Finally finished a project that has been waitin too long. Ended up gettin the thule rack for free from a friend of mine, that no longer uses it. No more worring about rods gettin beat up in the sardine can :)

Make sure you figure a way to lock those reels to your rack. Hate to see your gear get lifted.

got any ideas??, as of right now, nothing gets left on top of the car when we are in a spot, but it definatly would be nice to leave the extras up top...

Lock them babies down!!!

All it will take is ONE time to forget that your gear is there, and they WILL be gone. Gear-stealing scumbags seem to come out of nowhere, specifically when it's your gear that they plan on "acquiring".

Maybe keep the reels inside the vehicle and only stack the rods on top. It will prevent road dirt from doing any harm to the reels, and will limit any losses you might incurr should the theives target your gear for an easy score.

Other than that I say it looks good and is very functional.
Good work!

Locks or not, if they want it, the scumbags will take it. There are few (if any options) to secure the rods on top of a vehicle from the pieces of trash that roam the streets. My suggestion, save your money and your gear... pop them in the car if you aren't bringing them with you.

Even inside, they are only marginally safer.

Locks or not, if they want it, the scumbags will take it. There are few (if any options) to secure the rods on top of a vehicle from the pieces of trash that roam the streets. My suggestion, save your money and your gear... pop them in the car if you aren't bringing them with you.

Even inside, they are only marginally safer.

yeah i think thats just about the smartest thing to do... and as far as takin the reels off for travel, the rack wouldn't work for it, i really don't care about road dirt anyway, there meant to be used...

I have rod racks on top of my car and I often keep two rods up there. Almost all spring - fall. So far I have not had any problems. I leave them up there when i go shopping, when I sleep and for most every other time. The only time I make sure that I do not leave them up there is when i go fishing or I am going into the city or to a fishing town like New Bedford, Fall River etc. I like to have my rods at the ready whenever I might all of a sudden find I have have a free hour to wet a line. I do not even think that the best rod racks in the world will really keep your gear safe from theft, even with a lock. Just use common sense and if you have any concern at all just break them down and shove them in the car while you are away from it. But, my main point of this is that I think you will find that they are safer up there than many people think.

Good score on the rack

QUOTE=JohnnyD;767355]Locks or not, if they want it, the scumbags will take it. There are few (if any options) to secure the rods on top of a vehicle from the pieces of trash that roam the streets. My suggestion, save your money and your gear... pop them in the car if you aren't bringing them with you.

Even inside, they are only marginally safer.[/QUOTE]

I have Yakama ski racks that lock. The bolts that hold them to the roof racks are underneath the bars so when they are locked there is no way to get at them.

Yep, one night at Head of the Meadow I came off the beach and caught a scumbag trying to figure out how to get the rods off the roof. I then showed him why I carry a hand gaff on my belt. Lucky he could run faster than me in waders.:fury:

I have locks on my Thule but I still put everything in the vehicle when leaving it. Thieves think nothing opr breaking or cutting something to steal. They could even just cut or break the brackets and take the rack and the rods etc together. Its dog eat dog out there!

i also have a locking yakima ski rack. i just put whatever one piece rod i'll be using in the rack and put a two piece backup in the trunk.