To cut some cost find an old mast to make the rack. better aerodynamics and cheaper than buying aluminum.
Too thin walled.
I think this reads.....wish I would have thought of that.
Nope. Made a mast crutch from a H16 comp tip cut off. Fail. You just don't have anything to weld to. Strength of the tube alone would probably be fine so long as it isn't cantilevered out too far from the vertical supports.
I'm a big fan of over engineering, I don't need to be cobbling something together at 3:30 am on the side of the road in the middle of No and Where with a look of concern on my face as to whether or not I'm going to get sodomized by some toothless local. Or worse, lol, dumping $35k worth of catamarans off of the top rack onto the interstate. I went with 3"x3", 1/4" wall square tubing, gusset'd and braced where ever I thought prudent, and I don't expect to ever have a single issue. If I were to do it again I might do round tubing, but the labor costs go up having to saddle each piece into the next. I'd probably make the choice based on what gave the most surface are to weld to.
