i dont think drag would really be too much of an issue when the rack is empty, when its loaded with bulky gear, then yeah. and as for weight i dont feel it would be enough to severely inhibit your driving. price, well yeah they are expensive... but like everyone has said, mounting that much weight on the opposite side of your hinges on your rear door could probably do some damage... if you do mount it on your ladder, just take off whatever is mounted there before you open the door to prevent any harm...
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brunette girl Cam

 

I have a surfboard too rrhyne, and have had similar thoughts about a full roof rack. I think even with an SD rack (vs. Hannibal style) you can use pipe insulation on the horizontal bars for the pad and use whatever existing straps you have been using to hold it down. I'm currently using the super high Thule bars (mainly for the Tent-Cot) or the genuine cross bars (for surfboards). I have also installed the roof rack extension rails. At some point I may ask a fellow club member if I can try some test fits of my board (an 8'2" hybrid) on their SD rack so I have some idea how it would fit.

 

Standard roof racks can take your mileage down 10%. I hate to think what the numbers on a full rack are.

Disco2guy, I'm sure you can fit a cross bar where ever you need one and hang your board off the back. Where do you surf?

When I'm using the truck for what I bought it for, I have anywhere from 4 to 8 boards on the roof. It ends up being pretty tall, and I'd hate to have them all sitting on a extra 6-8inchs.

Just my personal reasons. I think they look freaking awesome.

 

I'm in the Bay Area. I surf Ocean Beach (when it's not too big) to Half Moon Bay and anywhere in between. I surfed at the pier in Pismo last month for the first time. The waves were a little small, but man you can walk out to the line-up, wait for a wave, turn around and paddle about 3 times and you're up. I've had 4 boards on top of the truck, I can see how 8 could be a little hairy. But I think even 4 on a side would be ok if secured well enough. I've seen a pic from the 60's with like 16 boards on top of each other.

 

You can get a High-lift jack at Atlantic british (www.roverparts.com), and you can find some good ones on random websites by doing a search. Make sure you get a brand name you know if you go the route.

And the picture you posted is ofa Defender, not a disco, and as mentioned before, I dont think mounting something as heavy as a high-lift jack would work on a disco just because the hood wont withstand it. It would look cool though....