Kayak Rack Installation Help

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20dauntless

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I am planning on carrying two, 11 foot Ocean Kayaks with me this summer. I already have Thule J-Racks that can be used for the car so I'm planning using these on the boat. My plan is to install four, nine inch stainless handrails (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NI1EM2) horizontally on the cabin top to mount these J-Racks. These will act like cross boars on a car.

The studs on the handrails will be through bolted and backed with something, not sure exactly what yet. Would a 12" x 3" piece of 1/2" thick starboard be sufficient? Should I use stainless steel instead? Do I risk damaging the cabin top regardless of how I back it? Any other ideas?

Thanks for the help.
 
The 22' Cruiser top is already cored, so a large stainless fender washer should suffice. Be sure to apply sealant to the holes, because the coring is balsa.

Alternately, you could hog out some of the balsa, refill with epoxy and redrill the hole so that there is an epxoy barrier between the hole and the balsa.
 
Matt,

I emailed C-Dory several weeks ago to ask about coring in the cabin top. Here is part of their response, "...the hard top on your boat is solid glass. It should be ¼ to 3/8 inch thick. Thickness may very do to the use of a chopper gun to build this part..."

So, does anyone know for sure? If it is cored I will take the balsa out and replace with epoxy, but this job would be a whole lot quicker and easier if it wasn't cored.
 
Interesting- because the hard top I saw being laid up at the plant was cored. But it may not be cored in all areas.

If not cored, a backing block may be prudent, depending on the weight and forces applied to the mounts.
 
Alright, after searching through some old threads it was tough to find any type of pattern regarding which boats have core in the cabin top and which don't. These handrails will be mounted on the sections of the top that are outboard of the factory handrails. I emailed the factory again to see if they could add anything about that specific area and am waiting for a reply.

In the meantime I am going to assume that it does have core. Would Marine Tex work well for sealing the core, or is there another product that would work better? Regardless of whether or not there is core, I plan on using a backing plate.
 
Many of the C Dory products will have the center of the top (raised portion) cored and the side areas not cored-and visa versa. For example my 25 has the center not cored, and the Tom Cat cored. My recollection is that my 22 had the center area cored, like the Tom Cat...

Yes, Marine Tex can be used to line the hole in the core--especially if you route out a small amount of core.

As I understand what you are doing, most of the load will be downward on the top--not upward. I probably would make some 2" discs out of cutting boards from Wal mart--if you don't have Starboard--and put one above and one under the hand rails. I have put these hand rails on all of my C Dories as extra hand grips.

My question about how you are putting these railings on, is: will the rack clear the center of the C Dory top--or is each Kayak and its mount going to be offset to the side?
 
Thanks for the help Bob. The racks won't have to clear the top of the cabin top. Since we have the high top and a radome mounted directly to it, it would be difficult to get a rack all the way over.

Here is a quick mockup of the idea, hopefully it will be a little easier to understand than me trying to explain it.

SAM_0053_001.jpg
 
Retriever, this is the same install I have in the works on my Tomcat. After one season without a permenant rack, this should make load and unloading a breeze.

Fred
 
Fred,

Is the top of your TomCat cored? What did you do for backing plates? Any problems with stress cracks in the area of the handrails? And any pictures?

Thanks so much!
 
Even with racks I wonder what the distributed load limit would be for a 22' cruiser with a high top. I have built a set of racks and the load is transfered to the factory installed hand rails.
I have had big crab traps, kayaks, trap pullers, fishing poles, lead core line, chairs, and other plunder, but I never have thought if I was over loading the roof. I should ask the factory if the roof has ever been rated.
Big Dave.
Raven Dancer.
 
I dont know what the designed load for the roof is but i know what I have had up there. One day swinning on the lake with james and his friends I had 4 16 year old on the roof with me. So thats me at 220 + 4 x 150 or more in sugar filled teen age boys and several of these kids are bigger them me. So a total of 850 lbs at least. We were using the roof as a dive plate form. So I doubt any of you are going over that with a couple of little kayaks.
 
Tom, a picture won't post from your hard drive. Put it in your album in the Brats and try it from there.

How's the anchor windlass doing? Any luck?

Charlie
 
Retriever, I am not sure about the core. I am thinking the area to the sides of the center and out to the edge of the roof are not cored. I was hoping one of the other Tomcat owners would drill a couple test holes in their roof just for fun!!!

The kayaks are 39 pounds each, so that is 25 pounds per rail including the weight of the rack itself. This means about 12+ pounds of dead weight per hole. I know the weight for the roof is fine. The question is the working load /stress on those penetrations.

I have not started as it is still winter here. Please send help!

Fred
 
Its a video clip and its in my ablum. Maybe we cant do that?

I have not torn in to the windless yet. Too busy with work and moving my dads boat to La connor.
 
Tom, you can if it's in your album. The link is to your C Drive on your computer....

C:\Documents and Settings\tom\My Documents\My Pictures\c-dory life style 2005\recent summer2005\james birth day in 05

Charlie
 
The raised center section of the Tom Cat 255 is cored, the sides from the center to the cabin sides and lip are not cored--and are only about 1/4" thick.

Thanks---I figured that you were going to the sides of the roof. I will understand it better when I see a photo of the type of rack you are using.
 
thataway":3nkgkwza said:
The raised center section of the Tom Cat 255 is cored, the sides from the center to the cabin sides and lip are not cored--and are only about 1/4" thick.
Click to expand...

Bob, do you think the TC can support less weight on the roof than the 22 (ref. Tom's post)?

Warren
 
Fred, I think the roof is plenty strong enough for the kayaks. I'm now thinking I'll put a 12" x 3" x 1/4" Starboard backing plate on each side of each handrail and that should be sufficiently strong for the working loads. I won't get around to this for several weeks, but I'll post pictures when I do.
 
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