BJ74s for all their merits have one downfall that has frustrated me until now. The FRP roof has a rain gutter above each front door, and above the rear doors. There is, however, no rain gutter on the rear sides of the roof, namely above the sliding windows.
After doing much thinking, and after inspirational pictures of a roof rack solution from Bruce (A2b_inaTLC), I finally have roof racks. I ditched the flimsy custom rack that the PO installed in Japan. I needed to carry my 8' pram on the roof for flyfishing, and the original rack was configured wrongly and didn't have any capacity. I was in the process of having a metal shop custom make a square aluminum rack that bolted to the front and rear rain gutters, but they are busy and the job would have cost me a lot of money.
After seeing Bruce's Yakima system, I decided to install a Thule rack. The Thule rack has an all metal one piece high rise tower as opposed to an aluminum spacer in the Yakima. The Thule feet also have the right shape to grip the front rain gutter securely, while the Yakima seemed not to "bite" very well.
I purchased my components from Rack Attack in Coquitlam. Cap-It in Langley installed my rain gutters with spacers so as not to crush the two layers of my FRP top when the false gutters are bolted on tight.
Components and cost:
-Thule 387 high rise foot pack (includes 4 and hardware) $224.95 CAD
-(2) Thule 65" load bars $79.95 CAD
-Kwik Rail Thule Artificial Rain Gutters (one pair) $32.95 CAD
Total component cost: $337.85 CAD + taxes.
Pictures to follow tomorrow. The high rise feet give about 8" of clearance which is necessary to clear the bumps on top of the FRP roof in the rear. The 65" load bars stick out approximately 6.5" on either side of the roof in the rear.
Of course this rack will not be able to support a huge amount of weight, but it should be enough to carry around my small 8' pram, or a large cargo basket with light gear in the future.
After doing much thinking, and after inspirational pictures of a roof rack solution from Bruce (A2b_inaTLC), I finally have roof racks. I ditched the flimsy custom rack that the PO installed in Japan. I needed to carry my 8' pram on the roof for flyfishing, and the original rack was configured wrongly and didn't have any capacity. I was in the process of having a metal shop custom make a square aluminum rack that bolted to the front and rear rain gutters, but they are busy and the job would have cost me a lot of money.
After seeing Bruce's Yakima system, I decided to install a Thule rack. The Thule rack has an all metal one piece high rise tower as opposed to an aluminum spacer in the Yakima. The Thule feet also have the right shape to grip the front rain gutter securely, while the Yakima seemed not to "bite" very well.
I purchased my components from Rack Attack in Coquitlam. Cap-It in Langley installed my rain gutters with spacers so as not to crush the two layers of my FRP top when the false gutters are bolted on tight.
Components and cost:
-Thule 387 high rise foot pack (includes 4 and hardware) $224.95 CAD
-(2) Thule 65" load bars $79.95 CAD
-Kwik Rail Thule Artificial Rain Gutters (one pair) $32.95 CAD
Total component cost: $337.85 CAD + taxes.
Pictures to follow tomorrow. The high rise feet give about 8" of clearance which is necessary to clear the bumps on top of the FRP roof in the rear. The 65" load bars stick out approximately 6.5" on either side of the roof in the rear.
Of course this rack will not be able to support a huge amount of weight, but it should be enough to carry around my small 8' pram, or a large cargo basket with light gear in the future.