alt. roof rack

[Phila cruise]

Want to have a roof rack, and utilize 2 roof top bicycle carriers that I already have. 5-6 day trail and river trip in a week. Camping and kayaking along the way.

As usual, no time, little money, What I did was - buy a Hitch Witch, 20"x60" and this is how I'm gonna mount it:

BTW, hitch witch: $144 shipped, made in USA, everything described one web site is true, it is very stout, and well put together. Got to my door in 2 or three days from ebay. no connection.

The mock up:

 

[ms018kmf]

Looks awesome, good combination of storing capabilities. Need lots of room for gear on river. It looks big enough to tie a boat frame to it. Is it going to be gutter mounted or something different?

 

[Phila cruise]

thanks

I have some con fer copy gutter mounts from a fellow mudder. We use inflatable kayaks, so we can get both boats up on the roof. They are only 17 lbs, so we can strap them to bicycles, at the bottom of the river, and ride back up to camp, or back to the truck depending. Should be a good trip, and the first one with my truck. which will have fresh clutch, fly wheel, brakes, e-brake cable. There'll be some night kayaking as the moon will be bright enough to see by, camping from boat, bike, and the truck setup as a base camp, central to the parts of the forest and rivers we want to explore.

 

[ms018kmf]

Nice, now I'm really jeallous. I gotta get ready for the river camping season here too. The inflatables are nice, I got to borrow a self bailer last year. The rack looks more functional than my first Con Ferr (floors help). It also looks easy to add or take parts off as needed (diffrent boats, awkward gear, ext.)

 

[Wayneraintree]

That is sweet, good idea.

Where is your trip? Sounds like a great one....

 

[Phila cruise]

right photos

Thanks. Trip is to South Jersey, Wharton State Forest. Better known as the Pine Barrens, where the supposed Jersey Devil lives. There is alot of American history buried in the woods. Ghost towns of Martha, Friendship, Harrisburg...All of Washinton's cannonballs for the Revolution came from the iron in the Pine Barrens. The forest, literally grows out of white sand that filters one of the largest natural aguifers in the world. There are a ton of tiny remote rivers that are great to kayak. Beavers have swum right up to us at night to check us out on the water.

And its only and hour and a half away. It's tough for me to get the time off for a long distance trip right now.

The rack is meant to be hitch mount, and was way cheaper than anything else out there besides the ATV rack route.

Mounted it all for a test run today. I had these brackets laying around the shop so no fabrication was required, and I used the holes that are there to mount the cross bar, so no more drilling was required. They also act as another point to bungee x4.I might add two more brackets like the ones there, but I feel like it is fine as it is. Only the boats (17 lbs each) a gas can and a little misc... will go up there.

I 100% recommend Hitch Witch. One nice part of the Hitch Witch- when it is mounted on the roof- one side of the center brace/mount for the hitch, rests in the center of the roof, distributing the weight a little more. I put the confer gutter mounts, as close to the support columns as possible in front and back.