I have these towers too.  I originally bought them to do it without
drilling for my bike and I had planned on putting then above the luggage
rack.  My plan was tha the bikes could sit there and the top could still
go up and down.

I was totally excited when I put them on and everything looked great.  I
then went to shut my drivers side door and the clearance wasn't for the
door to shut without fiddling with it.  So, I put the racks above the
poptop and left them there for a while.  I finally drilled the holes and
my rack is now bolted to the roof.

b

On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, wolfgang wrote:

> I just wanted to let the list know about my roof rack solution.  I
> know the subject comes up sometimes, but I've never seen this
> answer.
>
> I had put a Yakima rack on an 89 Westy by using the drill+bolt-on
> fake raingutters.  Carried three whitewatewr kayaks no problem
> many, many times.  But it's too hevay to lift the top with the load
> on.
>
> So when I got my next Westy, I decided that drilling wasn't the
> answer.  If I had to take the boats down to lift the top, it was no big
> deal to remove the rack too.  So I went looking at all the systems
> from the two big manufacturers, Yakima and Thule.
>
> Yakima made no rack towers that could attach to the real
> raingutters that would clear the top.  Even the 1A Hi-rise towers,
> which barely clear the roof at the top, won't clear the sides of the
> top.
>
> So I looked at Thule. Their fit-list book, like Yakima, said the
> Westy needed the bolt-on artificial raingutters.  I told the dealer
> forget the book, I wanted to do visual fits.  Thule made a hi-rise
> tower too.  I tried it but no dice.  But then I saw a super-high-rise
> tower.  Dealer said it won't work.  I said I don't care I want to try it.
> It cleared the top with good room to spare, and cleared the sides
> by a half-inch.  So I bought them.  Work great.  Only downside is
> that the racks must come off before popping.  I initially thought that
> if I mounted the leading rack forward of the poptop, then I only need
> to remove one.  But then the load extended out over the front
> windshield.  This is great to get the visual warm-fuzzy feeling that
> your gear is still there, but it acts as a air scoop pushing up on the
> boat, so I chose to mount further back.
>
> I think the extra trouble is worth it to save myself from the extra worry.
>
> If you're interested, the part is "953 - Super High Foot Gutter".
>
> I can also send digital pics of my installation.  Maybe I'll put them on a
> web site.
>