> I'm sure they must exist, but I haven't seen really anything expressly
> designed for pickups. Rooftop carriers at discount suppliers seem to be
> lacking for the basic pickup, or the pickup with a topper. I have a '98
> Ram with a glass camper top and the best I can find without designing and
> fabricating it totally myself would be to combine parts of 2 carriers -
> One for rain-gutterless doors, and a second that would hard mount to the
> roof of the topper. An expensive solution.

Though definitely more expensive than the home grown solution...I've got a Yakima rack installed on my '90 Ranger extended cab 4x4 (which has a 'topper' on it). Yakima (undoubtedly Thule, too)is sold as individual components -- so you can buy what you need, without having leftover towers.... and they make towers for both rain guttered & not rain guttered vehicles. I have a pair of artificial rain gutters installed on the topper (little brackets bolted on the sides), to which the towers are attached. The front rack is attached to the top of the cab. (My pickup has rain gutters, so the only difference betweeen the two sets of towers is that the ones on the topper are taller to clear the top of the topper.)

The rack is rock-solid. Driving in windy conditions at highway speeds (75mph) with a couple kayaks in the saddles is not a problem -- the boats do not try to launch themselves off the rack... or take the rack with them. I took a 1400 mile round trip, with some wicked cross winds driving across southern Idaho on my way to Oregon, and the whole shebang was solid.

Lacking welding skills & tools, I was not inclined to go the do it yourself route. I was also figuring that when the pickup finally gives up the ghost & I need to replace it, that I could just migrate the stuff to a new vehicle-- perhaps having to buy new towers, but the rest would be fine. (with 215,000 miles on the pickup, I'm gonna drive it 'till it dies...which should be awhile yet, since I poured about $3,000 into it last fall.)

Since I am short (5'3") and the pickup + topper + boat is tall, I do carry a little stepstool with me so I can reach the tie-down straps.

Julie