alexkram

Hi Guys.

I'm posting this here because I recently mounted a Yakima rack onto my '04 Xa. It required drilling holes in the roof and I was very nervous about doing that without knowing what was underneath. I couldn't find any photos of anyone else doing this, so now that I've done it here are some photos and placement details someone can find using Google to avoid the worry.

Well it turned out great and there were no issues. The rack is super solid and removes in about 5 seconds. Landing Pads stay on the roof. I bought everything on ebay for a total of about $200 (had kayak mounts already).

Landing Pads screw directly to the top of the roof using Yakima Turnuts, which are inserted from the top and swivel to grab the sheet metal kind of like a toggle bolt. I did not have to drop the headliner. Installation took 30 minutes and I was being careful. You do need a drill stop or else you will go through the headliner.

There are a few reasons I went with a permanent rack over the clip-on type. The bar separation distance is only 32" on the clip-on rack, but I made 47" of separation with the permanent setup (it's up to you), which works much better with longer boats. Also I tried a clip-on rack first and unless the rack was super tight I could move it by tugging hard on it. If it was super tight the bars bowed downward due to all the clamping force. Also the clip-on rack is kind of a pain to install and remove. When I'm driving down the road with a big load and it's windy I like to not worry about it at all, and I don't with this setup.

Parts needed:
Qty 2 Yakima Landing Pad #7 (come as a pair)
Qty 4 Yakima control towers
Qty 2 58" bars (I got wide bars to hold 2 kayaks side by side)