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MikeAqua

7785 posts

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#306996 11-Sep-2023 15:40
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I enjoy a bit of carpentry. I often recycle pallets or buy sheet plywood/MDF/melamine.  My current transport method is to use my boat as a trailer.  This works, but it's really too big to be practical for M10 etc carparks.

 

Then I had a (potentially) cunning idea.  Our SUV has a hitch receiver.  I could make a rack to hold pallets and plywood.  I'm thinking something like a toast rack on a giant scale with two or three slots, three tie down points per panel, a duplicate plate hodler and trailer lights.  Not that different to a heavy duty bike rack.  A couple of hundred dollars worth of steel to make, plus a slab for the welder. 

 

The vehicle is >1.2m wide and close to 2m tall.  The panel rack would only be used in the 50kmh zone. There would be little windage acting on solid sheets of plywood and almost nothing on pallets.  

 

The hitch is rated for 250k down-weight.  As a rough guide a sheet of 25mm plywood weighs 40kg.   I can't see a downside (assuming appropriate build quality).  But I'd appreciate other people's thought on risks.  

 

 





Mike


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RunningMan
8965 posts

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  #3126093 11-Sep-2023 16:14
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If you're getting standard 2400 sheets of whatever, that will stick up over the vehicle roof. That wind pressure will act on the end of a long lever, meaning the force at the hitch itself could be quite significant, and also in a direction not intended by the designer. Some way of transferring that force to a roof rack or something higher up would possibly help, but having said that, could you just use a roof rack for transport instead? You can get some with ends that telescope or are a bit wider than the vehicle to make loading a sheet easier.


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