So there was a plan I had been researching and formulating… a modular rack system. I wanted to design a rack that could be moved and adjusted to suit different needs- but I wanted for 2 dream goals I had. I wanted to increase the storage capacity on the roof with at least another pod, and I wanted to find a way to be able to mount and awning to the system. I figured out the measurements that would be needed, but spent countless hours of endless mounting hardware system research that all ended up way too expensive or would not ship to Alaska. 🙁 But- when one dreams and searches hard enough- destiny always speaks…
My buddy with the other Dolphin was talking about leaving the country- and was hoping to find a new home for it with me. Laura and I were evaluating if it was something we wanted to take on so we scheduled a look-see to check it out. During the conversation to schedule said look-see, he mentioned he had been working on fixing his roof leaks that he decided to remove the roof rack from his dolphin, and said I could have it. I was stoked- and wanted to see what all was included with his. So went up and checked out his RV and scored the roof rack- it was an exact match to ours!
So when we got the rack home I laid out all of the pieces and figured out we would leave the original roof rack in place, and I would mirror it in the front to make to “U” shapes facing towards each other. It left a few more questions for my system, we needed to span the distance between the 2 racks, and we needed to span the width between the outer sides. So I decided these would be built out of metal electrical conduit, and after comparison I decided to go with 3/4″.
So the process began. We purchased the 3/4″ conduit, then cut them to the required lengths and sprayed them with a protective clear coat to help resist rusting. Then I mounted the front roof rack, using decent size screws, using Lexel as I mounted them in, and Gaco treating everything afterwards. I then was able to mount the conduit through some of the original rack mounts, joining it together with the rack system, and conduit joining the butt ends with clamps as needed it where needed.
Soon we had the outer perimeter of our rack system! 🙂
Once we had the outer perimeter of the racking system mounted it was a question of how I was going to do the cross bracing. Originally Serenity’s 2 rear pods were direct mounted into the roof.
I removed them and Gaco Taped and treated the original surface mounting holes. I knew somewhat of what I wanted, a swivel clamp. When I worked on the North Slope I used to built Tube + Clamp scaffolding, and a swivel clamp system would be perfect for this situation. Something like this:
Unfortunately, after endless (and I mean endless) searching all the clamps I could find were too big and way too expensive. So after scratching my head forever as I went to the hardware store to piece something together- someone gave me the perfect solution: 3/4″ EMT conduit hangers. So I headed to our local electrical supply store (The Electric Outlet!) to find some hangers.
They were perfect! They were cheap, available, were going to hold the conduit and with the shape of them they were going to suit there secondary purpose perfectly. (I’ll get to that… no spoilers!) So we headed to another store to purchase stainless bolts and nylock nuts to create our swivel clamps. 😀
And Bam! We had swivel clamps! With that it was simply measurements for their 2 purposes: 1) Hold The Conduit For Cross Bracing 2) Hold The Brackets That The Awning Will Be Mounted Into
So with that I mounted the cross braces tentatively to where I thought they should line up to support the 2 rear pods, and the 2 front braces to await the undiscovered new pod or pods. 😀
Geoff Murphy 2/20/2020