Roof Rack Width?

Just put a deposit on a new car an am now looking for some roof rack for it but they seem a little close.
What is the minimum distance apart that roof racks should be for carrying a ski?

I've got an Audi Q5 which comes standard with Audi roof racks which only fit in one place. They are 700mm apart, and while they carry my carbon single ski OK with Thule type kayak carriers, I would much prefer them to be further apart than this.

So I reckon 700mm is about as close as you can go, but obviously the wider apart you can get them the better.

While my current racks are okay for a single ski I fear they put too much stress on my double ski so I am looking at racks such as these that attach to your original racks. I have seen several brands at events so shouldn't be too hard to find a solution. www.roofracksuperstore.com.au/water-spor.../product-detail.aspx

Find some V-Bars like these which usually have an 8 ft spread:

goodboykayaks.com/

Yup, that's what you want (or similar). I got a home-made version that is only 5 feet long (that's 60" at 2.5cm = 1.5 meters or so). It is much better than the shorter span most factory racks alone offer.

This is how my Horizon sits on my Subaru at the moment. If I use a similar arrangement to the above posts, namely an extended rack which is longer and further forward, it will mean less hangs off the back which is good (as I am buying a longer ski). A possible problem is that with the weight of the ski further forward, braking hard or going downhill, or both, would result in upward pressure on the rear roof mount which I doubt it is designed for. At the moment the centre of gravity is at the "O" of CUSTOM, and so it fairly well balanced. Would such a rack be unsafe? I would prefer an educated opinion than a guess. My own guess is that it depends on the way the rack is mounted on the roof, and the Subaru fitting seems sturdy.

The Goodboy V-bars are awesome for small cars , you can even add some mini cell chunks to add more "cush". Witness the Tandem on top of my Golf fresh off the infamous SoCal 405 , 70 mph , no problem .

Sandy wrote: Witness the Tandem on top of my Golf fresh off the infamous SoCal 405 , 70 mph , no problem .

California traffic cops must be very tolerant. In Japan we are allowed to have a load extending one third the length of the vehicle, front and back.

Didnt like closeness on mine so modified a bike rack to support rear


Also made a flag for the rear that hooks on to rear tie down after loosing one on mw.

CA law stipulates 12 Square inches of red or orange "flagging" at the end of loads protruding to the rear (okay ,there's an opening for some quips) and if driving at night a red light. The main hazard in Socal is parking lots ! Have gotten in the habit of backing in to parking spaces if possible to avoid getting the tail of my ski clipped by someones tricked out Cadillac Escalade.....

Whoa , had to dig deeper , CA law stipulates protrusion to the rear no more than 2/3 the wheelbase from last point of support. Which may leave some room for interpretation depending where the rack ends. The tandem looks to be a tad bit "long" ! Driven by plenty of Cops in the six years I've been carting around skis in Socal and nary a stink eye , guess they are either tolerant or they're paddlers

As for being legal, I doubt any car can be legal with a 6.5m long ski on it. Generally I think it is 1.2m max overhang. The problem you have is the front of the car is usually longer than the back and you can not get enough front overhang because the racks are too far back on the car.

Here in Western Aus. they fine us at regular intervals, $300.00 a time, even with a flag. We just take the risk of getting a cop that is happy with life.

Then again we load up a Toyota Prado with 8 or so for paddle backs, and generally one is a cop. Tinted windows do help!

Agree Ranga. Got a G6 Falcon which as you know is a large car. With my 5.9m Fenn on top I have the bow level with the tip of the bonnet and about a metre past the boot. Put the flag on and seem to have no problems with the NSW Police or Highway Patrol.





Daresay one day I am going to come across one of New South Wales' finest who is having a bad hair day and will have a go at me, because they can.

Hey Ranga what's the deal with $300 fines in Perth? Booked even with a flag? I drive a Kia Sorento (SUV) yet there's still heaps of stern overhang, more than a metre and a bit.

I know at an Avon Descent a couple of years ago the coppers were booking people in Northam itself who didn't have flags on their skis, which is a bit rough given it's broad daylight and there are about - oooh 500 craft so maybe 150 skis in a town where the race starts. "Oh shit where did that long thing on that car come from?"

French law is :
- No overhang at the front of the car,
- Maximum overhang at the back is 3 metres,
- Overhang must be signaled by red flag or reflective material during day, red light during night.

Not sure if we are off topic a bit about what is legal vs what is safe as far as roof rack distance, but I've been told (Jude @ Huki, I think) that "3 feet min, 5 feet ideal" is the deal for distance between front and back bars. From experience, this is true. I do not agree with "the wider, the better" approach. If you held the very front and very back of the ski, it would bend, maybe break, in the middle. Shoot for ~4'.

I use an removable and adjustable height support bar coming off the bullbar on the front of my 4WD.
The ski is fixed to the roof racks but can be quite a long way forward because the nose is supported too. Rock solid without being tied super tight. Overcomes the crazy Aussie 1.2m legal rear overhang issue.

Here is a ski specific roof rack system that we have developed. The pics are of the single ski version and there is also a 2 ski and 3 ski system which will be available in about 2 weeks.
This solves the problem of the narrowness between the roof racks on more modern cars and spreads the load on the ski into thirds, stopping a lot of pressure being applied to the area of the ski that is tied down between very narrow roof bars.
It can be fitted to any standard car roof rack system no matter how wide apart the are as the fitting plates can be placed anywhere between the 2.2metre length of the rack.
It also fits any ski as it fitted with adjustable kayak carriers at both ends.
Skis don't have to be tied down as hard as the system cradles the ski into thirds and is nestled in the kayak carriers so that it does not move.

These will be available from next week at www.fitnesspaddlers.com.au

Pics of system are attached.

JML wrote: Here is a ski specific roof rack system that ...

Pics of system are attached.

Thanks. Pity you are in Aus and i'm in Japan. What is pic 6?

JonathanC wrote: I use an removable and adjustable height support bar coming off the bullbar on the front of my 4WD.

Could you send a pic?