Vintage roof racks Vs. Big canoe?

[WyoIDI]

We just bought a new canoe and it is a 17' beast that weighs in around 75lbs. My 88' grandby has what appears to be factory aluminum racks. I've never actually seen another old fwc with this style of rack with the 1" square tube welded to plates that are screwed into the roof frame with 4 screws each. Does anyone have experience with loading these old things? They are structurally sound and hold my solar panel nicely but i'm a little leery of putting Shamu on the on them. Sorry for the sideways picture, I can't seem to rotate it. Thanks

 

[buckland]

Just a heads up I had a 68 pound Old Town canoe ...either by vibration or impact.... snap the welds of the aluminum rack... yup boat came off... not pretty...but since, removed the rest of the old and installed Yakima channels and bars... wicked solid. If you are gonna go places that bounce and bang... I suggest a more robust set up in the long run.

 

[WyoIDI]

thanks, that's the kind of info i was looking for

 

[jimjxsn]

I had a FWC Ranger with the factory welded square tube rack. I carried 2 canoes on the roof without incident. You must tie the bow and stern to something other than the rack. I tied the stern to the jack attachment points and the bow to the truck. I drove from Denver to Yellowstone across that crazy Wyoming wind with no problem. Some people have attached footman loops to the top of the front wall near where the roof clips are for tying down the front.

Here is a picture carrying a canoe and kayak. Mine was a 2000 and the rack was screwed into the roof.

 

[klahanie]

I do like the idea of the load carried directly on the side walls but would want a much heavier tube wall thickness than our '97 has (have carried a similar wt/size canoe but I did insert a 1/2 pipe inside to increase the tube stiffness on ours) otherwise I think they'll be far too much flex over the span for that wt.

If you could add some supports/feet along the length to transfer some of the load onto the roof top similar to later styles like ours it would be much better imo.

sorry can't get a photo up right now ...

 

[WyoIDI]

Thanks for the info and ideas. I was envisioning our Penobscot flying down the highway in front of us after a hard brake. The cross bars are pretty flexible with even with just pressure from my hand. maybe i could wedge a cut down 2x4 under it for the entire length to support it more across the whole roof. I always tie off the bow and stern regardless of the vehicle or boat. thanks again!

 

[Old Iron]

I added Yakima risers and cross bars on my 84 Blazer model. Risers are the rain gutter type that mount to bolt on "rain gutter" plates, also produced by Yakima. Very solid. I have mounted a fully loaded Yakima hard shell travel pod on it with no problems.

 

[Jon&Sue_DeArman]

FWC's Yakima Tracks are a solid stable system in all types of road conditions except Airborne. In addition it is fairly easy raise the roof without removing the the canoe each night.