Redneck Roof Rack Rails

There is not much to this instuctable, but hope it was worth sharing.

I needed to carry a long ladder outside the car, but I don't have any cross rails for my fixed car mounted roof racks.

A quick Google search revealed prices of $75-$350 for a set of rail to fit.

I went to look for a couple of pieces of scrap wood laying around my place, but none of the short ones were long enough, and it seemed a waste to cut down the really long ones.

I did find a 3 metre long piece of 25mm (1") PVC pipe sitting outside in my pile of junk (as can be seen by the amount of dirt on the pipe).

I cut it into 3 x 1 metre pieces, and used 2 zip ties on each end in a cross pattern to hold the pipe to the rails (12 ties in total for the 3 rails).

With the zip ties tight I could not move the pipe in any direction.

Job done.

Note: I could have used more zip ties or u-bolts for safety, but as I lashed the ladder mostly to the fixed rails, I didn't feel it was necessary, as the rails were really only keeping the ladder off the roof. I did a 100Km round trip without any issues or slippage. On my return, I removed the zip ties and was easily back to normal.

Comments

[pfred2]

I'm surprised those tubes didn't start singing on the top of your roof. I've been in a car with open end square tube roof racks and those things were whistling like wild. We had to stop and stuff rags into the tubes to get them to stop making noise. It was driving us a bit batty after a while.

[petestrash]

You're right. No issues the first trip, but with crosswinds on the next they were singing. a bit of tape on the ends fixed it.

[scarecreaux]

The true difference between "redneck" and the elegance of a spontaneous stroke of genius is clipping the ends off flush after the zip ties are in place....lol

[petestrash]

true, but a redneck can reuse the zip ties afterwards, so better not clipped.

[seamster]

Glad you made it back safely without anything falling off the roof!

I personally wouldn't trust zip ties in this situation, even for a short trip . . . but that's me! :)

[petestrash]

Yeah true, but in reality the way I tied the ladder to the fixed rails, the PVC probably wouldnt have moved even without zip ties.

[seamster]

I see! So the PVC was just kind of squished in there holding the ladder, which was basically tied to the side rails. Hey, if it works it doesn't have to be pretty!