home brew roof rack

I'm considering tackling this project. Do any of you guys here in the ad fab area have any info to help me. pitfalls to avoid? I have material laying around and i'm a cheapskate sometimes.

I'm not an expert or anything, but I am guessing as close to the roof as you can get it would be best.

eh. its pretty straight forward.

the roof is on a curve so make sure you take that into account when measuring and building.

Personally, I would start by determining how you will be attaching it to your gutters and go from there. Keep a lid on how much and how thick your metal is and remember that less is more. Weight on your roof will affect your handling. Tubular is plenty strong and lighter than solid square stock. Look at as many racks as possible and design your own utilizing their engineering. Draw it out and show it to your buddies. They may bring up points you had not thought of. Simplify without sacrificing structural strength and you will be fine. So what if it takes two people to set it up and take it down. One friend built a combination rack (bikes,canoes and stuff) that was so heavy he had to rig up a pulley system hanging from his garage joists to lift it off and store it. Good luck and have fun.

thanks Hudson Bend, your name tells me you're out by the lake, am I right?

Check my build:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=920695&highlight=homebuilt+roof+rack

that is a nice rack racer32... definetly worth looking at

Son of a bee sting Batman.

Racer32, where do you live in Idaho? That's the kind of roof rack I need but don't wanna spend tons of $$ for a aftermarket rack! My wife would disown me.