Three Yaks and a Rack!

Let me know what you think about this.

http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/kayak-forum/do-it-yourself/7419-three-yaks-and-a-rack.html

Nice idea but too weak of material to do the job. PVC is not that strong. I would use aluminum tubing instead.

I voted no. Id have a hard time trusting several thousand dollars worth of yaks to that. but maybe if he lives close to a put in and no freeway maybe it would work just fine

What if you've coated the PVC with some Polyurea.  I'm sure that's bound to work. 

Where's the no !@#$ 'ing  way option?   

Thats got disaster written all over it.

I wouldnt vote no on that until I did some weight testing. Its clean and if you look for flex or bend in the PVC while the kayaks are on the rack you wont see any. Lightweight too. All the integrity is in the construction and strength from a built design. I would be not too quick to judge it. It wont fuck up the bottom of the kayak either. Plus the fact, unlike  pads, the weight is evenly distributed over the length of the kayak. I say Bravo!

why not turn all three on edge in the bed of the truck? I can get two side by side so I bet three on edge would fit.

And to you answer your question...just do a search on what happens to PVC carts over time. Add another 100 lbs and 60mph!

Cool idea, but I'd get it welded out of aluminum. I'd never trust the lives of the folks driving behind me to PVC. Too many liabilities. It probably works fine, but if it fails......goodbye everything.
Ravensblack makes some good points but I just dunno...
Maybe for short non-highway trips it would be good, but it's not for me.

I can't see the link, but like EWB I'm wondering why not just pile em in the bed?  I've had three and could probably do 3 more with enough tie downs.

You can carry anything if you have enough tie downs.
I once hauled 3 doubles and two singles on my broncoII from Pyramid lake to SF. These were SIKs and the doubles were 18.5ft long, singles were 15ft. All on a small Conn-Ferr rack without saddles. Bow 7 stern safety lines and many tie down straps.

way back when.....most of us did not want to spend the $$ for a Wheeleez WZ1-BCF Folding Beach Cart, so many of us built many different versions of the beach cart - most of which were made with PVC and guess what? Most of 'em broke down eventually. I can't even imagine the weight of 3 kayaks (about 60 pounds a piece) strapped on to PVC and bouncing around on the bed of a pick-up truck. IMO, a disaster waiting to happen

The benefits of PVC is that it is generally lightweight, easy to work with, and inexpensive. It is ridging locally, yet flexible over a distance.

With most anything it will fail eventually, the problem with PVC is that it fails catastrophically. Where a similar design in aluminum will distort over time usually giving a visual indication of possible failure.

 the problem with PVC is that it fails catastrophically.

I work at a greenhouse operation and we use miles of PVC 6 inch down to .5 inch and team_chancho nailed my worries.  Stress does weaken the PVC over time.  One minute a rack, the next shards of plastic, your yaks bouncing down the freeway and of course they will hit a Ferrari, Lexus and BMW.  All driven by attorneys.   

All the integrity is in the construction and strength from a built design.

Yeah...you gotta factor materials in there too though. Pvc piping was never intended to be used as primary support in a load bearing structure.  Im sure it would hold up for a bit but not long.  Lol, plus the idea of having a couple g's worth of gear riding on 20 bucks worth of plumbing supplies sounds like a doofus move. 

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way back when.....most of us did not want to spend the $$ for a Wheeleez WZ1-BCF Folding Beach Cart, so many of us built many different versions of the beach cart - most of which were made with PVC and guess what? Most of 'em broke down eventually. I can't even imagine the weight of 3 kayaks (about 60 pounds a piece) strapped on to PVC and bouncing around on the bed of a pick-up truck. IMO, a disaster waiting to happen

All the homemade carts Ive seen so far are made from PVC thats like 1inch. Yea that has to fail somewhere. Then again they are carted over rough terrain torquing the frame of the cart to the point that the joints fail. Agreed that PVC will break down when exposed to UV but thats over a long period of time. I still believe it would work. Winter experiment time I guess you nay sayers.