Kevin,

I would first take a 6-8 ft level and put it on top of the poptop and
observe how much "crown" there is up there so you can mount your
brackets without any "Doh!" incidents. I used the tall towers but not
the super tall ones. If you are going to load a lot of stuff up there
I would recommend no less than 2" clearance if you are planning to
use Yakima cross bars. They will bend little by little under a big
load and sure enough rest on the top if you don't leave enough room
under them. I use underground gas pipe for my cross bars. Its cheap
as chips, the obligatory 1.125" OD, twice as thick as the Yaki bars
and has an industrial grade, yellow-colored coating meant to resist
living underground.

I used big fender washers behind my brackets but if you can find a
semi-thrashed set of brackets on Craigslist, you could use those as
backing plates, too. Nylock nuts all around. I only have two brackets
per side so I can't really say where best to locate the other two but
I put one set over the rear wheels for making loading easier. Sounds
like you're gonna need a nice light 4 ft aluminum ladder for that load.

Jeff / 87 Syncro Westaru 2.2

On Aug 15, 2007, at 9:46 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:28:41 -0800
> From:    Kevin Turinsky <kjturinsky@MAC.COM>
> Subject: Seeking Yakima Rack Advice
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm ready to put a Yakima rack on top of the Syncro Westie. If any of
> you have any tips and/or advice, please send 'em/it my way. I don't
> want to screw this operation up. Are there better spots and worse
> spots on the sides of the pop-top to mount the Yakima brackets? How
> high should I mount the brackets? Mount 'em low to minimize the space
> underneath the rack's cross bars, or maximize it? Any special
> considerations when drilling through the fiberglass? Any unexpected
> surprises I should watch out for?
>
> FWIW, I'm planning to carry at times, not all at once of course, a
> few single bicycles, one tandem, a Yakima Space Case, several pair of
> skis, a couple kick sleds, lumber, a few sheets of plywood, a couple
> kayaks, maybe a canoe...the usual stuff.
>
> Anyway, I'm considering putting 4 Yakima rack bracket mounts on each
> side of the pop-top. I'm aiming to mount two in the rear recessed
> area and two in the forward recessed area of each side of the top.
> I'm trying to figure out which is better: Yakima's 8B Side Loader
> "Kwik Rails", or Yakima's WideBody Brackets. Reading the Yakima FAQ,
> they say that the WideBody Brackets, "extends outward more to give
> added clearance for square sided shells..." I guess this one is the
> best choice. If you think otherwise, please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin Turinsky
> '90 Syncro Westie
> Anchorage, Alaska