Bowfin Cruisers - Roof racks and more (4 Viewers)

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200 series rack? Love what you’re doing!

It is certainly on the list. I have to get over my piddly last couple of hurdles on the 60 and 100 racks. I have a reasonably solid plan for the 40. Now that I own a 55, I suppose one for that is in order too.

Obviously there are just a few more potential 200 series customers than 55's!

This concept is for being dedicated to Land Cruisers so all are on the table (my argument for needing a 73 right?).

My wife has a 4runner and I thought one for it would be appropriate just to represent. One for production? Not sure.
 
I've been following the rack design & build since its inception. And truly think it's going to be amazing.

Any update for the 100 series crew. I've been patiently waiting but need it more now than ever.

I know good things take time. But what kind of time are we talking here?
 
I've been following the rack design & build since its inception. And truly think it's going to be amazing.

Any update for the 100 series crew. I've been patiently waiting but need it more now than ever.

I know good things take time. But what kind of time are we talking here?

I just finished bolting up the last prototype. I have to order parts now (my final bracket design, fasteners, and a revised wind deflector)and I am there. I have enough sides rails for a small run, but ordering more of those tomorrow. The wacked out aluminum market is stretching lead times a bit bit I'm still confident in reasonable turnaround times.
My hope is to have them available with solid lead time estimates by the end of THIS WEEK. Holy cow, it's taken a ton longer than I thought, and thanks all for your patience. I really like the way it ended up too. Here are some quick pictures as I literally just finished bolting it up and it's starting to rain.
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The change on the wind deflector will be to make it match the bend point on the side rail. Looks like an afterthought like it is. Easy change though.
 
The 60 rack is right there with the 100 - basically readywith just a couple of tiny deatails. Making the goal of the end of the week on this one too.

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I'd love to see your idea for a 40 rack. Most of those are way too tall and look funny.
 
I'd love to see your idea for a 40 rack. Most of those are way too tall and look funny.

I am trying to not hide too much of the roof top as that is such an important part of the 40 look. My other racks hide the roof a lot. I don't think it will be as huge of a rack as the others, with a couple less cross bars too.
 
still curious how much height is added to the 60....I think I can still get in my garage with this one.

The rack is 2" above the rib at the center of the roof. The front and back of the rack are 2 1/2" above the roof.
 
I will be adding some of the accessories to my website like awning mounts and rtt mounts but I think there are a lot of people that can make their own rtt mounts if they wish. It is basically 4 identical plates oriented 4 ways- forward up, forward down, rearward up, rearward down. They bolt on the rack with 2 "drop in" style t-nuts each and have a hole for the m-8 bolt that comes down from the tent (the little slide in aluminum piece with the bolt in it that rides in the extrusion on the tent).

The whole idea of the bracket is to make mounting the tent easier. You wont have to squeeze a wrench underneath and tighten nuts one flat at a time! Once the plates are installed and positioned, install/removal is really easy. My plates are laser cut 10 guage stainless and the kit has stick in rubber pads to distribute load and prevent squeaks.

The kit is $60 shipped if you dont want to make your own. Here is a picture of a bracket with dimensions on it. The small holes are for 1/4" bolt and the large are M-8 (5/16" will work).
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The cut off corner is not dimensioned in the picture, it is just for a clean look. So the 2" from center is to the theoretical edge.

T-nuts for all projects can be had at www.tnutz.com look for 10 series T-nuts
 
Any updates? Thanks ahead of time.

I am still waiting on more side rails but I'm hoping not too much longer. All of my aluminum parts have taken a lot longer to get lately. My cross bars were close toalmost 8 weeks getting made.
 
Installed my rack on my 80 series.

A couple of things I noticed.

The rain gutter gaskets we're balled up in a bundle and wrapped up which made install extremely frustrating because they kept falling off. They should be preinstalled so they are not rolled in a rats nest.

The instructions were lacking. A few paragraphs but not really helpful. Had to search a thread on here to confirm.

The latches wanted to pop off when applying tension, like not hold the gutter although the bolt through it sucked it back in towards the gutter when I tightened those.

The bungees included was thoughtful.

Key chain was a nice touch but had some serious sharp edges so maybe that's a bonus in case you need to cut yourself out of your seat belt.

Overall it's a nice rack and easy to build on. Very light weight, I installed it myself.

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Love mine. Great fit. Excellent product and even got free installation.
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