Canoe carrying wannabes,

Alright, enough amaturish chatter, take it from some one who really knows.

Foam blocks, They are a no-no unless you are taking your canoe home from 
the store to put it in the lake.  No interstate canoe hauler woul ever 
use the foam blocks since they offer no side to side stability for the 
boat.  I know of more than one instance where the boat slid off the side 
and into the passenger or driver side door. This is especially true if 
you don't know your knots.!

If you want some decent racks look into Yakima at your local outdoor 
store.
You can get fake gutters that fit nicely onto the fiberglass walls of 
your westy.
Be sure to make a large aluminium back plate to releive any stress from 
mounting the screws aginst the fiberglass.

Also, If you are dead set against drilling into the fiberglass, you can 
get rack extenders that will allow you to mount directly on the metal 
raingutters.
I don't recommend this if you are popping the top on your westy.  You 
will have to remove the racks each time you want to lift the thing.

As far as "Raising the Scud Launcher", well that is what we call it with 
the top popped and two kayaks on the westy, you can do that to.

I am sure the engineers at vw didn't plan for it but here are the 5 year 
test limits we have seen.

1. 2 kayaks mounted side by side, no gear in the boats. 80 lb max
2. 1 canoe, no gear in the boat, placed in the center. 80 lb max

Note when raising the pop-top. Open the side door.  This relieves the 
vacuum created.
You must lift the top evenly. It could involve 2 people if you aren't 
strong or short.

Note when lowering the pop-top. Close all doors and windows.
You will find that the opposite effect works great to slow down the 
decent of the pop-top.

You may find this to seem somewhat crazy, but I travel with 4-5 busses 
and we have all come to the same conclusions.

Enjoy.

>For "absolutely-no-drilling" types you can carry a canoe on your
>pop top Westy by tying it in the front and back and using canoe
>carrying foam blocks. The blocks attach to the rim of the canoe.
>
>So where to tie it in the back you may ask? The answer is: the rear
>hatch. With the hatch open loop a line around each of the hinges.
>Tie down the canoe rear between the hinges. (In the front use
>the Westy luggage rack tiedowns of course)
>
>About pop top mounted racks: I'm sceptic to mounting false
>gutters on the front of the pop top. Consider that the only thing
>holding the top down in the front on the late Westy's is the
>center latch. Forces applied to the side of the top is going to
>cause considerable bending tensions on the top.
>
>However I do like the idea of having a rack wich allows the
>pop to be popped even with a light load on. I have a design worked 
>out where the side of the top is locked down to the gutter when
>in transporting mode. Now I just need some time to go down to
>the machine shop and make it.
>
>/Martin
>--
>Martin Jagersand                 email: jag@cs.rochester.edu
>Computer Science Department             jag@cs.chalmers.se
>University of Rochester 
>
>        Slow down and visit the VW diesel Westy page:
>          WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Sam Moore

84'Westy /Wolfsburg Ed.
814 Glendover Cove * Lexington, KY * 40502
606-269-0933 * 606-268-2724