Canoe rack

[Craig]

Does anyone have experience carrying a canoe on top of a Rialta? We would like to


carry an 18 ft., 50 to 60 lb. canoe on top of a Rialta. Does anyone know of a rack or


rig which would probably fit? Can anyone suggest possible modifications. We are only


5'7'.....so the Rialta is pretty high... We'd like to use the Rialta for a base camp on


canoe outtings.....Craig

[Rick Blank]

How about a kayak rack? I have a new Rialta and would like to carry a 10 foot 35 lb fiberglass kayak.



Anybody have any good ideas? There is enough room over the cabin door beside the air conditioner and skylight. I just would not be able to raise the TV antenna, but we don't plan on taking a tV with us anyway.



Thanks,


Rick

[Rick Blank]

I am really happy with the Thule roof rack that I received from ORS on Friday and mounted on the roof of my new Winnebago Rialta on Saturday. The Rialta is 10 years old, but only had 4,300 miles on it when we bought it a couple weeks ago. I really wanted to take my Potomac ES 100 kayak with us as we embark on many adventures to come visiting state and national parks on our trips between our home in San Diego and our kids and grandkids in Saint Louis, Missouri and Tacoma, Washington. We got the Thule TK 14 mount kit, 430 Tracker 11 foot pack, and LB78 load bars.



Another online distributor discouraged trying to mount a roof rack on the Rialta, but after corresponding with Al Steen at Winnebago Industries he provided the engineering drawings for the Rialta coach and I saw that the longitudinal aluminum roof support tubes extend down both sides of the roof and provide optimum anchor points for the roof rack. It is fairly easy to see the location of the support framing by just looking carefully at the roof of the Rialta. The horizontal ribs are 60.5 inches long so I mounted the foot mount pedestals 63 inches apart so they would be roughly centered in the 2.5 inch wide longitudinal roof support tubes. Installation was simple following the directions provided by Thule. Though Thule did not have instructions for mounting the load bars on the pedestals. I found it took less final adjustment with the allen wrench (hex key) when wrench turning is restricted by the load bar if you loosely tighten up the screws on the end of the load bar before sliding them down to final position and fastening them securely. After mounting the pedestals to the load bars (outside edge of roof pedestal top 8.75 inches from each end of the 78-inch load bars. I then positioned the load bars directly behind the sky light and directly in front of the roof air conditioner (this provides 44-inch spacing between load bars providing optimal spacing for placement of the cockpit combing between the load bars and securely mounting the kayak). Kayak is mounted upside down to preclude rain accumulation in the kayak and provide a more aerodynamic ride on the roof of the Rialta. I traced around the pedestal mounts with a pencil, then positioned the foot mounts in the tracings to mark the mounting bolt locations. With a small nail and hammer I marked the center of the mount holes the drilled the mount holes with the 1/8 and .302 drills. I secured the expanding nuts into position using as much muscle on the allen wrench as possible to set the nuts securely as possible then added the silicone and completed the installation. I also mounted a stainless steel eye bolt to the coach roof at the front of the ES 100 kayak. (this was done after taking the photos) This required unscrewing the plastic headliner to access the underside of the roof and is a difficult job due the limited working clearance. I attach a link pin from the front of the kayak to the eye bolt to even the load from wind at highway speeds on the kayak and the load bars. We bought a small two step ladder from Walmart that folds and fits easily into the Rialta trunk and provides sufficient height to easily load, secure, and unload the 35 lb kayak.



So far I have only had the kayak on local lakes but we are currently making a spray skirt so I can take it out in the bays and oceans, do a little kayak surfing and take on mild rapids on river runs.



We are very happy with our purchase from ORS and found the price significantly less than other online dealers and the local stores.

[rem]

Sounds real good , can you post a picture ?

[rem]

Rick, Or can you send a photo to my email..

remscalls@gmail.com


Thanks Rem

[Neisman]

I too would like to see a picture of this. ola1@ptd.net

[jmbeam]

Would you mind sending me a pic also? Thanks again JIm

[flyfisher]

Rick Blank said:

I am really happy with the Thule roof rack that I received from ORS on Friday and mounted on the roof of my new Winnebago Rialta on Saturday. The Rialta is 10 years old, but only had 4,300 miles on it when we bought it a couple weeks ago. I really wanted to take my Potomac ES 100 kayak with us as we embark on many adventures to come visiting state and national parks on our trips between our home in San Diego and our kids and grandkids in Saint Louis, Missouri and Tacoma, Washington. We got the Thule TK 14 mount kit, 430 Tracker 11 foot pack, and LB78 load bars.



Another online distributor discouraged trying to mount a roof rack on the Rialta, but after corresponding with Al Steen at Winnebago Industries he provided the engineering drawings for the Rialta coach and I saw that the longitudinal aluminum roof support tubes extend down both sides of the roof and provide optimum anchor points for the roof rack. It is fairly easy to see the location of the support framing by just looking carefully at the roof of the Rialta. The horizontal ribs are 60.5 inches long so I mounted the foot mount pedestals 63 inches apart so they would be roughly centered in the 2.5 inch wide longitudinal roof support tubes. Installation was simple following the directions provided by Thule. Though Thule did not have instructions for mounting the load bars on the pedestals. I found it took less final adjustment with the allen wrench (hex key) when wrench turning is restricted by the load bar if you loosely tighten up the screws on the end of the load bar before sliding them down to final position and fastening them securely. After mounting the pedestals to the load bars (outside edge of roof pedestal top 8.75 inches from each end of the 78-inch load bars. I then positioned the load bars directly behind the sky light and directly in front of the roof air conditioner (this provides 44-inch spacing between load bars providing optimal spacing for placement of the cockpit combing between the load bars and securely mounting the kayak). Kayak is mounted upside down to preclude rain accumulation in the kayak and provide a more aerodynamic ride on the roof of the Rialta. I traced around the pedestal mounts with a pencil, then positioned the foot mounts in the tracings to mark the mounting bolt locations. With a small nail and hammer I marked the center of the mount holes the drilled the mount holes with the 1/8 and .302 drills. I secured the expanding nuts into position using as much muscle on the allen wrench as possible to set the nuts securely as possible then added the silicone and completed the installation. I also mounted a stainless steel eye bolt to the coach roof at the front of the ES 100 kayak. (this was done after taking the photos) This required unscrewing the plastic headliner to access the underside of the roof and is a difficult job due the limited working clearance. I attach a link pin from the front of the kayak to the eye bolt to even the load from wind at highway speeds on the kayak and the load bars. We bought a small two step ladder from Walmart that folds and fits easily into the Rialta trunk and provides sufficient height to easily load, secure, and unload the 35 lb kayak.



So far I have only had the kayak on local lakes but we are currently making a spray skirt so I can take it out in the bays and oceans, do a little kayak surfing and take on mild rapids on river runs.



We are very happy with our purchase from ORS and found the price significantly less than other online dealers and the local stores.

[flyfisher]

Hi Rick. Len here have ? On UR canoe rack. I just bought a 96 i need to put a rack on .are u still around? Thank u Len stonefly@roadrunner.com