In a message dated 97-04-21 19:17:54 EDT, cdouglas@proaxis.com (Chet Douglas)
writes:

> Why not buy a decent Thule or Yakima and mount it vertically on the 
>  back?? I have seen alot of people do this.  Then you can take advantage 
>  of all of the other attachments for those racks....

You say that like you can just look up "Vanagon rear hatch" in the Thule or
Yakima book and buy one.  Not the case.  Any solution like this is going to
require a bit of thought and work on the owner's part.  I've got a bunch of
Thule racks and parts & I've toyed around with this idea for some time and
haven't come up with a solution I like yet.  Mounting the main rails side to
side is a problem because the rack would tend to slide down and the sides of
the top of the hatch are not parallel.  Mounting top-to-bottom baiscally
hangs all the weight on the top of the hatch through 1 pair of mounts - a
condition these mounts were not designed for.  More elaborate means can be
used for mounting, but this requires cutting and bending of the bars, etc...

Do you have any specific solutions to suggest on how to accomplist this
"Thule-or-Yakima-on-the-rear-hatch"  thing?

Regards,
Jim Davis
87 GL Syncro
88 GL Wolfsburg