question about racks on campershell

[jjonesin]

i just bought a little used truck with a camper shell and i was wondering if i could mount racks to my fiberglass camper shell with the yakima landing pads...

my only concern is that my camper shell has not internal structure and i want it to be strong enough to hold a couple canoes.

[Crane]

When the racks were added to my shell about 7 years ago, Bryan Hughbanks sandwiched a U-shaped strip of aluminum between the racks and the shell on top and another on the inside between the nuts and the shell... double-reinforcing the length and spreading the weight across about 6'. So far, no problems at all and I've carried a buncha boats up there:) Crane

[jjonesin]

thanks... thats a good idea.

but, im trying not to add anything extra. im mainly trying to figure out whether i should mount the towers directly to the roof of the shell or buy the side loader adapters that mount to the side of the shell and attach raingutter towers to those.

not sure if it would be stronger to have the weight pushing down on the roof or have it on the side walls above the windows.

[GutIt]

I have been using Yakima racks on my camper shells for years.

I have the mounting brackets on the roof, fairly close to the corners. Which is where I believe is the strongest part of the roof. Been all over the country with them mounted this way (plenty of highway time, high winds, etc.) and never had any problems. I've even carried multiple canoes stacked in high winds with no problems.

Of course, if I'm going any distance at all I make sure I have every boat tied down good to the racks AND run bow & stern lines from every boat to the truck frame (just one each run through every grab loop)! On the highway I am more concerned about the wind pulling on the rack/boats as opposed to the actual weight of the boats pushing down on the racks.

I also spaced my racks close enough to accommodate short playboats as well.

[Dr. Steve Yaney]

I use the yakima tracks so I can adjust the space between ny bars. 7 years old and no trouble. Yakima has several options, just put camper shell racks into the search bar on the yakima site.