Well this is coming again a little late, I was having a few computer problems, so then log in problems as well, but Jage took care of me.
I spent 3-4 days with Derek & his super cool & kind girl friend, with their help & direction we completed another item off the check list, we started & completed a "Safari style" roof rack from scratch!
This was only the second time that Derek tried building a roof rack, an I know I'm a little biased, but it came out absolutely perfect. I also want to mention that staying with Derek, Liz, fourbi (spelling) & trucky couldn't have been any closer to being at my own home & shop. I was treated like royalty with home cooked meals each evening, again the whole experience was awesome!
This is the third time that someone I've meet through this forum has reached out & offered assistance to a complete stranger (in person anyway) to move our project forward! I can say without any doubt, that if it wasn't for this forum, we would have never of had the privilege of meeting & getting to know a lot of great people who have had no problem reaching out & lending a helping hand to our family's project, I would like to again, here & now say, THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!
On to the project at hand, Derek pick up our supplies (EMT Tubing & Tube bender), so when I finally arrived (a story for later on & for a different post), we were ready to get to work. We started working at about 9 am and finished that night around midnight. On the first day we got almost everything cut, welded & fab together. Derek earlier has milled out little 2 1/2 inch spacer/connecting pieces which made things go together rather quickly, again great thinking Derek!! So on the second day all we had to do was get it fitted to the top make some adjustments, finish up welding, start painting it & make the fit kit for connecting it to the roof. On our third and last day we, finished painting it & mounted it to the roof.
The way it came out & went together was nothing short of incredible, it makes our top look like it now belongs on the van, instead of it looking like the van has a chef's hat on.
Here's some pic's of the build and the rack finished all ready to go. Here's a link to all the pictures because I'm not sure how to post so many pictures. Please let me know if there's a problem with seeing the pictures though this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41061875@N06/