Mr. C wrote:
On Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:33:20 GMT, Brian Nystrom
wrote:


There really are no inexpensive racks. You either use the cheap foam
blocks and straps, which pose risks of damage the the car and are not
especially secure, [snip]


Brian,

I am curious what you mean by "posing risks of damage to the car"

Unless the blocks are set on top of rigidly supported sections of the
roof, there is a risk of denting it. Any grit that gets under the blocks
will damage the paint, since the blocks tend to squirm around on the roof.

and "are not especially secure".

Foam blocks on a roof tend to move around, especially in crosswinds. The
bow(s) and stern(s) need to very well secured with additional tie downs
in order to reduce the amount of movement.

I am not going on the offense on this, I
just wonder if you could expand a little.

No problem.

I have foam blocks I use on my standard roof rack on a Voyager and it
is very secure, solid as a rock, and does absolutely no damage to the
vehicle.

That's a different situation, since you have a rack and the blocks
function only as saddles. They're not as secure as bolt-on saddles, but
it's a more secure setup than blocks set on the roof directly.

Did you mean the blocks that sit right on top of the roof
with tie-downs that go through window?

Yup.