1. 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. 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 this. However, you can find a SS1/4 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, but not in Tally last time I checked.
2. 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.
3. Then remove one clamp, swing the end of the Berkley rack to one side and complete the drilling thru the roof rack cross bar. 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.
4. 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.
5. If you don’t have a set of $50 to $125 crimpers or swagers (who does?), place the sleeves in a vise and individually clamp each side to compress them and form an eye in your steel cable. After measuring off the length of cable you will need, do the same thing on the other end. Although the cable does not seem like it would resist wirecutters, it is very difficult to cut with ordinary sidecutter pliers, since each stand 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. 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.
6. 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 baitcasters for example, may barely clear your 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.
Total cost for this setup is probably on the order of about $15-20 depending on where you get your hardware. Of course, if you wish, you can always buy the ready-made Thule commercial model for about 10 times this amount, but then you would miss out on all the fun of DIY!
