Really digging the Gamiviti side ladder...
Roof Rack Recommendation
- Thread starter Coastal Croozer
- Start date
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Not sure how many ppl are going to share this same question, but will ask...
Context - Occasionally, I’ll pull a monstrosity of an overland trailer. It’s got a long, flat roof w vertical rails along the perimeter. I slept up there w just a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag. Definitely not ideal four seasons - or even during rain - but is perfect when running solo on clear nights.
Here’s the question: anyone sleep atop any of these racks without a RTT - just throw up a pad and bag and slumber under the stars?
Imagine the cross bars used by some options wouldn’t be super conducive to a good night rest, but noticed the Gamiviti has a basket floor option. Perhaps other brands have similar floors or accessories for this use case.
Clear night when otherwise I would throw down the cot near the vehicle, would be nice to use the vehicle itself as one big cot.
Context - Occasionally, I’ll pull a monstrosity of an overland trailer. It’s got a long, flat roof w vertical rails along the perimeter. I slept up there w just a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag. Definitely not ideal four seasons - or even during rain - but is perfect when running solo on clear nights.
Here’s the question: anyone sleep atop any of these racks without a RTT - just throw up a pad and bag and slumber under the stars?
Imagine the cross bars used by some options wouldn’t be super conducive to a good night rest, but noticed the Gamiviti has a basket floor option. Perhaps other brands have similar floors or accessories for this use case.
Clear night when otherwise I would throw down the cot near the vehicle, would be nice to use the vehicle itself as one big cot.
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I've actually pondered this same question. The best commercial solution I've seen is a Front Runner rack with extra slats added to make a solid deck on the roof.
Of course, you can also bolt a piece of plywood to most any roof rack for the same effect.
The folks at Gamiviti are incredibly responsive - even on a holiday weekend.
They offered a solution: string A few 2’x4’ grid panels together atop the Gamiviti rack. Takes 10 min to install, 5 to remove, lighter than the grid floor or basket, and strong enough to stand on. Looks like a solar panel can even go underneath. Just try not to roll off
www.gamiviti.com
They offered a solution: string A few 2’x4’ grid panels together atop the Gamiviti rack. Takes 10 min to install, 5 to remove, lighter than the grid floor or basket, and strong enough to stand on. Looks like a solar panel can even go underneath. Just try not to roll off
Roof Rack Accessories — Gamiviti
www.gamiviti.com
dmc
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15% off Prinsu racks right now. Saw it posted on IG last night. Through the end of the month.
dmc
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Who knows what they'll do this year. I need mine before Thanksgiving so I was happy to see a discount show up.
ARB roof rack with the welded mesh bottom. The mesh deck allows you to anchor anywhere. I'm not a fan of the modular anchor points. What happens if you have to readjust your load? Remove half your stuff to move the ancor points? A welded mesh top you can use basic ratchet straps and bungee cords anywhere and move them on the fly. The ARB mounts put it almost right on the roof which is great if you are really loading the top. AKA less racking stress from side to side motion on rough roads. You can get a flat one to put a tent on or one with the side rails that will add about 5.75 to the hieght of your ride. I ordered the flat rack and they shipped me the one with side rails. I did not complain because it was few hundred dollars more. LOL! I was just being cheap but the top rail gives you a good grip when you are climbing on top. The rig that this "large" rack is on fits into every garage that I have parked in. Also low parking garages. The rig is not lifted. Just my two cents.
Markuson
SILVER Star
“The rig is not lifted” is the key part of the whole garage-fit thing. Most folks adding RR are lifted...
Anyone recently purchased the full Slimline rack? I installed the full size on my 80 series and it was horrible in that the wind would vibrate the moon roof at highway speeds. I contacted Frontrunner and they suggested modification to the wind deflector which did not solve the problem. They could provide no other solution and even deleted my review the 1st time I posted it. Other than that, I loved the rack and ordered the 1/2 rack for my 100 series and enjoyed it...no noise. I would really like the full size for my 200, but worried again about the wind noise. I noticed one person in this thread stated he had to close the cover due to noise, but did not elaborate on the issue. Thanks for any info you can provide
I have the full Slimline II on my 2019. I initially installed it without the standard under-mount deflector that comes with the rack, as I planned to install a light bar underneath. The harmonic vibration of the rack at anything over 30mph was horrendous, so I mounted the standard deflector (until I could mount the light bar). The vibration disappeared, and the wind noise was tolerable. I also tried the additional fairing offered by FR, and it does a better job than the stock deflector. I have since mounted my light bar, but I'm unsure of whether I'll keep it there or not. There's more wind noise than with either the deflector or fairing. My wife says it doesn't bother her, but I'm a little more sensitive. Regardless of the fairing, deflector, or light bar, you cannot realistically (IMHO) use the sunroof, or even open the sunroof cover due to the wind noise.
Pic below is with the stock deflector.
1world1love
SILVER Star
I originally had significant wind noise and vibration with the default deflectors. I had to adjust them so that there was about a .5 inch gap in the middle. This really helped, although not to the point that I could ride with the sunroof open as the deflector does actually deflect right into the sunroof area unfortunately. Another issue is that it would be relatively fine under normal circumstances, if there were strong crosswinds, the vibrations got so bad that I thought my sunroof was going to pop out.
I have since switched to the newer fairing. While it is expensive and frankly should be included with the rack by default, it actually helped tremendously. It is actually quieter now than it was with the OEM bars and I can pretty comfortably ride with the sunroof open at reasonable speeds. Again, at least as much as with the oem bars.
Did you do anything special to get your rubber strip to lay flat? Mine is wrinkled. . .FR sent me a replacement but it has the same issue. Also, did you mount yours using the front or rear holes of the brackets?. . .it looks like you have a more vertical rake than I do.
Thanks for the honest insight. I love the racks, but will probably go back with the half rack that I installed on my 100 series. It can handle my 10 ft kayak and two of my front runner cargo boxes. Thanks Again
1world1love
SILVER Star
Yeah, mine was sort of wrinkled too, although once it is flat against the roof, the warm sun will help it to settle.
In order to get it flat against the roof, I had to make incremental adjustments. The most important one was loosening the rack mount bolts and pushing them out toward the front of the truck a little. Then I loosened the 4 countersunk hex screws on front, first on one side. I pushed it up so that the top lip of the fairing is overlapping the bottom edge of the rack as much as I could. Then I pushed the rack mount brackets back and held them while I tightened them. Then did the other side.
The effect is that it creates counter force that pushes the bottom of the fairing down and in and forces the rubber to lay against the roof. If you notice, yours is at more of an angle than mine. It should be slightly more vertical than you have it now.
A couple of notes:
- I kept the swivel hex screws somewhat loose and once I had it where I wanted it, I pushed down on the face of the fairing and tightened them.
- I had a little trial and error to find the sweet spot, so you may need to go back and forth a little. I found it best to keep one or two brackets tightened and work the other side. Rinse and repeat.
Honestly, I love a lot of Front Runners products and I have found them to be very nice and easy to work with, but this is not one of their better designs.
Thanks for the tips. I now have a project for tomorrow, weather permitting!
I installed the FR fairing as well, and one other tip to throw out here - adjust some of those bolts from inside with the sunroof open. I used one hand/arm to serpentine around to the front of the fairing, pressed down to remove the wrinkles, then tightened those bolts with my other hand working my way across. There's only 4 bolts IIRC but opening the sunroof and adjusting from the inside worked really well.
Did you both use the “ppf” tape FR provided between the rubber strip and your roof?
I did, but admittedly didn't do a very good job centering under the fairing, as well as bubbles that didn't get completely pressed out.
I'll be replacing it in the near future, maybe with a slightly wider tape to give me more wiggle room with the curve of the fairing etc... but for now it does the job.
One of those OCD moments that is nagging at me, but not enough to fix immediately as the paint is protected. Next time, I'll use some painter's tape to mark the outline of the fairing itself where it contacts the roof, then loosen the pivot hardware and flip fairing up, lay down the new 3M clear tape, then tighten the fairing back into place.
