Thanks to Riddler for the basic idea. However, instead of a 4-place Berkley rodholder, I used a 6-place. This allows you to carry four rods reasonably comfortably in the 6-place rack. Unless you alternate placing the reels and rod tips on the front and rear racks, it is very difficult to carry 6 rods (or four on a 4-place) on the 6-place rod rack without stacking the adjacent reels one over the other. I also used a 3/16" eye bolt instead of the 1/4-inch.
- The basic equipment you will need for a non-locking rack is shown here. Be sure and get the Berkley horizontal rod rack and not the vertical model (about 10 bucks at Sports Authority & 15 at West Marine). You can use either 21/2 inch or 2 inch 3/16" eyebolts, and either regular hex nuts or wing nuts. However, it seems that no one carries a SS 3/16 eye bolt longer than 2 inches locally (which is barely long enough) among Lowe’s, Home Depot or West Marine. So if you don’t mind using a 21/2 inch zinc-plated 3/16 eyebolt, I would recommend the 21/2 inch. However, you can find a SS 1/4 inch eye bolt in 21/2 or 25/8 inch length with no problem, so that is another way to go. The 10" bungees are available from either Lowe’s or the Depot. You can also find these bungees with SS hooks at most Boat U.S., West Marine, or Boater’s World stores, although my local West Marine does not carry them.
- To get started, simply use the Berkley rack as a template and loosely clamp it to your roof rack cross bar so that the hole in the rack is not covered. Then using a 3/16" bit, drill a starter hole into the rubber or plastic covering on the Thule or Yakima-style racks.
- Then remove one clamp, swing the end of the Berkley rack to one side and complete the drilling thru the roof rack cross bar. Contrary to what riddler had said, it took me quite a while to get thru the Thule bar with a standard (new) high-speed drill bit. I would imagine a titanium-tipped bit would be mucho better. Then attach one of your eyebolts in the drilled end of your rod rack and bar, drill a starter hole in the other end, remove the Berkley rack and complete drilling thru the cross bar. Do the same at the other end of your roof rack.
- To complete the rod rack, and to make it lockable, buy a three-foot length of 3/32-inch plastic-coated steel cable at Lowe’s or the Depot. Then get a package of 5/32 inch oval, (zinc-plated copper) sleeves at West Marine (SeaFit model #2684249). Insert the cable in the sleeves to form an eye at each end. Depending on the size and number of your rods and reels, you may need slightly more or less cable than three feet (with eyes spliced in, mine came out to about 32" overall length). It is better to be a bit too long than too short since you can always take up slack with an extra turn or two if it is too long. If you need locks, you can buy a two-pack of small Master/American locks that both use the same key at Lowe’s, for example.
- If you don’t have a set of $50 crimpers (who does?), clamp the sleeves in a vise on both sides and then again in the middle to crimp the cable and form an eye. Although this cable does not seem like it would resist wirecutters, it is very difficult to cut with ordinary sidecutters, since each strand or two tends to cut individually. Then wrap the cable over and around the reels, making certain that you wrap the cable around the rod, reel, Berkley rod rack, and your cross bar. This makes it nigh well impossible to just remove the entire Berkley rod rack and walk off with the whole shebang if you have a couple of turns around the cross bars of your roof rack cross bar in addition. Or if you are going directly to your fishing spot, just leave the lockable cable off and use only the 10" bungee to secure your rods and reels.
And here is the finished product: the front of the vehicle is to the right. You can wrap the locking cable as you see fit, depending on the size and type of reels that you have. I would suggest wrapping it around the reels and then the cross bar in order to make it more secure, rather than just looping it over the rod butts only. Large spinning reels, such as my Shimano Baitrunners for example, may barely clear the rooftop, so you may have to mount or stack these at a slight angle to avoid scratching your roof. I also had to pull the black, spongy stuff out the bottom of the Berkley rack and slice off some pieces in order for the rod butts to fit securely in the rack U-slots.
