YoungSage Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I have a 1988 21 foot Sunrader that I would like to put Yakima Racks on. I figured the best way would be to place these "wide body" brackets http://www.backcountryracks.com/yakima-wide-body-bracket-8001.html at the roofline and then attach a Yakima 1A tower system (these are the old-school gutter mounted original racks Yakima first started with). The Sunrader has these Steel Beams that run along the edge of the roof that I would have to drill into in order to secure the brackets. Are there self tapping bolts that I could drill into these steel beams that would secure the brackets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I have a 1988 21 foot Sunrader that I would like to put Yakima Racks on. I figured the best way would be to place these "wide body" brackets http://www.backcountryracks.com/yakima-wide-body-bracket-8001.html at the roofline and then attach a Yakima 1A tower system (these are the old-school gutter mounted original racks Yakima first started with). The Sunrader has these Steel Beams that run along the edge of the roof that I would have to drill into in order to secure the brackets. Are there self tapping bolts that I could drill into these steel beams that would secure the brackets? Maybe you could post a photo of these Steel Beams you want to drill into? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungSage Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Here is a photo of the beams (ensconced in plush deep shag carpeting). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rad wolfe Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 either Im going blind or that photo upload didnt work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungSage Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Whoops! I think I got it this time. The beams run the length of the camper and are against the ceiling, inside the line of cabinets on either side of the camper.Upon further inspection I see that they are "beams" of fiberglass material and not steel that run fore and aft through the cabinets. I pulled back some of the shag carpeting to see this:I suppose I could get a long drill bit and just drill two holes straight through this fiberglass beam and attach the brackets thusly.I may have just answered my own question. . . .Sorry to have newbified this forum.Best, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Whoops! I think I got it this time. image.jpg The beams run the length of the camper and are against the ceiling, inside the line of cabinets on either side of the camper. Upon further inspection I see that they are "beams" of fiberglass material and not steel that run fore and aft through the cabinets. I pulled back some of the shag carpeting to see this: image.jpg I suppose I could get a long drill bit and just drill two holes straight through this fiberglass beam and attach the brackets thusly. I may have just answered my own question. . . . Sorry to have newbified this forum. Best, Yes that will work. Put a metal backing plate (doubler) on the inside of the coach to fasten the bolts on through. The fiberglass is strong but not all that thick. Doubler helps spread out the load and prevents the holes in the shell getting oversized or getting edge cracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungSage Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 The Yakima Wide Body Bracket does not come with a doubler plate but with four bolts and four washers with nuts. I may look for a doubler or fabricate one of my own to make sure it is beefy enough, though there are no complaints in reviews about cracking of toppers from using their washer system. . . . https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Yakima/Y08001.html Another question.... having not drilled through the Fiberglass "beams" in my cupboards I am not completely sure of what material they are comprised. I assume they are solid fiberglass. Does anyone know? Has anyone drilled or cut through those "beams". Thanks. . . Oh, and thanks for everything you have offered thus far. I must say, this forum is quite cool . . . I can sense the excitement and stoke that everyone shares for their rigs and projects and it makes me smile to read and learn on these pages. Gratefully, YoungSage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 The Yakima Wide Body Bracket does not come with a doubler plate but with four bolts and four washers with nuts. I may look for a doubler or fabricate one of my own to make sure it is beefy enough, though there are no complaints in reviews about cracking of toppers from using their washer system. . . . https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Yakima/Y08001.html Another question.... having not drilled through the Fiberglass "beams" in my cupboards I am not completely sure of what material they are comprised. I assume they are solid fiberglass. Does anyone know? Has anyone drilled or cut through those "beams". Thanks. . . Oh, and thanks for everything you have offered thus far. I must say, this forum is quite cool . . . I can sense the excitement and stoke that everyone shares for their rigs and projects and it makes me smile to read and learn on these pages. Gratefully, YoungSage The thickness of the fiberglass shell is, according to the Sunrader brochures, 3/16" thick up at the roof. I think that is pretty much a reasonably accurate thickness for the overall coach fiberglass shell thickness but certainly not a close tolerance 3/16". People are the ones doing the layup inside the mold and some days the resin might go on thicker than on other days due to temperature, the speed of the worker and their skill at it. The area of the shell you are talking about is a type of beam as such in that it is a longitudinal Z shape that is incorporated into the shell. The Z shape of it provides extra stiffness and strength at the top of the rig but the thickness of the fiberglass in that area is no different than in other areas of the shell as far as I have seen on my Sunrader. That area is the logical place to put the brackets, easy to get to on the inside and the bolts coming in get hidden inside of the cabinets. I have not yet drilled through that area but I will at some point. No reason not to drill through it for mounting things like racks and brackets for awnings, antenna mounts and such. Take a look at this Thule rain gutter bracket set. http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Thule/TH542.html I am not saying you should purchase it since I know Thule rack systems do not have wide body bars available. Just showing you that Yakima is shipping out a bracket set that is not quite up to the better standards in how such things should be done. The Thule set has a both a gasket and a doubler plate. You can make those yourself to upgrade your Yakima set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I have the Thule artificial raingutter setup on my Chinook (also fiberglass). I just put them as far out towards the edge of the roof as possible, so the weight would be close to the walls instead of on the middle of the roof. It's worked well for me. I just drilled right through the fiberglass roof. There are some metal supports up there but I didn't want to drill holes in them. I've had my canoe up there a few times, and always have a bit of weight up there since I store a lot of stuff in this basket which is always up there http://www.yakima.com/shop/cargo/gear-baskets/loadwarrior I don't know if it'll make my roof sag in the long term, but it's worked great so far. It helped that my roof panels were out when I did this, since I was still in the process of putting everything back together after I gutted it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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