Roof Bar Fixings

[munroman]

Hi Folks, I have had a AFT Bongo for about a year now, and wanted to share an idea I had, and get your opinions of it.

I occasionally use an Open (Canadian) Canoe, so I wanted to be able to carry it on the roof. I couldn't afford fancy roof bars, so I looked about for what I could make for 'not a lot'.
I had a VW camper before, and it came with plates on the roof, which mimicked the profile of old style car roof gutters.
These then enabled the fitting of roof bars for cars with gutters, which simply clamp onto the plates.
I found some Aluminium angle and made up plates, which I then fitted to the Bongo in a few minutes.

As the Bongo roof is much narrower than the VWs, standard car bars fitted, I paid £20 new for mine, but I have seen them at Car Boot sales, or in Free Ads papers for anything from £1 upwards, or you may have some lying in the shed already!
These plates worked great, I also used the bars to carry Ladders, wood, etc, but when I wanted to carry a roof box it was a pain having to drill holes to move the fixing points.
I then made up a longer version, with I long rail on each side, so that the roof bars could be slid to the correct position.

The bars are easy to fit and remove, I'm about 6' and I can fit them by reaching up, and they can be easily stored inside the Bongo, helping to save fuel and cut down noise.

I was surprised how much the Aluminium Rail cost, but the price comes down with volume. I would estimate that I could get a kit made up of the 4 plates, along with Stainless Steel washers and bolts for about £20, and the long rail version for about £30. In total this would mean a set of bars fitted from about £20 ( If you have a spare set), up to about £60.

As other solutions are much more expensive would this be on interest to anyone? As there would need to be quite a lot of Rail ordered to get the price break, it would be good to know your thoughts!

I have put pictures up for you information. Thanks!

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/munroskh/ ... ailFixings#

[Dicky&Dawn]

Hi Munroman,

Your idea seems a practical and simple approach to the issue of locating the roof bars according to the load you are trying to carry. I also have a canadian canoe plus kayaks that we have managed to attach to roof bars in the standard AFT fittings, but now we need to mount a roof box and the internal fittings just aren't long enough (front to back) without adding more holes in my roof box which I really want to avoid.

I am no handyman so buying strips of aluminium and then trying to bend it to shape is clearly out of the question but I suspect you are intending sourcing the materials and having an engineering shop do the fabrication ?

One other question, is aluminium strong enough to be used for the "gutter rails" ? In the case of a canadian canoe, the boat is held at either end of the van using rope, so the stress on the roof bars is less because the rope is acting against the wind on the boat itself. In the case of a roof box, wind on the box could cause the box to pull on the roof bars which in turn adds stress to the aluminium gutter rails. As you have not stated the dimensions of the aluminium its unclear if this is an issue or not. Anyway, please fill in the gaps above and lets see if you get more feedback from other members as well.

Br

Dicky&Dawn

[dandywarhol]

Neat, simple job

[Yamaha]

I'm just dubious how secure the mounting points on the AFT actually are? At least one of mine seem to be a bit loose - does anyone know if they are actually stepped into the roof so they can't pull out?

Judging by mine, I would not be happy attaching much to them, or am I worrying unduly?

Mike

[bongolow]

I'm just dubious how secure the mounting points on the AFT actually are? At least one of mine seem to be a bit loose - does anyone know if they are actually stepped into the roof so they can't pull out?

Judging by mine, I would not be happy attaching much to them, or am I worrying unduly?

Mike

They are held with a nut underneath and some gooey 'gunk'. It needs to be tightened or the nut will eventually come off, as did one of mine (fortunately I spotted it in the roof space). I would suggest you remove them all and re-fit with some fresh sealant and some Locktite on the threads. You can just about get at the nuts with the roof up.

Note - they just go through the plastic of the roof, not through any metal, so personally I would be wary of putting anything very heavy on them. I have carried a roof box full of gear without any problems though (once I'd tightened them..!)

[munroman]

Hi Folks - a few replies to questions.

Dicky+Dawn - The aluminium material is a 6036 T6 'L' shaped extrusion, 3.17mm thick. This is the same material as is used for building modular machines, windows, etc.
The fixing hardware is High Tensile stainless steel, I use large washers under the bolt to spread any loads further. On the long rail the rear fixing hole would be slightly slotted, as I believe that there can be a slight variation between roofs.

I made up initial samples with 1.5mm aluminium, as can be bought at DIY stores, and this worked fine, but felt flimsy. The new extrusion is much stiffer, though, like some other Bongo rails, I would recommend using a PU adhesive like Adflex or Tigerseal to be used, as the long rail flexes slightly, the adhesive just stops this tapping on the roof at speed- it took me a while to work out what was happening. The short plates just bolts straight on.

dandywarhol- "Neat, simple job " I am flattered - I'm not an engineer, but my Mum was! I did wonder if it could really be so simple- but the gutter brackets are standard fare for VW campers, and the fixing points in the roof are made just for such a use! The main pain has been sourcing the extrusion.

Yamaha - the roof fixings screw onto a flat headed bolt underneath-this has a broad head to spread the load. The Bongo roof is pretty tough, and so long as everything is regularly checked for security, I have never had a problem with mine carrying roof boxes, ladders or canoes, and i know that many people have carried roof boxes etc without a problem.

[Dicky&Dawn]

Thanks Munronman.

I think I will give your idea a bash. Just need to source the materials and hopefully my roof box woes will be history

Will let you know how I get on.

Br

Dicky & Dawn

[rondor]

To stop wind noise on roof bars I use length of guttering fixed to front one with spring clips rivited
on so it can be removed, same as wind slammer on car & caravan (but cheaper)

[rondor]

To stop wind noise on roof bars I use length of guttering fixed to front one with spring clips rivited
on so it can be removed, same as wind slammer on car & caravan (but cheaper)

sorry about that should have said rain gutter

[paulmorgan]

I've just done the same thing myself - thought I'd had an original thought, was about to post and then found this topic so I thought I'd add a bit more detail.

With most roof boxes I've seen the bars need to be closer together than the 120cm spacing of the mounting points in the AFT so I went for 130cm long 'gutter rails' so I can slide the roof bars to wherever I want. The pics from munroman look more like he's gone for 140cm and can hence go a bit further back - that might be better.

I was worried about the aluminium flexing so I went for a 1/4" thick 'L' extrusion, 2" wide x 1" high from clickmetal.com:

http://www.clickmetal.co.uk/Angle-Types ... /p-16-1-3/

£11.50 for each 130cm length, so less than £30 including postage - arrived next day. Nice and chunky.

Drill two 10mm holes in each rail, centrally, 120cm apart - a quick de-burr with a file and you're done.

M8 20mm flange-head bolts and 8 penny washers (two below the rail at each fixing point) - I got from an eBay seller

Job done - a really easy way to get use out of cheap old roof bars - I managed to get my Thule set for 0.99p!

I also bought a 'Purpleline Stowaway' roof-bag - seemed to be a bargain at £39.99 posted from an ebay dealer (still some out there at that price), quality seems good, a lot cheaper than RRP and the Thule Ranger one... might now be able to transport all of our camping kit....