No surf today so I though I'd do a bit of waffling on about racks and locks.
I've been getting the poops about carrying 2 boards on the roof because if I want to use the bottom one, I need to unlock the straps, take off the top one, take out the bottom one, put the top one back on, put the locking strap back on, lock the strap again before I can go for a surf.
Then do everything in reverse once I'm done.
Not to mention how incredibly bad the locks are on those strap types as per the green ones in the first pic. I recall getting them in October 2010 before I went up to Woopi for a surf with Lfish and BB in November.
I think Lfish can recall me trying my hardest with WD40 in the car park of Arra to make the lock on one of them work better, to this day it still does not turn correctly, almost twists the tiny key out of shape, breaks the plastic key handle, I think these sort of straps should be avoided, if at all possible.
I've lost one of the farty little keys and have been to two locksmiths with literally hundreds of blanks to choose from and they can't find anything to match. This leads me to suspect that they are just Chinese crap.
I think even Lfish said to me at the time that he bought a set of these strap locks and they were so bad, he just gave up on them. I don't really have a choice; I've got to keep using the ones I have.
Moving onto the roofrack problem, I had some thick walled pipe at home, one with an OD of about 27mm the other one 21mm.
I cut 4 of the 27mm uprights to about 220mm long and welded small foot plates on the base, these I drill so that 8mm set screws would pass through them. These were going to be my uprights that sat on the top of the rack rails.
The 21mm OD pipe was then cut so I had 2 lengths of about 27 inches each. I then fish mouthed the ends of the 21mm lengths and welded each one between 2 of the uprights. They would be around 120mm up from the rack and would be for the bottom board to fit in. I know that almost 5 inches seems a lot for a board but you've got to remember that it would usually be the Munoz on the bottom and apart from the fact that it's very thick, you also need to take into account the big rocker on it. Not to mention the board bag and the rack protector.
The hardest part was making anchors for my Rhino Racks, they had to be made so they could fit inside the grove in the rack where the rubber insert usually sits. I think Rhino actually sell them but I made my own and drilled and taped them for 8mm bolts.
I have plenty of stainless 8mm set screws at home so the only problem was making sure they were not too long. I was also lucky enough to have an excellent long T handle 13mm socket wrench that easily went all the way down the upright pipes to secure them through the footplates and into the rack anchors.
The only other thing I needed was a rack protector for the top bar, that's where the big bucks came into the picture, for $7 I got 3 x 1500mm long foam things they use in pools. I only needed one of them and I used my hot wire cutter connected to a car battery to make the top and bottom nice and flat.
As you can see from the first pic, it all seemed to work pretty well. The total height has increased but I can easily get the top one off without disturbing the bottom one and best of all, the bottom one even comes out and the bag stays on car. It just flops down front and back like a limp old fella and I just lock the tailgate onto it to keep it safe.
I use the rubbish strap you see in the pic to tiedown and lock (if I'm lucky enough that the lock will wok) the top one but the bottom one was a problem. It doesn't really need much in the way of tiedowns but the useless strap locks are only good for the top board.
That's why you can see the white coated stainless cable around the rack in the pic, it runs back to one of those locks you put in your finbox. That's how I keep the botton board safe.
Although finbox locks have been around forever, they're usually nasty plastic Chinese ones that cost 20 bucks or so, however, this one's Australian made and all metal.
A guy at my local break designed and makes them, the alloy casting looks high quality and is done at a foundry at Smithfield in Sydney. All the rest looks to be good quality stainless. That's why I didn't worry too much about paying $99 for it.
It's relatively easy to use provided you always make sure the key is dead horizontal when you put it in or take it out, a smidgen either way and she won't budge. I've already had a spare key cut for it so there's no problem in that respect.
It will be interesting to see how well it lasts.
obct
> 9 months ago, 14 Jan 2012
cheers big ears