Proof of strength of roofbar mounts & Karitek...
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:52 pm
A couple of days before my Bongo turned 100,000 miles I chose to celebrate the fact by attempting a quick release removal of the roofbars with the assistance of the Corran ferry 
I have a Karitek Easy-load system mounted on bespoke bars for carrying the canoes & this sticks out a fair bit on each side - with the lifting handle on it actually extends (well it did!) slightly beyond the width of the drivers wing mirror. All would have been well except for a couple of bits of pipework sticking out of the side of the ferry at the critical height - they were above head height, so really not very obvious from the drivers seat. that's my defence anyway
As I drove slowly onto the car deck the lifting handle of the rack collided with the bits of pipework, making a very unpleasant sound! The end result was that the handle was ripped off the rack, & both roof bars were bodily shifted back by almost 10mm on the drivers side. Fortunately Geoff at Karitek had designed the base bars so that they were bolted into the roof via long bolts passing through the bar itself, rather than short bolts through flanges at the base of the bars, as is normal. This meant that the bolts were able to bend & probably saved the mountings from being ripped out of the roof. Even so it's testament to the strength of the Mazda mountings, despite their apparant flimsiness. Oh, the damaged rack still carried the boat home quite securely & even unloaded normally despite the distortion.
I spent a couple of hours in Kariteks workshop this morning, while we replaced the bolts & Geoff modified the rack (we chopped the damaged bit off) so that it's narrower on the vehicle, but will still take a pair of open canoes side by side. He also modified the lifting handle, so that the whole rack assembly sits inside the width of the wing mirrors & is less vulnerable to catching pipework, trees etc. For this work, plus a new lifting handle he charged me the princely sum of £30 - on his day off! Really impressed with the Karitek service. If anyone else is thinking of ordering a 1.9m Karitek rack, it might be worth taking to me first, since it's worth getting a modified version for the Bongo.
Unfortunately, during its bid for freedom, the handle whacked the side of the AFT at the rear & cracked the roof. It doesn't seem to have any structural impact, so next stop is the local chandlers for some fibreglass, resin & gelcoat. And then pray for a couple of days of dry weather.
I know that the actuall material that the AFT is made of has been the subject of some debate on the forum in the past. For what it's worth Geoff had the opportunity to have a good look at the damaged area (He also has a lot of experience in the repair of sea kayaks etc). He reckons that the roof isn't fiberglass as we usually know it, but is an injection moulding using some form of plastic loaded with fibreglass fibres & gel-coated on both sides. A similar method, using nylon laced with fibreglass is used to injection mould kayak blades. In practical terms however it can be treated as fibreglass from the point of view of repair.
Think I'll design a BIG sticker for the top of the windscreen reminding me to look upwards, backwards & outwards!!
Rhod
I have a Karitek Easy-load system mounted on bespoke bars for carrying the canoes & this sticks out a fair bit on each side - with the lifting handle on it actually extends (well it did!) slightly beyond the width of the drivers wing mirror. All would have been well except for a couple of bits of pipework sticking out of the side of the ferry at the critical height - they were above head height, so really not very obvious from the drivers seat. that's my defence anyway
As I drove slowly onto the car deck the lifting handle of the rack collided with the bits of pipework, making a very unpleasant sound! The end result was that the handle was ripped off the rack, & both roof bars were bodily shifted back by almost 10mm on the drivers side. Fortunately Geoff at Karitek had designed the base bars so that they were bolted into the roof via long bolts passing through the bar itself, rather than short bolts through flanges at the base of the bars, as is normal. This meant that the bolts were able to bend & probably saved the mountings from being ripped out of the roof. Even so it's testament to the strength of the Mazda mountings, despite their apparant flimsiness. Oh, the damaged rack still carried the boat home quite securely & even unloaded normally despite the distortion.
I spent a couple of hours in Kariteks workshop this morning, while we replaced the bolts & Geoff modified the rack (we chopped the damaged bit off) so that it's narrower on the vehicle, but will still take a pair of open canoes side by side. He also modified the lifting handle, so that the whole rack assembly sits inside the width of the wing mirrors & is less vulnerable to catching pipework, trees etc. For this work, plus a new lifting handle he charged me the princely sum of £30 - on his day off! Really impressed with the Karitek service. If anyone else is thinking of ordering a 1.9m Karitek rack, it might be worth taking to me first, since it's worth getting a modified version for the Bongo.
Unfortunately, during its bid for freedom, the handle whacked the side of the AFT at the rear & cracked the roof. It doesn't seem to have any structural impact, so next stop is the local chandlers for some fibreglass, resin & gelcoat. And then pray for a couple of days of dry weather.
I know that the actuall material that the AFT is made of has been the subject of some debate on the forum in the past. For what it's worth Geoff had the opportunity to have a good look at the damaged area (He also has a lot of experience in the repair of sea kayaks etc). He reckons that the roof isn't fiberglass as we usually know it, but is an injection moulding using some form of plastic loaded with fibreglass fibres & gel-coated on both sides. A similar method, using nylon laced with fibreglass is used to injection mould kayak blades. In practical terms however it can be treated as fibreglass from the point of view of repair.
Think I'll design a BIG sticker for the top of the windscreen reminding me to look upwards, backwards & outwards!!
Rhod