Thule Roof Rack Gutters

[moondawg]

Hey,
I have a set of Thule roof rack that I would like to mount on my Eagle. I do not want to drill holes in the roof if I don't have to. I was looking at a friend Westfalia and he has artificial gutters screwed to the side of his Westy that hold the racks. Using these Thule gutter pieces:

http://www.prolineracks.com/thule-542-artificial-rain-gutters.html

http://www.rackoutfitters.com/volkswagen-westfalia-thule-gutter-foot-square-bar-base-roof-rack-1/


My question is, do any of you know or think the screws around the edge of the roof seem are strong enough to hold these artificial rain gutters in place to be able to attach a thule roof rack?

I plan on carrying a fiberglass canoe, about 75lbs.

Thanks,
Grant

 

[Central Toast]

I wouldn't do it--those are small screws compared to the through-bolts that the rain gutter pieces use, and the aluminum holding the screws is thin. Maybe you could through-bolt there but you'd have to tear into the interior headliner to do that. Regardless you would end up with all of the stress on small points in the outer roof frame, and really long cross-bar spans. Mounting on the roof top shortens the span of the Thule or Yakima cross bar, making it less flexy and saggy. The tracks help to spread the weight and wind-loading out over a larger area of roof joist. I would say put tracks on the roof with a little 3M 4000 or 4200 in each hole. It should not leak if you goop it up properly. Or build a permanent rack with aluminum tubing in the same fashion as FWC does. Just use the heavier-duty tubing (3/16") from a good steel shop as opposed to the thin flexy stuff from Home Cheapo or Ace, etc.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Grant, I would through bolt the gutter clips if you're going to go that route. I have gutter clips on my pickup shells, and if I remember correctly, the bolts are about 1/4" carriage bolts. In addition to the weight, there is a lot of force on a car top canoe from wind load. Like CT, I recommend Thule or Yakima tracks.

 

[moondawg]

Ok, thanks guys. I was hoping to avoid drilling more holes than necessary, but it sound inevitable.

 

[moondawg]

I just read this thread, and on the 3rd page, you can see that a FWC owner did what I was thinking with a Yakima rack.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/8640-yakima-roof-racks/page-3?hl=%20roof%20%20rack

Looks like it works, i will send him a message and see how its held up.

Thanks again.

 

[moondawg]

Thought I should finally update this. I did end up attaching the artificial rain gutters to the sides of the top roof of my camper. I used two of the existing screw wholes, and drilled one extra one for added strength. The job was easy, and they attached neatly and feel strong. I have hauled my canoe up there a few times since, no issues so far.

I went this route, as I wasn't comfortable drilling into the roof and adding more holes to worry about sealing later when they possible start leaking in a few years. i live in the NW, so it rains alot here.

I had to get the longest Thule bars available to reach that spa across the camper, but it gives me a clean roof with no holes in it, and I felt that the exterior that I drilled and screwed into was part of the roofs main frame.

I will get some pictures up this weekend.

 

[moondawg]

Here are a couple pics of how they attached.

 

[bike4mee]

Looks great! This seem like a much better system than the roof mount. A bolt with forces going down perpendicular on it would be much stronger that a bolt that the forces are being pulled upward with just the threads holding

I have had 4 kayaks in big winds, no problem. The bar sags a little in the middle so I have a piece of foam to support it. You can also hide an extension rod in the bar for a cool way to hang a shower enclosure. have fun

 

[B-Rad]

Looks nice, good job.

 

[Beach]

My racks are attached same as yours, with no problems noted so far. I fabricated my own at my buddies aluminum shop and used 5200 to seal it, plus 5200 has extreme adhesive properties. I think it should be at least as strong as the factory track set up. The factory install is subject to screws pulling out, where as on ours, the screws would have to shear off completely to fail.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

My racks are attached same as yours, with no problems noted so far. I fabricated my own at my buddies aluminum shop and used 5200 to seal it, plus 5200 has extreme adhesive properties. I think it should be at least as strong as the factory track set up. The factory install is subject to screws pulling out, where as on ours, the screws would have to shear off completely to fail.

5200? I hope you never need to take them off! 5200 is very permanent.

 

[matchbox]

Here are a couple pics of how they attached.

I looked at your roof rack modification and agree that punching into the roof is not the way to go at all. Could you please show with picture or explain how that backing plate looks on the thin piece of gutter. Does the Thule backing plate fit well inside, in other words you used thru bolts just on the thin flange material - right..... Thanks