ERMB's D-I-Y Rack System Build

You could repair it with fiberglass. At the very least I would sand it and put some epoxy in there to keep it from getting worse.

 

Yakety Yak! Made a quick and dirty kayak rack tonight. I still want to make a crossbar for the front, but the maiden voyage is tomorrow morning. Let's hope they float.

 

Quick question!
I'm building a rack for a DIY trailer I'm making and I was wondering if there is anything extra I have to add so that the bolts don't become loose because of road vibration.
Thread locker?
Lock washer?
Other?

Thank you

 

Nord locks! Any of the such would probably be a good idea.

 

Just got all the material. My shell had NO tracks so I was planning on using unistrut to make tracks

is 4 1/4” bolts per track enough to attach the tracks to the shell?

On my shell I pretty much have to go through the honeycomb reinforced section.

 

Done

seems pretty sturdy, but the middle bars that don’t have a support on them definitely flex. Couldn’t imagine standing on it.

anyone else’s do this?


do you guys trust a RTT up here?

 

I've had hundreds of pounds of Lumber on mine on many, many occasions which is I what I originally built mine for. I don't think you would have much of an issue with an RTT. One thing I might suggest if you do the RTT is to try to tie in your inner roof support to your bedside rail. The weight of the RTT is distributed pretty well across the bars, but when you stand on them which I've done, they do bend but your stepping on a singular point with your full body weight.

 

I re did it with longer tracks and supports on every bar. Super solid how. Had some trouble getting the track holes sealed but should be okay now

 

Long process and I’m not sure I’m done. Hauls a lot of camping gear so far like this and held up great!

 

@anthony250f the rack looks great! I'm on a budget and am planning to make a rack w the unistrut. Did you drill through the sides of the unistrut to mount the side panels? And did you get the side panels shaped like that or have to cut yourself?

 

I did drill through the sides. I used short bolts instead of long, so the nut is inside the unistrut. I got a 12’ stick of aluminum and cut it in half and then shaped the Ed’s with a grinder. Very easy to do.

 

I like your rack setup. I don't know if I missed it, but where did you get the tacks for the mounting rails to your shell?

 

The tracks are actually just unistrut

 

Awesome builds! Great idea! Thanks for sharing all. One question though.

Does anyone have problems with whistling or excessive noise at highway speed or any speed from the unistrut rack?

Hopefully the holes are large enough in the unistrut to avoid this. Can anyone confirm this? Probably gonna build one for my topper. Happy New Year!

 

Zero noise

 

Anyone use these as feet for their rack?

$41 Genuine Unistrut Brand P1047-EG 5 Hole "U" Shaped Connector Bracket for All 1-5/8" Strut Channel

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Unistrut-P1047-EG-Connector-Bracket/dp/B00IASG7BA

 

I don't think I ever got a picture of it, but I used some just attach 2 pieces of unistrut like crossbars to my cap roof tracks.

 

I think I'm going to have to go your route since my topper doesn't have any tracks. Did you follow the rest of OP's design? Any tips/tricks for getting the holes sealed?

 

I did follow OP for the most part, however I had to add mounts to every crossbar. Took a few tries to get the tracks sealed, had to use more silicone than I would have thought

 

Have been working on this the last few weeks. Still need to paint the aluminum sides but it started to rain last night.