How-to: Build A Snowboard Rack

[bilgladstone 13]

Any chance someone can describe for me the fastening of the two straps at the top that go to the upper corners of the car please? Or even a closeup piccie? Do they screw into an existing hole in the car or what?

TIA

Bil

[Duck 16]

The rack includes two sockets which have a through hole that is secured via the ball that the socket on the gas spring that holds up the coupe's rear glass hatch (phew!). I'll try and take a photo for you tomorrow!

-Iain

[bilgladstone 13]

The rack includes two sockets which have a through hole that is secured via the ball that the socket on the gas spring that holds up the coupe's rear glass hatch (phew!). I'll try and take a photo for you tomorrow!

Thanks Duck,

Watch your mailbox this week...

[Duck 16]

Shoot, I'm sorry! I'm so forgetful. Here you go.

Left connection, hatch closed.

Right connection, hatch up looking inside.

I think you can make out how the gas spring ball stud is what holds the mounting point for the rack in place. I removed that stud and then it passes through a clearance hole on the bracket.

The thread in the top of the mounting bracket is for M10x1.5 (checked with a bolt here at the shop). There is a (M6?) bolt pointing up from below acting as a jam bolt, so when you thread in the flathead screw on the rack from above, you tighten in the set screw from below to jam the threads so it won't work loose.

Keep in mind this setup is for the coupé - Rich is the only person I know with a Cab who has the rack, the mounting system is a bit different.

-Iain

Edited February 16, 2010 by Duck

[JakeMorgan 0]

Duck:

How does that look when the hatch is closed? I know it doesn't, but it looks like it would break your window. I'm looking to make my own rack, but I'm hitting this stumbling block. I'm just not sure how to attatch it to the top of the car. Maybe next meet, you can give me a closer look at it.

If you're not too busy, maybe you could post a few more shots of it??

Thanks

Jake

[Duck 16]

Hey Jake,

I'll take a few more snaps within a couple of days for ya.

-Iain

[JakeMorgan 0]

Thanks. I would really appreciate it.

[Duck 16]

I haven't forgotten about you. I've got my rack on today and I'll take photos tonight.

-Iain

[Duck 16]

Oops, I guess I did forget about you. Do you still need photos?

Question though for the rest of the crew: Regarding licence plate visibility. I've noticed now several vehicles that use strap-on bike racks onto the trunk of their cars or vans which completly block the view of the rear licence plate.

Is this legal?

If it is, I'll be modifying my minimotor/snowboard rack accordingly. Right now, I've got my bike mounted so high that the bike clears the licence plate, but blocks my view entirely. If I lower the bike deck so it blocks the plate, I can bring the tank/handlebar height just to the bottom of the tailgate glass and I think that'd be a lot safer.

I dug around on the MTO page and couldn't find any info on this. I'm noticing more and more people just having one plate on their car - how is that possible?

-Iain

[bilgladstone 13]

Obstructing the rear plate is deffo illegal. And other than the three Provincial jurisdictions that permit otherwise, you must display both front and rear plates.

"How is that possible" that some folks ignore the two-plate rule with apparent impunity?

Enforcement of any rules and regulations is on a sliding scale of priorities - a balance of practical allocation of staffing, resources available to process the accused, the relative political "sexiness" of the offense, the fundamental mandate of the policing authority to protect us, and a variety of other, simpler human issues.

You can expect that, when the two-plate (or obstructed rear plate) infractions rise to a "critical trigger mass", there will be a high-profile /short-term "crackdown" campaign to remind everyone that there is such a rule.

B:sun:

[Duck 16]

Al-righty, up my bike stays then. It would be kind of funny if I got into a crash because of that, though. Y'know, it'd be safer if I could see out the back window than if someone can see my plate. Ah well... lots of trucks don't even have rear windows.

-Iain

[derek 0]

http://www.pactoolmounts.com/

Duck,

Your snowboard rack is friggin awesome, well done

Have a look at the above website they have holders of all shapes and sizes and I seen one in there that will go right in that extrusion and possibly hold your board so you would not have to clamp it between 2 extrusions, that way you could hold 2 boards.

Have a look and see what you think, these are made for the fire industry and are virtually in-DUCK-structable

You will have to download the catalog to look at all the different style, I can get these for you.

Derek

PS: I have always wanted to try snowboarding, maybe this year

[Duck 16]

Hey Derek!

Thanks for the link to that company. I found the piece which mounts onto the extrusion; the only thing I'd worry about is the edge of the board cutting the rubber mounting. Although typically my board is in pretty rough shape so the edges aren't razor sharp. I'm going to try and modify my minimoto rack into something that can hold both my board and my bike. Winter season means more indoor racing (every other weekend!) so I won't want to keep switching back and forth... hmm.

-Iain

[derek 0]

No problem, this is the stuff we do so we always have to come up with ingenious ways to mount stuff, lemme know if you need a hand with something.

I still owe you a chance behind the wheel of a fat wheeled, re-mapped Smart.

Derek

[Duck 16]

I'm scared. LOL

...scared I'll need to subsequently spend a good chunk of my condo down payment on rims!

-Iain

[drdrew 0]

Hmmm, It appears I received no bracket mounts with my Rack....

Any idea of the part # ?

Hopefully I can get them seperatly'

[Guest kwaldron]

I'm having a bit of a problem getting a perspective on that fixture. Would it be possible to take a picture from about 3 feet farther back so we can get a wider context but still close enough to see the details. The pictures to date are either very far back or extreme close-ups. I'm trying to work up a mount of my own and have not yet seen the details of the stock rack with enough clarity to understand the upper mount point.Thanks for the details provided to date though. You do good work.

[NJV 1]

Over the christmas weekend I built a snowbaord rack with my father in law. We made it using 3/4" square steel tubing. It's 3' wide and 16" deep. Mounts just above the bottom of teh window and will hold our snowboards horizontally. There is also a bar mounted just below the license plate that has support bars going up to the platform at a 45 degree angle.I will post a pic of it sometime.

[Duck 16]

The sooner, the better! I'd love to see what you came up with.-Iain

[NJV 1]

Here are some pics of the rack that we built. I covered the side bars in foam to give the boards a smoother ride when they are strapped down. We pick the location on the base rack so that our boards won't get in the wat of the tail lights, and they probably won't block the rear view too much either. They might get in the way of the view from the side mirrors a little bit though, haven't tried them yet.It's a pretty multi function rack and we will likely use it during the summer to carry camping gear, we'll just put a sheet of plywood over it first. It can also be moved up and down the base rack, but would require drilling new mounting holes. Also, it can be flipped upside down and used that way. Could hold up golf clubs if you wanted.I would like to put either some small lights at the back corners eventually or at least some red reflective tape.Comments or suggestions are welcome.

[Duck 16]

That is FANTASTIC!!Do your boards stick out over the sides? The car is ~1.5 m wide, my board is 158cm (going to ~161 soon), so it will stick out slightly. Although if someone is pissing you off you can scratch their door panels by coming close and driving by them. -Iain

[NJV 1]

Yes mine will a little bit at 164cm, plus the bag is a bit longer. My wifes at 150 won't be much of a problem. They won't stick out any further than the mirrors anyway. split an extra 14cm on each side only adds 7cm each way. Like I sadi earlier, I'm a bit worried that with the bags on them they might block some of the view from the side mirrors. I'll take a pic once were all loaded up and ready to head out. Going to Terrace BC tomorrow evening, 2 day drive.

[djones44 0]

I'm seeing a lot of scaffolding in these racks to achieve their purpose, and of course with bikes and snowboards you have windage and need to spread the load. Is there a way you can suggest to through-bolt something, on a cabrio, and have what looks like standard golf club holders? (for golf clubs in my case, which are protected from drag). I'd mutilate the car for some tastly club holders ;-)

[NJV 1]

If you wanted to build something specific to golf clubs, I would make a similar design to the one I did above. If you flip it over and mount it lower down, you could put a piece of plywood on it to stand the bags up on, and strap them to the rack at the top. You could build it smaller than the one I made if it was only for clubs. I use my rack for snowboards in the winter, then flip it over and put a RubberMaid container on it for traveling in the summer. I don't have any pics of it right now though.

[drewfuspx 0]

Um... all of your snowboard rack pictures are unviewable... Do you have a link to see them?