surfboard soft rack

by **eco** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:16 pm

Hi people, anybody has tried the car soft rack "java", which it works without a previous typical roof rack structrure?I mean, that thing only with straps to fix the surfboard to the car's roof. I wanna buy but it seems that i'll lost my board on the road. Thank you and sorry bout my spanish-english.

**Sponsor**

by **drowningbitbybit** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:56 pm

I had one (before getting a camper-van).

They work fine - boards (ranging from one to four) stayed on with no problem at all

Just make sure you put the fins facing up and at the front of the car, so if the boards do start to slide backwards, they get trapped by the fins.

The only problem with the soft-rack is that they can vibrate, making a really loud humming in your car! :shock:

by **tube man** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 2:05 pm

there a good investment but they can leave presure dings on the roof apart from that theres no probs not even they flyin off.

by **Laguna** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:07 pm

drowningbitbybit wrote:The only problem with the soft-rack is that they can vibrate, making a really loud humming in your car!

LOL, Very true, If you go over 40MPH then it hums like MAD! It can sound scary and you think the boards will fly off any minute, but they wont! Tie them tight and they will not move!

by **IdRatherBeSurfing** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:36 pm

i strapped my board to my roof the last time i went out and it hummed like mad :shock:

. Was terrified it was gonna vibrate my board off, or vibrate a big hole in it so i did 35mph all the way to the break :lol:

by **libby** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:38 pm

Mine hummed all the way back from uni (Norwich) to home (Northumberland) once. After 6 hours of it you begin to wish you have hard racks..........

by **Laguna** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:05 pm

Its bad when your on a motorway, you cant go over 50mph! People pass you looking stupid and they get really angry at you driving so slow. I take the back roads all the time when I use my straps

by **drowningbitbybit** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:22 pm

Laguna wrote:Its bad when your on a motorway, you cant go over 50mph! People pass you looking stupid and they get really angry at you driving so slow.

Hmmm, nothing changes there then :wink:

But back to the racks, some people say putting a twist in them makes them stop vibrating, but it didnt work for me.
The only thing that worked for me was to pull the racks super-tight, and put the boards at an angle across the car roof. No idea why that works but it does... kinda... :roll:

by **eco** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:10 pm

Thank you very mcuh to everybody, i supposed ill buy it, and i hope y could go at 60 miles per hour(i imagine is as 120km/h)

by **dreamer** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:45 pm

umm, get roofies fitted - i have massive pressure marks on my roof for the vibrations - new car too :S no one warned me about this part of them.

by **Laguna** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:36 am

I rarely use my straps, I just put the board in my car, but I will be using the straps again this summer when theres people in the car. I think the straps are deffinately worth buying, they only cost around £30!

by **IdRatherBeSurfing** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:47 am

HOW much!!!!!!!!!!

mine were a tenner!

by **dreamer** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:44 am

yeah, they're about 15$ where i live.

by **Dec** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:26 am

there about £2 over here!

by **pat42** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:22 pm

What's the matter with a bit of old rope and some pipe lagging....tie it on the inside of the car and close the doors.....bobs yer uncle!

by **RJD** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:12 am

I use softracks localy there great.

But first (and only) time I went any distance (Christchurch to mangys/kaikoura) they drove me mad and I managed to cram my longboards into the car instead (with all my camping stuff shifted and wife in one of the rear seats...

Got a proper rack now

by **Driftingalong** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:23 pm

I've got them. I found the more secure the racks are the less humming you'll get. Luckily I only have to endure 20 mins. of it, if it does start (I couldn't imagine a couple hours). I havn't had any problems with pressure dents in the roof (although, now I'm a little concerned). They do make me nervous everytime I use them. I'm always checking out the front of the board when I'm driving to make sure it's still there :lol:

. I eventually just put my shortboard inside the car (much better). I recently got a 9'8" longboard, so I had to start using the rack again.
In summary - I havn't had any problems with them.

by **libby** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:15 pm

RJD; Kaikoura=my favourite place on earth.

by **Broosta** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:23 am

Soft racks hum, mark the car roof, and when it rains the water drips into the car, but apart from that they're excellent

!

by **drowningbitbybit** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:29 am

Broosta wrote: when it rains the water drips into the car,

oh yes, I'd forgotten that - you're right it does! :roll:

But by the time I was driving back, the car was full of stinky wetsuits, sand and seawater anyway, so it didnt seem worth worrying about

surfboard soft rack

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