Aftermarket roof rack options w/o rain gutters

[Alan Gage]

My solution: I bought & installed a class 1 receiver, had a buddy weld up a t-post for it and, using the front clamp-on with the t-post at the rear bumper, the set-up gives me support with more comfortable spacing.

That's a great idea! Well done.

Alan

 

[Gamma1214]

Where did you get that ‘T’ hitch bar? I think I need one.

Sorry that I can't help with that one (well, I guess I could if you sent drawings...)

I grabbed some 1 1/4 inch square tube (fits the receiver) and some 1 inch square tube (just because it's lighter) and my buddy welded it up & made the support gussets from scraps of thin steel that he had laying around. He did a great job but it's not something that's commercially available (although, I could ask...)

Curt made the hitch & the wiring adapter (yes, I wired it for a trailer also but the trailer weighs far more than the canoe and I really don't want to smoke the transmission... it's got a "stomp & steer" and I've been out of that business for almost 20 years)



Besides, at least with THAT trailer, I kept hearing Jeff Foxworthy's voice the whole time I was driving.

 

[Alan Gage]

yes, I wired it for a trailer also but the trailer weighs far more than the canoe and I really don't want to smoke the transmission... it's got a "stomp & steer"

I don't think weight is nearly as large of a factor as wind resistance. I did a fair amount of trailer pulling with my little 4 cylinder Corollas. One was a manual and the other an automatic. Pulling a small boat trailer converted to carry two canoes is hardly noticeable, even with 2 canoes loaded.

What turned out to be a difficult to pull was a lawnmower trailer, even empty, with the expanded metal ramp installed. That ramp caught so much wind that even with an empty trailer I had to drive nearly WOT just to hold 55 mph in a slight headwind and fuel mileage tanked. Once I realized what was happening I removed the ramp and it felt like the trailer wasn't even back there anymore, even with 250 pounds of equipment on it.

I used to own a V6 Ford Escape and one 85 degree day I was carrying two canoes on the top for 70 miles into a slight headwind. The transmission overheated and puked most of the fluid out the vent. I'm sure, had I been pulling them on a trailer instead of loaded on the roof, that it would have been fine.

Alan