Help with my glider rack

[Michal M.]

I'd appreciate if you guys could chime in with your thoughts and knowledge ...

I found a 12 ft aluminum ladder by the side of the road a while back, and now I'm hoping to make a glider rack out of it for my smaller car (to save money on gas by not driving the thirsty van). I have 2 questions:

1. Is a 12ft ladder long enough to provide sufficient support for my 19ft glider?
2. The way the roof rack on my car is designed, the the front of it ever so slightly elevates compared to the rear cross bar, so when you put a 19ft glider on top of it, the tip of the glider would be by my estimation about half to one foot higher that the rear end of the packed glider. Would that be a problem when driving down the interstade 70mph? Or should I make sure the front of the glider is either on the same leve or even lower than the rear end of it? Let me know if I'm not explaining myself enough and I'll try to draw a picture to illustrate.

Thank you!

[windsurfer]

Michael,

You can put a piece of wood or something between your ladder and the back rack to elevate it. That would help you at least keep it level.

regards,

windsurfer

[Michal M.]

So you think it indeed is important to make them level? That is my gut feeling, or even nose down, rather than nose up.

How about the length of it? Is 12 ft enough support?

[lwright]

The glider should be close to level and 12 feet should be enough support. On a small car the roof rack supports are probably close together so you would want to have a good support on the front of the car also. Larry

[Michal M.]

Thank you, both!

[freeeba]

Michal take a look at what the Thog has done for his front support. Couple of suction cups, PVC and straps. This can be mounted to any vehicle hood. Just make sure the ladder is SECURELY!!! fixed mounted to the cars factory rack so hard braking won't let ladder and glider move forward. Best tip is to keep glider's nose to rear with this setup.

[Michal M.]

Thanks Tom, the front support is not a problem, I have that part already all thought out. It was just the length and pitch that I wasn't sure about. I'll have to extend the ladder, because it only reaches from the front support to the front cross bar on the roof rack. I'd like to have it secured in at least three places along the way, so I'll extend it enough to reach the rear cross bar as well.

I'll post pictures when I'm done, hopefully in the next couple of days. It will depend on how heavy the case load is at work this week ...

[mikeboerschig]

Michal, I too am in the process of buildind a rack system for my little Honda Fit. I found out something interesting from Rick the other day. Most small cars now have a small cap in the front bumper covering a place to screw in a tow hook to tow the car. It has to be pretty stout so I'm going to make up something I can screw in there and put on a front support for my glider.

[WMSB72673]

Richard Cobb with the Skywackers has plans for a neato front rack that uses hinges fastened to bolts under your hood. There was a link to it on the wacker website but I can find it now. You might want to mail him and ask if he can forward it to you.

http://skywackers.org/index.php?page=contact

I used ladders when I have to travel for long distances. They seem to offer more protection for your wing when you get stuck behind a semi for 10 miles. Kinda scary to watch your kite flop around like that.

[Michal M.]

I painted the rack and put finishing touches on it today, and took a few pictures. Well, just the front support, the rest is just a ladder bolted to the roof rack.

First picture shows the support holder tucked away into the engine compartment for when the glider rack is off the car.

Second picture shows how the holder swings forward, just a matter of replacing one bolt. The bolts and threaded holes were already there, obviously holding the front bumper and headlights in place.

Third picture shows the holder with the hood shut.

Fourth picture shows the front support installed. It is made of 1/2 black pipe and U-bolted to the ladder. At the bottom is just a 1/4" bolt (through the pipe cap) secured to the holder by a locking washer and a wing nut.

Fifth picture shows the same zoomed out.

I'm very happy with it, it is really sturdy. No shaking behind a semi whatsoever. Ask Larry W, he tried yanking on it and was quite surprised himself. :-)