OT? Roof Rack Load Stabilizers?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Just put AdaRac racks on my F-150.

AdaRac, bless their little hearts, went with their own 1.25" square load bar instead of a Yakima or Thule bar - for which there are dozens of add-ons available.

What I need to do is keep a long skinny load (the yellow one in

from flopping to one side or the other in the wind.

There is something available off-the-shelf, but it introduces a sharp upward-pointing edge that could damage other loads (like windsurfers):

Right now my best shot is this

- albeit with plans to round the edges and maybe move the clamp inboard and add a second clamp.

OTOH, I might go with the off-the-shelf offering and modify it - maybe trimming the upwards-pointing tab and screwing a rounded block of wood to it....

Can anybody point to something a little more elegant?

[DerbyDad03]

If Yakima and Thule have accessories that fit you needs, why didn't/don't you buy the Yakima or Thule?

[Jim Elbrecht]

I like these-

I can vouch for their customer service, too. I use them on an ancient [square] Thule rack and have carted 3 plastic kayaks on my Impala with the $30 extra foam blocks kit. A 4th would work with another kit.

Call them to see if it will fit your load bars.

Rock solid- and quick and simple to mount and load.

Jim

[Nate Nagel]

Thule makes some "load stops" but I don't know that that would help you any, unless you drink the kool-aid and convert to Thule bars.

I've used them several times e.g. for carrying ladders and they work well.

nate

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Nate Nagel:

Converting to Thule bars is high on my list.

Both bars are 1.25" wide, but AdaRac's are perfectly square while Thule's are something like 3/4" high.

On the face of it, a shim would make Thule bars fit in the AdaRac towers and that is quite attractive.

But I have to ponder why AdaRac, in the face of such an obvious choice between an existing de-facto standard (Thule) and perfectly-square 1.5" chose the square.

First thing that comes to mind is that the square is a lot more resistant to bending.... but I can't visualize why the stresses with the AdaRac towers - hugely-tall as they are - would differ from shorter Thule tower stresses.

OTOH, just because I can't visualize it doesn't mean it isn't there - and failure at 65-70 mph would seem to impose severe penalties....

[hrhofmann]

yurl.com/b3kksmv)  from flopping to one side or the other in

p://tinyurl.com/b5zkl3p

Good sturdy bungee cords always worked for me.

[clare]

I used to just fasten a sheet of plywood to the roof rails and put any kind of saddle that was required on the plywood. Cut holes in the ply to put straps through and you can mount virtually anything your little heart desires. You can fasten the plywood with square "U" bolts, or with straight bolts and nuts to a cross plate under the rail.

[hrhofmann]

rence.- Hide quoted text -

I always pull them fully tight when using.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per [e-mail]:

I think we have a winner.

Not that anybody cares, but I'll come back with some photos if/when I get that approach working.

Basically I'm thinking of the plywood as an interface where the load on the surf ski's rails can be made friendly and the plywood's edges can deal with whatever less-than-friendly interface I use on the bars to stabilize it.

[Nate Nagel]

that's actually a good idea, although it might cause some undesirable aerodynamic effects. If you had a suitably sized piece of "stretch metal" that would work just as well without the downsides.

nate

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per (PeteCresswell):

Here's what I came up with: individual interfaces.

Left-right stability provided by a screw that protrudes downward on each piece's outboard side into the crossbar.

Quick install/remove: just plop them in place/yank them off

letting the load straps hold everything together:

Not exactly elegant but I think it's going to do the job.

In retrospect, I should have gotten different racks. Instead of AdaRak, the racks from BakFlip - which have more friendly (i.e. no sharp edges) load stabilizers: