Fred:  I installed a set of the raingutter replacements w/ the plus nuts
and had decent success on a friend's  91 Toyota Previa(talk about a thin
roof!!), but all he carries are whitewater kayaks and a mt. bike.

Dimwitted Moose and Flying Squirrel

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> From: Fred Porter <fporter@EYRING.COM>
> To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
> Subject: vertical bike mounts on rear hatch???
> Date: Thursday, July 09, 1998 3:59 PM
>
> Hi,
> has anyone set up a bike carrying system on the rear hatch such that the
> front wheels are taken off, the forks clamped to an upper rail and the
> rear wheels tied down to a lower rail?  My goal is to get the bikes back
> in the slipstream of the van. Plus its way easier to put the bikes on a
> hatch mounted rack than putting them on top of the van.  It'd be
> possible to carry 4 bikes plus front wheels back there.
>
> I had a setup somewhat like this where the fork clamps were on a rail
> that mounted to the very back portion of the rain gutters.  I fiddle
> farted around and configured a gutterless Yakima Q mount to attach
> another rail with the rear wheel trays to the middle of the hatch by
> having the clips hook over the edges of the hatch.  Problem is, this
> setup had the forks, handle bars and portions of the maintubes still up
> in the freestream air causing drag.
>
> Has anyone used Yakima's 'plus' nuts?  Plus nuts are expansion nuts that
> allow one to blindly bolt a yak tower to sheet metal only accessed from
> one side--can't imagine the load capacity is that high.
>
> thanks,
> fred porter