Magazine article and kayaks on the roof.
By Tom1 on Thursday, 17 March 2016
Posted in Off topic
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Hi all,
I was reading a friends motorhome magazine today and was reading an article about kayaks on the roof of a motorhome.
According to the 'expert' putting a 25kg kayak on the roof of your motorhome is a big no no because the roof will not be strong enough and even if you have a roof rack and ladder on the motorhome, these are only designed to be used infrequently and you should try to avoid using them when you can!
He also said you should keep washing of the motorhome roof to a minimum because of the 'stress' washing it puts on the roof.

I was very surprised to read this considering that I have 2 kayaks on the roof of mine and on my old Autotrail I carried a topper sailing dinghy weighing about 50kgs for 17 years, never had a problem.
Not to mention roof boxes.


I know there isn't much point to this ramble but do wonder how these people manage to become so called 'experts'.
The way I see it if I can stand on the roof and it takes my weight,not saying I've actually done it on the one I have at the moment but it feels strong enough,then it will certainly take something like a kayak spread out along the roof as you've proved :thumbs:
I used to have a mk 1 diesel transit(ex mothers pride van),made up a roof rack with the part on the back welded either end to the roof and a roller across it.I could lean my fibreglass dory(about the length of the van) against the back roller and lift it up and push it quite easily to the front.went all over the place including camping on iinchcailloch island loch lomand.wish I could sit in a kayak ,tried it once but got cramp in my legs,things aint what they used to be
mid4did
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7 years ago
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I stand on mine regularly, even stand on the roof to cut my neighbours trees!

Obviously you need to be cafeful like with anything but I do feel the article just saying that all motorhomes are not suitable is wrong and bad advice.
Tom1
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7 years ago
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Hi Tom

Often stand / sit on ours, either to clean the roof or maintenance work.

I don't know but maybe the older vans are more robust.

Spinner B)
Spinner
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7 years ago
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I do agree with that in general Spinner.
I think pre say year 2000 van do seem 'better' built before they started worrying about weight and cutting back to keep them under the 3500kgs
Tom1
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7 years ago
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I have a 1996 Autosleeper Symphony with a side-loading racking system. The roof is solid and the rack is supported on glued rails with a couple of self-tappers just in case! It takes a lot of weight with no problems - apart from my ability to lift heavy things!
Nickd
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7 years ago
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View from above. Ready for the summer!
Nickd
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7 years ago
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Looks good. I used to have the trimaran version of the hobie kayak.
Tom1
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7 years ago
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