Rails to mount kayak carriers

[dthurk]

We have 2 kayaks that we'd like to occasionally take on camping trips with us.  I'd like to take them on top of the camper.  We do have the cartop kayak carriers that mount to the luggage rack of the vehicle.  I suppose we could continue to roof mount on the TV, but I'm looking to reduce our overall height profile.  My thought is to use our current rooftop carriers mounted to rails on the camper.  We've got a 10' camper and 13' and 14' boats.  Total weight of the boats is about 70 pounds.  It should work.

At any rate, does anyone here have any suggestions for rails that would be reasonable priced?  Yakima just seems to be quite expensive for what you get.

[tlhdoc]

Have you done a search on eBay for what you need?  You need to be careful when installing a rack on the roof of your PU.  Could you make a rack out of PVC to hold the kayaks?  :confused:

[mike4947]

Yakima, Thule, and Sportsrack make kayak carries to mount to their rack systems. I'll bet your current carriers would fit on one of the PU rack systems.
 
BUT, remember you roof has a maximum load rating. Either 300 or 350 pounds closed and 150 pounds raised and that includes ANYTHING attached to the roof. The rack, the kayaks, your awning, and an AC if so equipped.

[wavery]

Have you done a search on eBay for what you need?  You need to be careful when installing a rack on the roof of your PU.  Could you make a rack out of PVC to hold the kayaks?  :confused:

WOW!!!

That's a GREAT idea tlhdoc  

I have been wondering how I could carry kayaks on our PU as well.

Making a frame out of 2" PVC tubing would be cheap, easy and light weight. It wouldn't even have to attach to the top. It could simply encompass the top and have short legs that go down the side to keep it from siding off. Strap the kayaks to the rear bumper and trailer tongue and you're ready to roll. the entire carrier would only be about 30 pounds and you could easily take it off (if needed) before popping up the top.

Thanks for the idea

[dthurk]

WOW!!!

That's a GREAT idea tlhdoc  

I have been wondering how I could carry kayaks on our PU as well.

Making a frame out of 2" PVC tubing would be cheap, easy and light weight. It wouldn't even have to attach to the top. It could simply encompass the top and have short legs that go down the side to keep it from siding off. Strap the kayaks to the rear bumper and trailer tongue and you're ready to roll. the entire carrier would only be about 30 pounds and you could easily take it off (if needed) before popping up the top.

Thanks for the idea

I'd want to be careful with PVC.  The stuff is pretty weak.  The weight of the boats would be sufficient to depress the PVC to the roof.  I'd be concerned that vibration from towing would damage the roof.  Feet, unless well cushioned, might do the same thing on a small spot on the roof.  I could make most anything with PVC that I wanted to (I do enough plumbing and drain lines with the stuff), but I think design would be critical.  Something rigged up coming up off the tongue in the front and the bumper in the back might work.  Maybe use 3/4" galvanized water pipe.    

Weight is not a problem.  I have nothing on the roof right now, no AC.  I would not pop up with the boats on the roof.

[PITPOP27]

WOW!!!

That's a GREAT idea tlhdoc  

I have been wondering how I could carry kayaks on our PU as well.

Making a frame out of 2" PVC tubing would be cheap, easy and light weight. It wouldn't even have to attach to the top. It could simply encompass the top and have short legs that go down the side to keep it from siding off. Strap the kayaks to the rear bumper and trailer tongue and you're ready to roll. the entire carrier would only be about 30 pounds and you could easily take it off (if needed) before popping up the top.

Thanks for the idea

Wavery I will let you know how it goes but my hubby is already having the bug to build a PVC carrier for our Kayaks.  We have 2 sit on tops, one tandem and one sport fishing.  If you finish your mod  first how about some pics?!?!

[wavery]

Wavery I will let you know how it goes but my hubby is already having the bug to build a PVC carrier for our Kayaks.  We have 2 sit on tops, one tandem and one sport fishing.  If you finish your mod  first how about some pics?!?!

We haven't even purchased the kayaks yet :p . One of my concerns was carrying them on top of the PU. The PVC carrier is brilliant.

The kayaks only weigh about 30# each. The strength of the 2" PVC is not a concern. I have built lounge chairs that carry my lard butt (225#). The kayak's weight is not an issue. However, padding it with 2" rubber insulation would be in order. At least in the areas where it would come in contact with the top.

Running supports all the way down to the bumper and trailer tongue may also be a consideration.

[dthurk]

Pipe, be it PVC or metal, is not structural.  It would basically not have support.  It may work for very short spans, such as in a chair, if it's a large enough diameter, but long spans that would be needed to traverse a pop up roof would not support any weight.  Use of foam may help protect the roof, but I would suspect vibration and wind would ultimately work it loose, risking damage to the roof.  Even the possibility of that risk is unacceptable to me.

One possibility I've been considering is to buy the foam block rooftop carriers designed for kayaks and lash the things down directly to the roof.  These are for direct use on car roof tops and should present the least amount of risk to the roof.  At least if they're intended to be used directly on the painted surface of vehicles without damage, they should work on a pop up roof.  It might be nice to position them directly over the interior roof "rafters".  How do you locate them?  I still might be concerned for roof damage, but might be willing to try it on a short trip to see how it does.  I would think it would  be inexpensive, quick, clean, easily reversible and would put no holes in any part of the camper.  It may, in the end, be the best alternative.

[wavery]

Pipe, be it PVC or metal, is not structural.  It would basically not have support.  It may work for very short spans, such as in a chair, if it's a large enough diameter, but long spans that would be needed to traverse a pop up roof would not support any weight.  Use of foam may help protect the roof, but I would suspect vibration and wind would ultimately work it loose, risking damage to the roof.  Even the possibility of that risk is unacceptable to me.

One possibility I've been considering is to buy the foam block rooftop carriers designed for kayaks and lash the things down directly to the roof.  These are for direct use on car roof tops and should present the least amount of risk to the roof.  At least if they're intended to be used directly on the painted surface of vehicles without damage, they should work on a pop up roof.  It might be nice to position them directly over the interior roof "rafters".  How do you locate them?  I still might be concerned for roof damage, but might be willing to try it on a short trip to see how it does.  I would think it would  be inexpensive, quick, clean, easily reversible and would put no holes in any part of the camper.  It may, in the end, be the best alternative.

The foam that I was talking about is the round stuff , about 4" O.D. and 2" I.D. I'd slip the 2" PVC tube inside the foam and glue it in place. There is no way that stuff would come off. I used to use that stuff on the roll cage of my dune buggy. It lasted for years and was pretty chafe resistant.

As for the PVC.......If you are concerned about the weight of the kayak on it, a support could be run straight down from the center of each kayaks position on the a mount, bolted to the rear bumper and the trailer tongue.

You're right, that stuff has very little lateral strength and may even set up a bouncing rhythm that would break the PVC or damage the roof top and/or the kayaks if it were not supported properly. However, I still think that it would work well if the kayaks were set right over a vertical support. I would also use 2 short legs (with cushions) on each side, just touching the side of the top, to eliminate any side to side motion.

I just hate using metal (even galvanized) for that kind of stuff. I can't stand dealing with rust  :swear: (just a fetish I have) :screwy: . I had to deal with it for 14 years when I lived on my boat.

[dthurk]

I would think salt water on the sea would encourage rust a lot quicker than we might experience from rain, dew, etc.  A good galvanized metal primer and some metal paint colored to coordinate with the camper might be a nice touch and help further to prevent rust.  If possible, I'd like to work out something that nothing is touching the roof.  Not sure if it's feasible.  The camper's covered right now.  I'll have to wait for warmer weather, grab a lawn chair, look at the thing for a while and mull ideas over in my head.  DW accuses me of sleeping when I do that, but sometimes I can come up with some interesting ideas that way.

[garym053]

We almost always carry our kayaks on the TV, as we'd end up loading them there if we had to drive to a put-in.

We use the foam blocks made for kayak carrying when we put our spare yaks on the PU for family to use when camping near water.  

We tie off each end then two straps side to side.

You do NOT want a kayak coming off at highway speeds. It's not healthy for the people behind you!

[PITPOP27]

It sounds like saving up for racks for the big truck is in order.....AGH!  Why can't we just tow with the hubby truck....I know we can!  Always have to get salt water on his truck not mine hee hee!

[doonoak]

We had the same question about putting our canoe on our popup.  In the past when we were tenting I had a pickup rack that utilized the toe hitch we got from Cabelas.  The fisrt time I rented a popup I tried using the same rack.  It had an accesory to use while towing a trailer all it was was a peice of metal that extended the rack to the side.  But every time I turned the frpntend of the popup moved the canoe after half a block I turned back it a fit of rage and took off the canoe with my wife pissed and me brain storming.  I got the old foam blocks I had long ago and put them on the gunnels and like a caffine maddend hercules I  lifted the damn thing up on top of the popup all by my self.  I have modified it somewhat since doing away with 4 out of the 8 ratchet tiedowns which was a bit overkill.  but I have used this method ever since.  IT's probaly not the best for my back and if you are not very careful you might damage the roof of the popup.  I have looked into the yakima rack system and other comperable things but they are just too damn expensive I think too.   Now that I got a 12 foot aluminum fishing boat I might have to beak down and buy a roof rack system but Im gonna fart around and think about what I can deam up as soon as the warm weather returns.
Mick

[PITPOP27]

I got the old foam blocks I had long ago and put them on the gunnels and like a caffine maddend hercules I  lifted the damn thing up on top of the popup all by my self.  I have modified it somewhat since doing away with 4 out of the 8 ratchet tiedowns which was a bit overkill.   Mick

Do you have any pictures?  It looks as if we are going to be towing our 3 kayaks on top of the pup on foam blocks.  I doubt we'll buy the soft rack from yakima, but we may.  My husband says he'd rather make it himself as it's just a ripoff.

We'll let you know how it goes, the kayaks weigh a total of 260 lbs.  I know we are bringing all three...

[dthurk]

We'll let you know how it goes, the kayaks weigh a total of 260 lbs.  I know we are bringing all three...

Wow.  Are you sure about the weights?  That's about 85 lbs. per boat.  We've got 2 inexpensive plastic recreational kayaks about 14' long.  Nothing fancy here, no exotic materials.  I can easily lift the weight of each boat myself, no caffeine needed.  The bulkiness makes them difficult to carry.  Total weight for the 2 is about 75 lbs.  

On a side note, it amazes me that a 40 lb. boat is capable of carrying 450 lbs. in the water.  The forces and effects of hydraulics is astounding.