LaserLady said:Beware of taking advice from just anyone!! ...
Get some racks that are rated for the job.
....Alot of teenagers use TLF to "shoot the breeze" and have opinions on just about everything...for things sailing this is harmless enough, they might be good sailors, and hey try anything once, but your thread has more serious implications, would be a shame to damage such a nice vehicle, your Laser, or harm anyone in an accident! Happy travelling & sailing.
LaserLady said:Beware of taking advice from just anyone!! The advice "at 56kg, Ive seen it done, should be fine" is given without thought for the consequences to life & property if the racks let go. 56kg is over 120 lb, and a very light bare hull! Plus there is alot of windage up there at highway speeds. What would be your insurance situation if you exceed the load specifiaction and the worst happened.
Get some racks that are rated for the job.
Alot of teenagers use TLF to "shoot the breeze" and have opinions on just about everything...for things sailing this is harmless enough, they might be good sailors, and hey try anything once, but your thread has more serious implications, would be a shame to damage such a nice vehicle, your Laser, or harm anyone in an accident! Happy travelling & sailing.
I noticed this problem on my Subaru Legacy wagon (same body and racks as the Outback). I also noticed that the curvature of the cross-bars was exactly the same as the thicknes of a 2x4 piece of lumber (i.e. a 2x4 layed across the rack like a crossbar was the same height at the center as the stock Subaru crossbar). So, I cut two 2x4's just longer than the width of car and tie them to the rack using the curved crossbars as fore-aft support. This gives me two nice flat 3 1/2 inch wide crossbars to support the load (in my case a DN iceboat). Cost: almost nothing.macwas16 said:Another thing that annoyed me was that the fectory racks have a bit of curvature in them. Since a Laser's deck also has some curvature to it, the amount of boat actually touching the rack was rediculoudly little.
macwas16 said:...On another note, a great way to protect your boat is with some covers. If you don't already have some, look into picking some up to keep away those annoying rock and road debris.