate. A chainplate is two plates, one inside, one outside of a boat's hull or deck.

These chainplates are used to fasten rigging or cleats to the deck. In the case of sailboat rigging, the chainplates must withstand enormous forces, far in excess of a peterbuilt trying to suck your oldtowne off the roof.

The sunrader is pretty much a fiberglass boat with a toyota pickup bolted to it's bottom, so I think this idea will work quite well. Another advantage is that the place I plan to mount them, just inboard of the rectangular hump on the sunrader just so happens to have interior cabinets which will hide the chainplates nicely.

For your steel frame type construction, remember that this ain't steel I beams we're talking about. It is likely more like metal studs used in commercial interior walls.This stuff is plenty strong, but, it is basically just heavy sheet metal. I wouldn't trust it for much tensile strength. I think that is the proper term for ability to resist being pulled apart.

What I think you need to do is build your rack as planned, then place your canoe up there and use your front and rear bumpers as anchoring points. You can buy nylon straps with a ratchet faster that will sinch things down nicely. Use a single strap front and rear. Go from one corner of the bumper, up, through something strong in the bow/stern, then back down to the other corner. It means you'll have a few lines framing your view forward, but, so what. I would also make some sort of guides spaced just wider than your canoe. This will keep the canoe from walking side to side. Once it is up there, the canoe will be holding your roof rack in place, more than your roof rack holding your canoe.

I have one question. You say you are going over the A/C. Will the canoe be completely over it? Or will it straddle the A/C? I haven't dragged mine up there yet to see if it will fit. Hopefully it will. If not, when I go on a canoe trip, the A/C will have to stay home.

Pete

[bufbooth]

Regarding the question on my A/C, if I remove my middle support bar in the canoe (will put back

in for use), the canoe will drop over the A/C unit and will have about 2 inches of room on each

side. This will allow me to lower the canoe by 6 to 8 inches closer to the roof. I liked the idea of

putting a stopper on the rack cross bars to keep the canoe from drifting sideways, I did this on my

van roof rack and it worked great.

Thanks to all on the canoe rack suggestions. My new design that I am going to try this weekend will be to build a one piece rack out of ½ inch galvanized gas pipe. Basically, I am going to

Build a frame that looks a lot like a low single bed. The material list that I am looking at is:

1) 4 – 72 inch ½ inch pipes (2 for the rack that the canoe sits on and 2 for side supports)

2) 4 – 3 inch round pipe bases / foots.

3) 4 – T-connectors

4) 4 – 12 inch pipes (for the height of the rack)

5) 2 – 2 inch pipes (to all to the 72 inch pipes to get me to 78 inches)

6) 4 – 90 degree curves

7) 4 – 2 inch pipes (goes between round pipe bases and T-connectors)

8) 2 – pipe connecting joint (to connect the 72 inch and 12 inch pipes)

The above will give me what looks like a low single bed frame with about a 15 inch head

and foot boards. My camper is 82 inches wide and I wanted to stay close to the edges for

the most support, so 74 or so inches should place me 2 to 4 inches from the each side edge

after accounting for the pipe lengths, and curves and connector pieces.

The four 3 inch round pipe bases will allow me to drop four bolts each to secure it down.

My first thought was to look for two pieces of steel 3 inches wide by 6 to 8 feet long

by ½ inch thick, but the best the local hardware stores could do is 3 inch x 3 feet x ¼ inch

and wanted $25 a each. As a result, I am now looking at a treated 2x4x8 wood board or a

2x5x8 fake wood decking board. The decking board looks to be extremely strong and

un-bendable and should not rot or warp.

My plan here is to bolt / screw down the two 8 foot boards along the top edges of the roof

in which the 3 inch pipe bases will be bolted to the boards. I will then use rope to tie

the front and rear of the canoe to the rear bumper and the front tow hooks, plus tie / strap

the canoe down to the pipe frame.

I will either end up using self treading screws to go into my steel supports in the roof,

If the steel supports turn out to be too thin, I will then punch through the ceiling into the

top of cabinets and use a 3 foot 2x4 as a large washer / archor to tie together 3 of my

steel roof supports.

[bufbooth]

Hello All, I got the rack up on the roof and screwed down. The metal supports did

appear to be pretty thin, but I hit solid wood below it. I am going to put the canoe up

on the rack this weekend and do some final fitting, and then take it out for a test drive.

I will take pictures and post them. The composite decking boards worked out nicely.

Dennis...