Advice needed on Hilux Car topper racks

[Annrina]

Hi Guys
We are about to get Racks made to put on our 05 Toyota Hilux Dual Cab Ute, to put a 3.2 mtr or 3.5 mtr car topper boat on top, we know we cant secure the boat to both the tray and the car as they move indipendantly, so we are organising racks to go on the tray of the ute. We are concerned about the front of the boat not being secured as the ute tray is not very large on a dual cab for a boat to be attached too. Has anyone already done similar & had any problems or any helpful hints to make sure it is ok. We will have a motor bike under the boat & we will also be towing a caravan. So weight is also an important issue.
Thanks for any help or advice.

[finga]

Make sure you use a big, wide strap (2" one not one of those nancy boy 1" toys) and the front of the rack is really well secured into the ute.
Mine used to be secured by 4 turnbuckles. @ at the transom, 2 @ the front seats.
How long is the tray??
If I remember Ok they're about 6 feet or 1.8m. So if the tinny is 3.5 you could put .6 (I think that is still OK but I'm sure I'll be informed if not allowed anymore) over the back, then 1.8m over the tray and that'll leave 1.1m over the cab. That isn't too much I don't think but hopefully others will have an opinion.
IMO it would be quite OK to have the front strap at about the same place as the front seat. That's a strong point for tying down and the boat itself should be strong enough the have the front bit hanging without support.
Just make sure the tinny will not jack-knive into the van though when your backing.
How much movement is there between the cab and tray??

Sounds like a holiday happening..good on ya's

[blaze]

ok never done it. But my thoughts are that I would put the main supports on the tray as you are suggesting and a front support bar on the cab, no need to strap it down tight. Just lightly strap the front strap to allow a bit of movement, I think you will find that the movement differential between the cab and tray back aint that great on a sealed road, maybe reomove that strap for off road slow 4 x4 work. Just a alternate veiw
cheers
blaze

[GBC]

Is it a dropside or a styleside?

I've got an '03 twin cab. The 15' canoe used to go on the racks of the fibreglass canopy on the styleside and hang over the windscreen o.k. About half of the canoe is not secured, but it travels fine like that - offroad too.
I've now got a dropside with an external rack bolted to the tray with a roller to carry the tinny and it works fine.

If your's is styleside the tinny will be wider than the tray so the racks will have to have a fair bit of lateral overhang. Just make sure that they have a decent amount of height to carry the tinny at least 2" above the cab because hilux's flex offroad. Definitely wouldn't recommend a combination tray/cab mount for the above reason.

The feet of the racks on a styleside will need a bigger 'footprint' to disperse the forces thru the thin sheetmetal - if it's a dropside, just weld up anything and bolt the b@stard on.

If you're travelling long term, consider welding mounting spigots on the racks and drilling the gunwale of the boat to enable bolting - throwing straps and getting chafing carpet in the right spot on the keel of an upturned tinny up that high soon loses it's appeal if you're doing it a lot.

C.J.

[Annrina]

[quote=finga;631746]Make sure you use a big, wide strap (2" one not one of those nancy boy 1" toys) and the front of the rack is really well secured into the ute.
Mine used to be secured by 4 turnbuckles. @ at the transom, 2 @ the front seats.
How long is the tray??
If I remember Ok they're about 6 feet or 1.8m. So if the tinny is 3.5 you could put .6 (I think that is still OK but I'm sure I'll be informed if not allowed anymore) over the back, then 1.8m over the tray and that'll leave 1.1m over the cab. That isn't too much I don't think but hopefully others will have an opinion.
IMO it would be quite OK to have the front strap at about the same place as the front seat. That's a strong point for tying down and the boat itself should be strong enough the have the front bit hanging without support.
Just make sure the tinny will not jack-knive into the van though when your backing.
How much movement is there between the cab and tray??

Sounds like a holiday happening..good on ya's
The tray is aprox 1600 square, we have now decided on a 3.5 quintrex and 15hp Mariner, so hopefully it will all work out ok, we have lined up a welder to do the racks on monday. Yes a holiday up north fishing & crabbing in Proserpine river & then maybe Lake Tinnaro
Thanks for your help this is my first post & reply so hoping do it right

[Annrina]

Thanks for your help guys, I will print out all your advise for my hubby so he can use the information, as they will be constructing the racks on Monday, they plan on a rack front and rear but now plan on joining them at the side for extra support, also thinking of doing an extension at the front over the cab (not attached to the cab) Does anyone know if there a legal amount you can overhang at the back & front of the tray? I would say it is a styleside sorry I have never heard the term before.

[Roughasguts]

Think I would like a single pole from the front of your vehicle to the bow of the boat, just a bit of flat plate at the top of the pole.

Flex would be no problem with it, but it sure would be better to tie off the bow from trying to lift or drop with wind pressure.

I wouldn't make the pole permanent, but make the bracket that holds it to the car fairly secure. Have a socket and pin to hold the pole in place.

[Annrina]

Think I would like a single pole from the front of your vehicle to the bow of the boat, just a bit of flat plate at the top of the pole.

Flex would be no problem with it, but it sure would be better to tie off the bow from trying to lift or drop with wind pressure.

I wouldn't make the pole permanent, but make the bracket that holds it to the car fairly secure. Have a socket and pin to hold the pole in place.

Do you mean from the front guard up in front of the windscreen?

[Roughasguts]

Nah from the front of the vehicle front number plate straight up.if you had a roo bar it would be fairly easy to mount a socket on the roo bar that the pole slides in to with a securing pin.So I guess you will need to bracket and bolt something under neath the front of the vehicle for the pole mount in to.

[finga]

Don't think the boat would reach anywhere near the front RAG. A dualcab is about 6m and the boat is 3.5.
Adecent rack and some decent straps and away you go.

[Roughasguts]

Ooops yeah I guess your right there finga, not real good at adding up last night was I. Shall put it down to being at work and worrying about getting home with all the floods on the central coast. But it was alright in the end only water lapping at me front door.

[finga]

Just as long as everone's safe

[NormC]

I've done this on an 05 Hilux dual cab. Annrina, you pointed me to this thread a few days ago from another thread. Sorry it's taken a while. I've had Broadband 'issues'.
Some places you can see a bit of detail on my set up
http://www.exploroz.com/Members/View...igKey=50743.25

http://www.newhilux.net/rides.php?id=135&back=1

Or in the latest 4WD Monthly magazine (No 107 July 2007). My rig is on the front cover with a fair few pics inside that show the set up.

Esentially what I have is two Commercial type bars (Rhino) mounted direct onto tracks on the Carryboy canopy (which is rated to carry 100KG). I also have had some 'rear protector bars' welded to the tow bar at the rear. I have another steel frame that bolts onto these bars and comes up over the rear of the canopy (have a look at the pics and you'll see what I mean. This rear rack has a roller on each side to help with loading and unloading. I can load and unload our 3.5M Stacer by myself.

The rear rack is tied to the other two bars for stability with 40x40 steel on either side. This side bar fits fairly snuggly against the side of the boat and adds stability.

On the bars on the canopy I have mounted a steel luggage basket. This carries the big ugly stuff like fuel tank, seats for boat, crab pots, wheels for fold up trailer, etc. This is all under the boat.

For tie down, I no longer use straps. I have bolts through the side bars with a piece of stainless steel about 80mmx 40mm x 3mm thick on each bolt. These 'brackets' swing around over the gunwale and are tightened down. The boat is effectively bolted to the racks and is super secure.

We've travelled many thousands of KM (most recently to Borroloola) with this set up and it has been great.

The 15HP Mercury outboard is carried in a purpose built box under the canopy. The elec outboard (recently changed from transom mount to bow mount is also in the back. The floor for the boat (carpeted ply) is carried on separate racks on the Hilux cab roof and is mostly under the boat. THe fold up Almac trailer is on the camper trailer drawer bar.

Hope you follow all this. I did a lot of research and planning before deciding how to go about this. I'm sure there are other successful ways, but I'm very happy with our set up.

Heading back to the Gulf next year.

Let me know if I can help you further.