CCV Top: Unistrut or Thule?

[Otter]

Great! That’s what I was thinking about the holes... no new ones!

[sbgrimm]

Originally Posted by Otter

Hi sbgrimm. Thanks for the pic. I turned it around. But I haven’t seen that connector. Is that a Yakima tower?

Yes, that's a Yakima bar and tower, and I'm pretty sure it's attached to the unistrut with a Yakima Landing Pad 1.
https://www.yakima.com/landing-pad-1

We're getting the Maxxair fan on our top and I'm concerned that the kayaks and raft frame I carry will clear the fan. Mark at CCV thinks it just will clear, but they may have to shim the unistrut to be sure. And now that I've see the pic from Rallypanam I'm assuming they will attach our existing solar panel to the unistrut the same way.

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by sbgrimm

Yes, that's a Yakima bar and tower, and I'm pretty sure it's attached to the unistrut with a Yakima Landing Pad 1.
https://www.yakima.com/landing-pad-1

We're getting the Maxxair fan on our top and I'm concerned that the kayaks and raft frame I carry will clear the fan. Mark at CCV thinks it just will clear, but they may have to shim the unistrut to be sure. And now that I've see the pic from Rallypanam I'm assuming they will attach our existing solar panel to the unistrut the same way.

Don't shim the unistrut.. just shim whatever you attach to the unistrut.

And I did all the work shown in my picture, but I'm sure they can do something similar.

[gahamby]

Most definitely Unistrut ! It's totally flexible. The patent racks lock you in. They look good on a car. Unistrut and vans go toghter. I had to do a lot of strait up electrical mechanics in 30 yrs on the job. Unistrut came in real handy.

[Ron_Nunan]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Here’s a picture of my old van with unistrut... and the cool thing is the new owner wanted more solar, so it was easy for him to change the setup without any new mounting points... no new holes in the top or anything.

Exactly...
I agree.
Here’s the new roof look that took me an hour to swap around

[SteelheadJones]

What are people using to prevent leaks after piercing the roof? I’m paranoid of water intrusion...

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

What are people using to prevent leaks after piercing the roof? I’m paranoid of water intrusion...

Make sure all the holes are drilled outside the perimeter of the canvas. Then is there are leaks, it will only "leak" onto the van roof outside of the canvas.




Herb

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Make sure all the holes are drilled outside the perimeter of the canvas. Then is there are leaks, it will only "leak" onto the van roof outside of the canvas.

Herb

Thanks Herb, but what if it’s a high top? Or in my case the roof sheet metal of a van without a top?

Is there a sealer/caulk/grommet/gasket/etc that 100% prevents leaks?

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Thanks Herb, but what if it’s a high top? Or in my case the roof sheet metal of a van without a top?

Is there a sealer/caulk/grommet/gasket/etc that 100% prevents leaks?

D'oh, clearly I just had a penthouse roof on my mind. You're absolutely right, the challenges are far more significant with a fixed hard top or an original van roof.




Herb

[sbgrimm]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Don't shim the unistrut.. just shim whatever you attach to the unistrut.

The problem is I can't adjust the Yakima tower height in any way. I've got the Yakima round bars and lots of round bar specific Yakima gear I want to continue to use. The issue is the Maxxair fan is 5" high while, according to Yakima support, height of the Yakima tower+bar+landing pad is 4.5". If the height of the unistrut is 0.5" or more then whatever I carry on the bars should clear the fan.

That seems to be cutting things very close, though. Mark at CCV suggested the unistrut shim. Any other thoughts?