My Surf Rack

General Discussion
1

This is the set up I got - I think the other thread was getting too big and I could use any advice on how to tie these things down.

I got a pic of the surfrack and the straps. I couldnt find heavy duty straps with a decent clamp, so I got light duty ones. Since they’re only holding 2 boards a side, I figured it would work.

only prob is I’m not certain I have enough room for my boards. Once I glue the pipes down and stuff I am gonna take a few pics of the actual boards on them and “tied down”

Doc, I saw your drawing on the other thread, hook me up with how you would tie these down to this rack :smiley:

Bryan

http://photos.yahoo.com/surfsurfsurfsc

2

Awright, a few things…

First off, while you can have the strongest straps in the world on there, the question then becomes just how well are those racks fastened in??

What do ya do? Hop up into the back of the truck and do your damndest to pull the racks loose. Pull, tug, kick, etc. Put it this way, if you can get anything to loosen up or break by pulling on it or beating on it, etc, then it’s gonna happen in use and you’re gonna have racks, likely with boards still connected, flying up, up and awaaaay into traffic. Not only will they get thrashed, you’re likely to kill somebody. Let’s say you have a board on each side - well, it’s not straight and it’s not perfectly in line witht he airflow. There’s gonna be a lot of pressure on the thing. The pressures, pulls, etc, at 30 MPH are quadrupled at 60 MPH. Take it up to 90 MPH, not unusual for saome of the biggest interstates, and you have 8, that’s eight, times the pressure, pull, etc on that rack. I’d like to have a closer look at how those fasten into the truck bed.

Here’s another one - hook that ratchet strap ( link to the pic) up between the forward and back horizontal members and take up on it, hard. Things starting to creak a little? How strong are those racks? You got four boards on there, figure it as a minimum of around $1000 US replacement cost, let’s be real careful with 'em.

Straps - I’m not crazy about ratchet straps like the one in the pic. Why? 'Cos of two things, they can crush boards if the ratchet isn’t sitting on the board just right : it’s gonna push those metal edges right into the glass - ding city. Or if they are maxed out, pulling as hard as they can, they can crush things. I use straps like that, yes, but only for tying down stuff on trailers, say machinery

Here’s what you want, or at least a show-and-tell model of it:

Here’s another pic, with the strap run through

Note the heavy strap, serious cam-locking buckle ( in black, always in fashion) and the pad ( in this case I used a piece of Sunbrella acrylic canvas) that keeps the buckle from scratching or damaging the board or whatever is underneath. I should note that it took longer to scan the thing than it did to make it. The strap wants to be nearly 1/8" by 1" wide, the buckle shouldn’t feel flimsy. There should be what’s called a box-and-cross stitch pattern ( the one I made there is cheezy but strong enough ) .

Get four of them, one pair for each side, front and back. Do just like the other illustration in the other thread, and you’ll be fine.

hope that’s of use

doc…


3

The racks are drilled into the side/bed of my truck using a base. I cant pull them out to save my life - I tried already. They’re in pretty tight. I’m going to put a screw in between the connecter of the base and the pipe so that I can remove the screw and pull the pipe out - I think that’s the best idea there.

The straps I have wont work? I was praying you wouldnt say that. We went looking all last night for straps and its the only thing we were able to find.

Bryan

4

Ah, good, you tested 'em already. That always gives me the willies, when I see somebody come into the shop, want to rent one of the better ( fiberglass/foam, not spongies ) boards and hold it on with something that’s a little less than super-rugged.

You can use those straps, just be careful about tightening them up. They have a few quirks.

See, you have to be careful- the buckles on the straps are prolly something like this:

Here’s what you want to do:

Don’t just run the strap into the slot ( along that pink/purple arrow) and then start ratcheting away , instead pull it nearly all of it through with maybe a half inch or so of slack, so that as the ratchet mechanism takes up the slack it’s not making a great roll of strap material, it’s just wrapping just enough around the slotted whatzit there to make it snug. If you have a lot of strap material wrapped around there it can jam, not tighten enough and loosen up suddenly ( and catastrophicly ) , which is why I don’t like that variety of strap particularly.

Be sure that there is a pad under the buckle itself ( like that blue outline) , you can see that the metal where the other end of the strap ( purple) attaches is kinda narrow and under tension it could push into things. Then, just run the strap under the rack cross-member, over the board, under the cross-member, over the board, pass the strap through the buckle and tighten it up.

Reminds me, I gotta get some of the Monster Ratchets 'cos the guy I work with needs more to lash down lumber. Those are quite something: used with 2" nylon webbing to lash stuff down to a trailer with we regularly haul several tons of sawmill lumber a couple hundred miles at freeway speeds. And it doesn’t move a-tall.

hope that’s of use

doc…


5

The Racks dont come out now matter how hard I pull them, but they do creak a bit. And there is some slight movement - I’m pretty sure that’s gonna be there no matter what tho. The screws go through my bed cover and then into my bed, so there is going to be sme slight play there.

6

after you attach the boards to the rack I’d suggest using another strap to the boards and rack to the bed of the truck somehow. That way if the rack does come loose, a rack pipe comes loose, or breaks then atleast your boards and rack will hopefull stay with the truck.

good luck

–4est

7

Doc’s right about strapping boards down correctly. My ding repair biz has shown that lashing too tight and in the wrong places will really flex and stress a board. Most of the stress cracking along the stringer comes from transporting more than riding. Stacking boards incorrectly can also damage since the rocker gets flattened when strapped down tight enough to hold it. On the racks, make sure that the pipe pieces are connected together permanently, and use bolts/lockwashers/nuts to attach them to the bed. Big sheetmetal screws into the inner bed wall won’t work. Here’s a description of my removeable system: Got a Toyota compact double cab with a 5 ft bed and use one of those swing-down aluminum cage things to extend the bed to about 6 1/2 ft (with the tailgate down). I added a pipe covered with foam insulation to the top of the cage so I can put 2 boards side by side. The pipe is short enough to still allow the cage to swing back into the bed when not in use. At the front behind the cab, I got one of those jackscrew type cargo bars from Harbor Freight (or any auto supply). That bar is covered with 2 pieces of pipe insulation with loop of web strap and a D-ring between to allow separate hold-down straps for each board. Just copy the setup from a double roof rack bar at your surf shop. Get 1" web straps, rings, and tension buckles at a marine supply or camping store and machine sew them up. If the fittings are plastic, make sure they’re strong ones and check them periodically for cracks. Always put a pad under the tension buckles or sew a wider piece of webbing to the strap like Doc’s photo. I strap the boards (independently) at the rear using the tie-down points inside the bed by the tailgate. If you’re going to stack boards, use pieces of thick pipe insulation between them. This rack arrangement keeps the boards behind the cab out of the upper airstream, and still allows about 18" high of cargo space underneath. I carry 4 longboards and regularly drive 80 mph on the freeway using this without problems. Sorry for such a long explanation and no pictures. Good luck

8

Wow, Pete, if I could write descriptions that well, I wouldn’t need pictures. But, just for the hell of it

Among the many nice things about the setup Pete is describing is that while it’s very solid, very rugged and all, it’s also quickly removable, you haven’t made your pickup into a surfboard carrier and only a surfboard carrier, which really ticks off the Significant Other when she wants to go get something at the Agway.

The only things I can add to what Pete said are;

Use #92 or heavier dacron or bonded polyester sail thread to do the sewing. #92 is about as heavy a thread as most home sewing machines can handle, requires a # 18 or 110 size needle. #138 ( the next size up) uses a #20. You can get away with #69 but double the stitching. The dacron sail thread ( I like the Dabond sail thread made by Heminway and Bartlett ) holds up better in the weather than most anything else, usually has a UV protectant in it.

Use the longest straight stitch the machine will do, 1/4" is good.

Scrap neoprene, as in wetsuit-type neoprene, makes great strap pads. Though it can be tricky to machine sew, a long zig-zag is best. Though the wider strap material is even better. Thanks, Pete, I hadn’t thought of that.

You don’t want the buckles to be landing on or scrunching on the rails, so size your straps accordingly. Less than the width of your narrowest board.

If you use plastic fittings, check 'em every time and if one looks like it’s starting to go, replace all of 'em.

If noplace local has the stuff, I have had good service and good prices from www.strapworks.com .

Thanks again, Pete.

Best regards

doc…