> anyone know where i can find one of those "do it yourself" car
> top racks?

> the one that came with clips, straps and suction cups and you just added
> wood?

> cant seem to find this anywhere. on a budget, and can't seem to bring
> myself to pay 300+ dollars for a rain gutter rack for a 1971 buick electra
> 4 door

For $300 you can have my old ones! For a lot less you can make your own. What you need is a design to work from and some materials. Here are a couple pictures of my old carriers, you can wprk from these.

You'll need 8 suction cups and a piece of 1/16th or 1/8th inch thick by 1 inch wide steel bar stock. Hardware/home centers have the suction cups at about $5 for a pair, and a 60 inch length of bar stock should be about another $8 or less.

If you heat the bar stock in the flame of a blow torch, to the point where it get red, it will bend very easily. It will also be VERY hot for a long while. Avoid breathing any fumes that come off while the bar heats up.

You'll need to drill a few holes in the bar stock. I like to buy a new drill bit when I have to drill into steel My old bits are fine for wood, but steel dulls them fast. Consider this while you are at the hardware store.

If you can't find the gutter clips at the hardware store, head over to the local Sears Roebuck. They sell a roof-top cargo carrier in thier automotive departments. These things are designed to fit on almost any car, and Sear's sells the clips for them separately. They had about 36 different varieties of "gutter" clips -- including those for gutterless cars -- last time I looked, and they had a chart describing which clip worked best with which vehicle.

You'll need some webbing and buckles to attach these things, too. And then you'll need even more to hold your boat(s) onto the racks.

It might be simpler to just bolt the suction cups to the bottom of a length of 2x6, No metal to bend.

The suction cups usually attach with bolts that are 1/4 x 20, so you'll need a 1/4 inch drill bit.

The bar on my carriers is oak. Almost any other stout hardwood would do, too. Or, use a common 2x4. Just size the metal parts to suit the wood.

I never trust the carriers to hold anything on the roof by themselves, so I tie down a bow and stern line to the bumpers, too.

Hope this helps. Good luck building a set of carriers, or if you happen to see some at a garage sale for $15 or less, get them and save some time and money.

Paul G. Jacobson