Any Creative Fabicators?

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ctwo
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Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by ctwo »

Hey All,

I have an oddball project - to build a roof rack for my car to carry a small aluminum fishing boat. Commercial solutions run just shy, and are quite expensive.

I've attached a pic of where I am and a commercial mounting illustration. I've annotated that with my idea - another angle bracket with a bolt or allthread to tighten the clamp. Hopefully the illustration says more than that. Think it will work, or any other suggestions?

I'm using steel because I am TIG challenged. :lol:
Attachments
roof-mount-20180614_185057.jpg
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ctwo
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by ctwo »

This is where I am. I bought some FUZE IT liquid nails adhesive to fill in the gaps and adhere a rubber pad in place of the towel. I'll put saran wrap down to protect squeezage from the paint...

Any ideas?
Attachments
car-rack-20180625_053846.jpg
Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
DavidF
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by DavidF »

Any ideas?
Buy a trailer!! :lol:
Seriously though, I used to car top a small boat. The car was not one I was worried about damaging but life was alot better once I bought a trailer. The loading and unloading tying it down and other nonsense (like need two people to get it on the car) went bye byes once I got a trailer.
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ctwo
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by ctwo »

I'd need something to tow it with. My little Camry will, but I was looking under the back at towing options. Not much there to bolt to and I bet the factory or aftermarket, if one exists, tow kit is not cheap. I was looking at complete boat trailer package for $1500. I have a trailer I could dig out of the dirt, rebuild the axle and suspension, new wheels. It has a crazy suspension design - tube in tube with rubber and two trailing arms [. I'm afraid the inside tube that the wheels are connected to will break loose and rotate so the trailer hits the ground.
Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
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Harold_V
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by Harold_V »

ctwo wrote: Wed Jun 27, 2018 2:29 pm It has a crazy suspension design - tube in tube with rubber and two trailing arms [. I'm afraid the inside tube that the wheels are connected to will break loose and rotate so the trailer hits the ground.
I can't address the longevity of that design, but I can assure you that it works well. I was trained at Sperry Utah Engineering Laboratories, in Salt Lake City, Utah. They held the contract for R&D for the Sergeant Guided Missile. They were also awarded the production contract. The (mobile) launchers were built with that design of suspension. I spent many days machining huge forged 4140 hubs for the axles. For the launcher, the tubes were not round, but square, with a length of rubber inserted in the voids formed when the tubing was assembled with the inner tube rotated 45°. With that design, it is impossible for the tubes to rotate unless rubber is removed.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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ctwo
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by ctwo »

Harold, it is unfathomable to me that my 50+ year old retail boat + trailer would be considered in the context that you state. I will acknowledge that the designs and mfg of past is far superior than what we have today. I am thrilled to have such old-school American tradition here, and would love to preserve that. I had planned on restoring this and this helps motivate.
Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
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warmstrong1955
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by warmstrong1955 »

Just a thought....
I had a car-top carrier, back when car-tops had gutters.... The clippy-doos that hooked to the gutter were rubber dipped....until the rubber peeled off a couple of them. I sanded the steel to where it was shiny, and gave them about 3 or 4 coats with rubberized undercoating. That regular stuff you get in spray cans at the auto part stores.
I let 'em cook a few days in the Arizona sun before I used the thing again. Never left any black marks, and that was on a white roof....of an International Scout of all things...

Might be worth a try, in those places you can't contact cement some neoprene to.
:)

Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
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BadDog
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by BadDog »

I had a car trailer with a similar axle setup. It was a few decades ago, but as I recall it used 4 rubber rods that resisted the axial movement. The hubs were offset on lever arms about 12" or so. And the outer sleeve was mounted such that it could rotate axially relative to the trailer. It also had a fairly modest hydraulic cylinder connected to a lever arm on that outer sleeve for both axles. The net effect was that with the hubs rotated down about 30* the trailer had good clearance and towed very well with the rubber rods providing plenty of suspension movement. But when you needed to load something, you use the cylinder to rotate the axles so the hub arms are up about 30* (maybe 45*? don't recall) and the deck was practically flat on the ground. I easily loaded and hauled several very low vehicles without issue where you would normally have a heck of a time with long nose overhangs (like my lowered Corvette with rigid chin spoiler) and high-center problems as you crest over the typical ramps onto the deck. And the local guy that does reasonable machine tool rigging has a much beefier version that does the same thing, making it really easy to use a hand fork and/or pallet jack to load and unload top heavy stuff like turret mills and drill presses. He picked up and delivered my big vertical band saw using it. So while it's not the norm, it's far from uncommon.
Russ
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warmstrong1955
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by warmstrong1955 »

I have seen what Russ is talking about. Friend of mine had a 12 foot box trailer set up that way. It was part of a rental fleet...like U-Haul, that went bankrupt years ago, but I don't remember the name. I helped him put some wheel bearings in it, but we never messed with the suspension, which appeared to last longer than the wheel bearings...


Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
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ctwo
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by ctwo »

I think too far gone.
Attachments
trailer01-20180627_190213.jpg
trailer02-20180627_190313.jpg
Standards are so important that everyone must have their own...
To measure is to know - Lord Kelvin
Disclaimer: I'm just a guy with a few machines...
John Hasler
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by John Hasler »

Looks salvageable. It's only for a boat. Paint it red and put it up on Craig's List.
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Harold_V
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Re: Any Creative Fabicators?

Post by Harold_V »

Without the square tubing, I can see your concern about slippage. Not quite the same setup the launcher had.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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