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A bit off topic and out of season, but speaking of racks....here's my DIY ski rack:
The issues were many. 1) existing racks had room for like 8 pairs of skis or 4 ski boards and often involved a bike rack as well. Well, I needed room for one pair of skis. That's it. And I already have a great 1-up bike rack so I'm not interested in additional bike options. 2) I didn't want anything mounted on the roof. 3) it had to be removable and good looking, 4) it didn't need to be super-duper robust. I drive 20 minutes to ski, not 100's of miles. 5) let's keep the price reasonable.
*yes, it's a cutting board. Will never rust. 1/2 inch thick. Black. Easy to work on/modify. Perfect.
Assembly:
Miter saw to cut board down to 15.5x19 inches. Buff edges with table grinder wire wheel.
Center and attach EZ rack to board after drilling holes for 8mm bolts.
Attach ski mounts. I used white-out to mark the locations to drill. 6mm bolts/washers/etc.
Mount on tire, level.
Issues:
I may add spacers to lift the ski mounts away from the cutting board. Then I could marry the skis and have room for another pair. I am occasionally social. Or use the extra space for poles.
Having the hinges on the defender side is a bit cumbersome. May flip it so the hinges are outside.
That's it! Now I'll take it off and wait, oh, about 8 months....
That looks pretty clever, but the way the back of my Defender looks after driving on grit, muck, and ice covered roads on the way to skiing, I wouldn’t want to put my skis through that. Square backed SUV’s like the defender suck a lot of crap right back onto the tail. Mine routinely looked like I’d sprayed it with coal slag. Skis should be on the roof or in a box where they will stay clean.
That looks pretty clever, but the way the back of my Defender looks after driving on grit, muck, and ice covered roads on the way to skiing, I wouldn’t want to put my skis through that. Square backed SUV’s like the defender suck a lot of crap right back onto the tail. Mine routinely looked like I’d sprayed it with coal slag. Skis should be on the roof or in a box where they will stay clean.
Fair enough. Two questions though: 1) when the back of your Defender is dirty, what do you do to remedy that? And 2) why couldn’t a person do similar to a pair of skis?
That looks pretty clever, but the way the back of my Defender looks after driving on grit, muck, and ice covered roads on the way to skiing, I wouldn’t want to put my skis through that. Square backed SUV’s like the defender suck a lot of crap right back onto the tail. Mine routinely looked like I’d sprayed it with coal slag. Skis should be on the roof or in a box where they will stay clean.
Fair enough. Two questions though: 1) when the back of your Defender is dirty, what do you do to remedy that? And 2) why couldn’t a person do similar to a pair of skis?
Well, unless you plan to bring a portable washer to the ski hill, you’re going to have a cruddy mess on your hands when you go to pull your skis off the car. And spraying your car with water on a 5 degree day isn’t going to work very well. Really, a set of cross bars and a nice Thule pull top rack will work so much better and won’t ruin your skis and bindings with salt and grit. Sorry, the McGyver tire rack looks cool, but it’s not going to treat your skis right.
Tell ya what, in about 8 months I’ll load em and take the 20 minute non-highway drive from my house to the slopes. When I arrive, I’ll snap a few photos of my skis and we’ll have our answer.
I love my Kuat rack and it fits my 90 perfectly with the Kuat 10” long, 2” offset adaptor. Like the rack itself it fits snugly and so far does not rock or sway more than expected.
You can see my bike fitted to the inside position here.This is with the 2” offset going upward.
You can see I can still open the door to get my helmet etc out, even with the bike on the inside tray.
Of course, I could move it to the outside tray and get more room. Though you would want to be careful with the door
Turning the 2” into the drop position gives you more clearance for the door over the rack. Though you would need to remove the bike on the inner side. With the Discovery we always let the back tray down and set a bbq up on the bike rack. I think I might need a swing hitch for that. Not sure its worth the weight.
Even in the Drop position, you still have decent ground clearance unless you were off road or driving up steep sections. Those racks hang a ways out there.
I measured 12” on the drop position, 14” in the raised position.
I think the Kuat rack looks good on the Defender. If you are like me and have a rack on the vehicle most days, that might matter.
Well, I got the Rack Attach from 1up to use with my 1up rack, and I wish someone had mentioned the absurd weight of this before I ordered it. Didn’t bother looking at the specs after seeing all the nice pictures here, but this thing is ridiculous. I foresee another hernia operation if I use this, and will probably just send it back as it’s not a big deal to just tilt the rack down to open the door a little as opposed to lugging this Sherman tank part around. I take my rack off and on regularly, so no way I’m doing that with this monster. Too bad 1up doesn’t make something lighter in aluminum. I’ll look and see if the pivot is the same weight, but if it is, that would be a hard no as well. Back to using the extension.
Kuat Base 2.0. Easy install and looks great. These pics are without the extension. Extension makes both platforms functional but I like that I can transport one bike without it since I usually take it off after each ride. Kuat Base 2.0. Easy install and looks great. These pics are without the extension. Extension makes both platforms functional but I like that I can transport one bike without it since I usually take it off after each ride.
03-29-2021, 08:07 PM
