Removed the Roof Rack

[Jim Stoltz]

Well after years of contemplation, I finally decided to remove the roof rack. I love the classic Allegro look, but I just couldn't keep up with the leaks anymore. From the factory, there are 44 (forty four) holes drilled through the roof for that rack. They use that dum-dum stuff under it to seal it. Over the past 30+ years, it's shrunk up and left a gap between the mounts and the roof. Worse, the leaks rotted the wood underneath so there's no solid mounting point. The constant flexing made the gaps - and the leaks - worse. Despite having sealed it annually, it still leaked in many areas. 

So I took it off and sealed all the holes with Dicor lap sealant. I honestly think it looks better without the rack, and the holes are now sealed once and for all. 

I hate to cut the thing up for disposal, but I don't envision ever re-installing it. I'm on the edge of being a hoarder anyway and having a 25-foot long roof rack in the woods won't help. 

The best part is while I was disassembling the rack on the ground I disturbed an underground hornet nest. The first sting got my attention, but I wasn't 100% sure what was going on. When I got stung the second time I stood up and looked around. I was eye to eye with 2 hornets on my shoulder and then noticed I was in a swarm. I got stung a 3rd time before I was able to get into the house. I think the same critter got me 3 times because it was actually in my shirt. Good times. Still hurts and itches today. They are nasty little things. 

[Jim Stoltz]

Also, not sure if I mentioned it but I also had a huge crack in my black tank. It was old and the repair finally failed. I got some stuff called Plasti-Mend and it is pure magic. It was developed by an RV repair guy and makes a chemical bond/weld to the existing plastic. The crack was across a corner and went up one side, across the bottom and to the other side. The kit consists of a cleaner, resin and some plastic mesh. It kind of works like fiberglass. Resin, then mesh, then resin. The repair is solid and appears to have bonded to the tank completely. It really saved me a lot of time and money.

[Steven Rose]

 Looks good with the rack off ! , I'm still debating since I may use it for my solar .I wanting to enlarge the holes in the feet of the rack . Put eternabond tape as a pad between the feet and roof. And the larger screws to screw it down and the Eternabond caulk over the screws. I think It should give me a good seal.

  I think they could of mounted the rack better ,but o well . 

  Here in Louisiana we have plenty of bees wasps and hornets .And they are looking for every place to get in  I Keep waspe spray on hand ,If not Berryman B12 works great.

                                                                                     Take care and safe travels.  

[Jim Stoltz]

Yeah I think it looks more streamlined, but you still can't overlook the fact that it's a 34-year-old brick. After removing it, I can see that the key to sealing the rack is to get something in between the pedestals and the roof. Otherwise water follows the screws right down inside. I had tried to use Dicor tape over the pedestals but it turns out the water was finding its way under the tape anyway because I couldn't get a solid seal around the uprights on the rack. 

Headed out for my annual Columbus Day Weekend trip on Friday. It's only 60 miles, but I don't go much further than that with it anymore. I got it out (after I fixed the snapped throttle cable), leveled and the fridge on. Will load it up tomorrow and hopefully be able to ditch work early to get on the road by 5PM on Friday. Perfect time to hit rush hour traffic at the Delaware Water Gap.