I tow a large kayak behind my 8 metre Winny. I am planning a Tassie trip next year and have done the maths and it would cost an arm and two legs to take it on the ferry on a trailer across to Tassie. It needs to go on the roof. Does any know who would fit roof bars to the motorhome so that I can attach something like Rhino kayak accessories to the bars.
Has anyone done this? I know Fiamma has something but it is for small kayaks and is not suitable as mine is a tandem and is long at 5.5 m and relatively heavy.
Might pay to do some research regarding the hiring a kayak from over in Tassie...As you probably will not be using it every day,it would probably work out cheaper than taking your own over and back.
There are some great inflatable kayaks from hobie and other manufacturers about and can be used as a replacement for hardbody kayaks. I suggest you look on ebay or put inflatable in Google. Bill
Most 4 wheel drive accessory stores will fit racks. These usually involve fitting a track, that the rack is mounted to. These also let you adjust the racks (distance apart). The tracks are pop riveted & glued to the roof. I would be very hesitant do do anything that involved drilling the roof of an RV.
Suggested Carrying Method: The Solar Panels in our tandem 21'6"caravan are bolted onto 2 round metal tubes that are supported by brackets on the top of the vans sidewalls on the roof.
On each side of the van, an L shaped bracket is screwed/silicon-ed in to the top of the wall on the roof and another bracket upside down bolted to it. A tube approx. 25mm in diam is U bolted to each sides upside down L bracket.
The Solar panels are U bolted to the 2 tubes going across the van using AL U bracelets to the Panels and U bolts to the tube.
Have a similar 2 tubes on the roof of our Landcruiser inside Pool noodles, with the round metal tubes supported by Brackets clamped onto the roof gutter
Yak Loading To load onto the Cruisers roof rack: I insert a round extension tube ( about 1.5m long, 1 m is inside a Pool Noodle)into the round tube of the rear roof rack, supported by a pole, put a clip in a hole in the extension tube to stop the pole from falling off the extension tube.
With the front of the Yak on the ground and the Yak vertical, lean the rear of the yak onto the extension tube, then lift up the front end to put on the front roof rack bar, then slide the rear of the yak off the extension, onto the roof rack and Centre the yak on the roof rack for travel. Remove the clip, pole and roof rack extension. (ditto on the other side of the vehicle for SWMBO's Yak.) Then do a Tie down.
The roof rack tubes are around 25mm in diam and covered with a pool noodles, ditto the smaller diameter extension tube.
Because your Mh roof is much higher than our Cruiser roof, I suggest after leaning the Yak against the rear extension Tube you lift the front of the yak onto the rear of a Platform, you stand on the centre/front and lift the front of the yak onto the front roof rack.
Of course to do the lift, the platform should be on Solid Ground, and YOU, FIT with Good Balance and Strong Enough to do the Lift in Windy Conditions, as well as being able to strap the Yak down to the roof racks tightly.
Note The Pole referred to above is actually a rectangular Tube with a hole to take the extension tube. The hole is the same height off the ground as the roof rack tube centre. In addition have drilled holes 8 an 16cm above and below to cater for different ground levels. The pole also has a block of wood on the ground to stop sinking into soft dirt/sand.