Roof rack adapted to carry 4x8 sheets?

[Dan Karachio]

I'm sorry, this is a weird one. I need to carry home plywood or even drywall once in a while and I'm tired of asking my neighbor who has a truck. Nothing like being self sufficient. Meanwhile I have a (paid for) station wagon and a not inexpensive Yakima rack system for carrying bikes and kayaks. The thing certainly holds all that securely, so why not a couple of 4 x 8 sheets of plywood? I searched the web thinking someone somewhere must have sorted this out, but nothing. Seems a few clever adaptations would allow me to clamp down some wood and haul it on my own. Anyone here every made their own or know of some commercial adapters?

P.S. I know about wind and sheets like this when you try to carry things on a car without a rack (never a good idea), but it seems you could tilt the wood on the rack in some way to deal with aerodynamic forces. Also, the rack holds a 18 foot sea kayak quite sturdily, so if clamped down securely is this still a dumb idea to think about 4x8 sheets of wood?.

[Daniel Hillmer]

Suggestion:

Buy a used truck.

I have a '97 ford ranger - it's the smallest truck you can buy, it has a short and narrow bed, gets 24 MPG, and last weekend I hauled over 100 board feet of hardwood and four sheets of 3/4 inch plywood in it no problem. I just lean then in the bed they stayed in there just fine for a 100 mile trip no problem.

You could prob pick one up for under a grand.

By the way, Plywood and drywall is so heavy, I don't think you need to worry about them blowing away unless you are driving through a hurricane, or are hauling some very thin stuff. Friction between sheets helps you out too. I never have to tie down my plywood, although I do bungee in my hardwood planks.

BUT, if you really want to tie it to your roof rack, you could use these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95106


The problem with hauling plywood on your roof, plywood is very heavy, I myself would be worried about putting that much weight on my car roof that is not designed to carry that much weight. You will end up denting it unless you get some kind of really custom designed rack that will hold the weight and for that much money you can buy a truck that will haul 30 times times more.

Heck, for a grand you could probably buy an old beat up rusty ford F150 maybe a mid to late eighties, with a bed 4x8 or over, and stack sheets 20 high, haul three times what you could haul in a mini truck or a rooftop rack, and haul them all day long. Just use it to carry your lumber, and park it where your neighbors can't see it hehe.

I think for the price of a well built kind of roof top lumber rack you are looking for, it might be custom, you could buy a whole used truck!

[Brian Penning]

All you need are the straight Yakima utility crossbars, no?

BTW I think the buying a used truck isn't such a good idea -maintenance, registration, licence, insurance, fuel, etc.
If you buy lumber often enough a utility trailer would be a better idea imho.

[Daniel Hillmer]

All you need are the straight Yakima utility crossbars, no?

BTW I think the buying a used truck isn't such a good idea -maintenance, registration, licence, insurance, fuel, etc.
If you buy lumber often enough a utility trailer would be a better idea imho.

Yes that's a good point a trailer would be cheaper definitely!

[Marcus Ward]

Heh, a yakima rack can carry many sheets of plywood just fine. Find out what the rating is, I think mine is 200 lbs. Don't exceed it. Take the bike/kayak carriers off and strap it directly on the rails, you'll be fine. I do it all the time.

[John Ricci]

If you buy lumber often enough a utility trailer would be a better idea imho.

Your suggestion would be a much wiser choice Brian. I have a full size pickup as well as a utility trailer and there are times I manage to fill both at the same time.

J.R.

[Robert Eiffert]

I've carried a few sheets of thinner stuff on top of Protege 5's factory installed rack. The x-bars are closer together than bike wheelbase (we have the full length racks for bikes)

I take 4 8' 2x4s and sandwich the sheet goods between them and strap it all down with two long straps, looping under the crossbar.

No problems, at least to 45 mph.

[Matt Wolboldt]

If you're going to load it on the rack, remember the book load ratings are for both the rack and load. To help control the side you could look into gunwale brackets, which could be used for a canoe as well as side control on the sheets of plywood.
Matt

[Duncan Horner]

I had a Suzuki Sidekick once (Remember those, lightweight SUV's, made of tinfoil?)

I made a rack out of 3/4 ply, one rail each side, curved to fit into the raingutter/drain channel, flat piece across the top (4' wide) with angle brackets on the edges to line things up as I was loading.

Angle brackets were cheap and easy, and they don't really do anything after the load is strapped down.

I made two slots thru the side rails for a couple of straps for when it was empty, and coated the whole thing in spar urethane.

After loading, open the back doors, and run straps over the whole lot and ratchet tight inside the vehicle. Never ever had a problem hauling ply or sheetrock, hauled home more lumber on that rack in the two years I used it than you could imagine. But I drove slowly too lol

[Brian Kent]

I asked the same question here about a roof rack for my SUV. Check out all of the experiences and warnings:

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.p...wood+roof+rack

[Michael Pauly]

I carry lumber on my vw passat all the time using a thule rack. As others have said, you just need to be very careful on how you load it and strap it down and obviously are conscious of the weight. I always just use ratcheting tie downs for lumber, but sheet goods can be issues due to the length/width exceeding that of the rack.

I saw this aux rack on another forum that fits over your own roof rack to help secure sheet goods. Never tried to build it, but looks interesting.

Michael

[Dave Lehnert]

Hey! It works for this guy.

[John Ricci]

Hey! It works for this guy.

"On a string and a prayer"

J.R.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Dan, I'm with Marcus on this one. I've used my Yak to bring home a couple 4x8 sheets of 3/4 maple ply, no problem. I used ratcheting tie downs to make sure it didn't go anywhere and didn't have a problem, including at 55 MPH. I just took the trays off and used the load bars.

[John Gornall]

When I had a car with Thule racks I set up 2 - 4 foot 2x4's that bolted flat on top of the cross bars. I would lay sheets of plywood on these bars and then use a C clamp at the end of each 2x4 to clamp the plywood to the 2x4's. No ropes required. Hauled a lot of plywood that way - even put longer 2x4's on once and carried a 10 foot wide garage door.

Once I watched a guy with a sheet of plywood on roof racks tied on with rope when he came across a police officer directing traffic around an accident. He breaked and his car stopped but not the plywood. The plywood slid along the road to the cop that had now turned around, hit the cop right in the heels, took him off his feet and laid him down and carried him about 40 feet down the road lying neatly on the plywood. Cop was shaken up but fortunately not hurt. This event then continued in that the next vehicle which had stopped was towning a boat on a trailer. He hadn't tied the boat down. When he accelerated the winch let go and the boat stayed still. When the winch cable got to the end there was a great noise as the bow eye pulled out of the boat and the cable cracked like a wip slicing a neat slot right down the middle of his car's roof. And there was his boat sitting on the highway. So be safe - tie those loads down!

When I carry long thin stuff like mouldings on the roof racks I tie them on with electrical tape - a few wraps pulled tight and it's not moving. At home I cut it off. Buy the bulk packs of cheap tape at the borg and keep it under the car seat.