John,
I like your idea of attaching the bike rack to the tail gate.  Good to know
this type of setup will work for long trips.  Can you open the tailgate
with the bikes on the rack?  Will the tailgate stay up with the weight of
an empty rack?  Do you have any more details or pictures?  I am thinking of
doing the same thing.

Kevin
89 Westfalia
Bothell, WA

At 06:18 PM 9/10/98 -0600, john silverman wrote:
>We had 4 bikes on the back on a Yakima rack.  The rack used Q41 clips, and
>was attached to the tailgate.  We had 4 fork mount bike attachments, and
>used a cable lock.  Worked like a charm.  Also had a Yakima "space booster"
>box on the top, lightly loaded.  Still, it was very difficult to raise and
>lower the pop-top (usually needed both of us).  I mounted the rain gutters
>without detaching the canvas, no ill effects-just clamp a block of wood
>behind the poptop.
>
>Well, summer vacation's over, now back to work...
>John
>