Thread: How many roof bars?

Two is enough for a kayak, I carry a pair of sea kayaks on two Rhino bars on my 110 occasionally, and the rest of the time I have a lightweight roof top tent on two bars.
The basket, if meant for just two bars, won't be particularly long so will be quite okay too, as long as you don't fall into the trap of overloading simply because you have the space and want to fill it.

2 is enough for carrying 2 kayaks/canoes. You possibly could even carry 3 light weight single kayaks. I carried 2 twin canoes no problems. If you are going to carry a full length basket and load it up I personally would add a third as it is a long roof. If only a half basket 2 will be fine.

As Mark suggested, overloading is the biggest trap. From memory, the Rhino bars are rated at approx 75kg per bar, so that's a fair bit, but that's the rating of the bars and not the gutter.
I have an 80kg rooftop tent on three Rhinos and never had a problem.
It's always good to spread the load as much as possible, but one or two kayaks should be fine on two bars.

Cheers, Murray

Originally Posted by gregc

................... Also, I found an ad on gumtree for 2 Rhino bars and a basket that looked alright. .............
Greg

Was this previously fitted to a Defender ? There are lots of different height Rhino legs and one type was specifically made for the Defender roof height. Other legs might not fit because of the wrong height and mounting angle, so be careful buying second hand ones.

Cheers, Murray

Originally Posted by rijidij

Was this previously fitted to a Defender ?

Yeah in the picture it's attached to a 110. Not sure why he's selling though, maybe they're the wrong one. I think it's going to be too much hassle anyway as it's too far from where I live. I'll see how I go.

Thanks for all the advice

Greg

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

the rest of the time I have a lightweight roof top tent on two bars.

The light weight rooftop tent is fine until you put 2 x 80kg people in it to sleep...... dont think I would want 160kg plus the weight of the tent and bars on my gutters.... I had 2 bars for a 3/4 length alloy rack and never put anything heavy up there and you could see the gutters bent where the legs sit. Have since gone to 4 bars and never had an issue. All that is ever up there is: awning, shovel, pvc pipe with lightweight poles, plastic case with spare hoses, belt, snatch strap in it and on a longer trip a spare tyre carcass, and for trips my plastic 2 person kayak. Also, with the variable build quality of Defenders the roof gutters may also vary too?? As said - better to spread the weight as much as you can.

Unless those people are getting pretty frisky in the RTT, they're a static load which is unlikely to be an issue.

Having said that, I had constant issues with Rhino HD bars coming loose on my Puma - running three bars under an RTT. I've always felt they were a good product, but could never get then to settle in and not loosen over corrugations.

If the legs are the right height then they should fit Ok (or with a little modification) the defender legs have a bit of a scallop in them to clear the roof line. The bigger issue (maybe) is that if they are for a different vehicle you will have to replace the clamp bracket (right angle foot) as they are different for different vehicles, and will come loose. Good news is that they are pretty cheap ~ $10 a pair IIRC.

I ran a basket with 2 bars for a number of years with no problem, I've now got 3 bars under a 1.8m rhino basket, that can get pretty loaded at times.


Martyn