Transport Plywood on your car. Plywood and lumber roof rack 

Make sure to watch your speeds. Anytime you strap something to the top of a vehicle you need to be aware the wind can try to grab it. Whenever I am transporting plywood I only take back roads home and take it nice and slow. Be safe!

Awesome! It’s vids like this that bring me back to youtube. Thank you!

Although I have a roof rack, I was thinking the other day how to load a 4 x 8 plywood on top of my small SUV. Your design would solve the problem. It is simple, inexpensive and practical. Adding a cross piece to the front is another good comment from someone below. It will make it more sturdy. In addition to using ratchet strap, I will put 2 C-clamps on the cross piece to secure the front so wind will not lift up the plywood while driving. Thanks very much!!

Great idea!👍🏻🇬🇧

Thank you for the nice video. Could you tell us where you found the metal brackets (looks like a galvanized metal with holes) for the bolts? Thank you.

How do you get the boards home to build the roof rack for carrying wood?

Thanks for this video. What store did you buy the steel plates and corner brackets from?

How can I find the flat brackets with 4 holes in HomeDepot? Thanks!

This is awesome. Getting plywood from the store without a truck has always been a struggle for me, but now I'll definitely be copying your solution.

*Hello there, I have requested your DVDs, for simpler and quicker approach to manufacture a shed **Allmy.Tips** I trust the substance are as you guaranteed it will be. Just I'm worried with the substance, it won't be anything but difficult to settle on a decision from the various plans.*

I have been having Home Depot cut my plywood sheets in thirds to fit inside my Chevy Spark, but this morning had the inspiration to just make/buy a roof rack. Thanks for your video and the links! I'll put one of these together and finally be able to do larger projects at home without having to piece together imprecisely cut pieces of plywood :D

Really nice and simple video, well explained - especially things that have gone wrong - does help a lot. Many thanks for taking the time to do it. And yes I am going to make this. 👍🏻

Thanks for the great idea! Save me from buying a gas guzzling truck!

when transporting 2.50cm x 1.25cm panels, how long should the bars be? Thank you

Why stack the 2x3 vertical? Wouldnt that just increase drag? Maybe its needed to have enough room the cut the notches out?

You listed items used in the video. A few items weren’t there - the braces. I went to Home Depot to find something similar - nope 👎 this would be two items I would trust Amazon with. Thanks for sharing this video though. I’m still gonna get err done.

Been sitting on this idea for a year. Finally tried your approach. Works great! Thanks! Actually had someone complement me on my rack at Lowe’s yesterday. 😁

if you painted them black they would look fantastic. as well as being functional.

Hey Mike i wanted to let yu know. i did the similiar set ups for many years utilizing Universal Racks and systems to carry everything on the roof of whatever vehicle i had at that time eventually i bought a small Pickup and had a CustomFiberglass topper made for that truck the shop i used was a Authorized Dealer for the Yakima system and they offered. a special mount for the fiberglass caps but the thing was if the shop installed those mounts it had a Lifetime guarantee for no leaks or cracks on the Cap so i but the Bullet and purchased a complete set up that had bike carriers and locks designed to keep my $1000.00 bike secure from theft isit was. very expensive to purchase the system but the Beauty is i’ve used that same system for over 20 years on multiple vehicles i’ve owned and Driven the original truck and cap has been long gone so in reality the investment was a old and Practical one in the long run i’ve safely carried Bicycles Ski Equipment Furniture and all kinds of building supplies and tools on top of 4 door Sedans ,pickup trucks, Vans and whatever else i had available to use im not sure of all the other competitors in that price range but i can vouch for the quality and available parts for the Yakima system again it’s very expensive but high quality usually is FYI ihave driven both Foreign and Domestic Cars and Trucks over the years and i was in GeneralConstruction for 35 years with many interests at one time going on a vacation to a Lake House using my Chevy 3500 Dually Deisel Pickup truck i hauled 9 boats using that truck the racks and one boat trailer a serious amount of ratchet straps and some ingenuity but everything we wanted on vacation was with us ! i actually had a small BostonWhaler upside down on those Yakima roof racks two boats on top of each other in the bed , a deflated Zodiac in a bag on the back seat , and a small Fiberglass Sailboat inside my Ski Boat on a trailer and it looked nuts but everything rode safely there and back home for a good vacation my family and Children loved going on each year !

Highland Brand use to market this identical bar carrier over 10 years ago. At that time the bars came with with slotted flat steel hooks, and simple cinch buckles with black straps attached. The directions: With the buckle facing downward, go over the top of the thin plastic, and return out the bottom. Take a steel hook oriented the way you would hook it to the car body. Pull the strap from under the hook and out the top. Then string the strap in the slot closest to the strap and out the remaining slot. This basically completes the whole system. You finish by mounting the bars. I have used this rack for many years with no problem on my Toyota Corolla. The only minor detail was that I could not use Highland's hook because it was not specifically for the car. I found car specific hooks from Sears when they were open, and nobody makes these hooks anymore. I am still using these bars with absolutely no problems. The bars are set about 31 ½ inches apart with the pads 10 inches from the windshield. The question is how am I able to use the bars - simply DIY the hooks and straps. The end result is that you have a short strap about 4 inches that don't go around the inside of the car which is a much stable and stronger connection. Most important: When securing and item ie door, allow the two straps (ratchet or cinch) to go around the inside of the car. This makes the system bombproof. Material: HD nylon straps www.strapworks.com/ Metal Cam Buckle www.strapworks.com/shop-by-product-type/metal-hardware/cam-buckles Rubber (bicycle inner tube) Speedy Stitcher www.amazon.com/Speedy-Stitcher-Sewing-Awl/dp/B07BMN71QF Flat hook (further explanation)

Like it , a more permanent version of the the system i use , I normally buy 2 lengths of longer timber at the same time as the ply and strap the lengths on to the rails of roof rack and then strap ply to timber from front to back . Your idear saves time in the car park attaching the timber .

bro why do you keep saying "ruff" instead of "roof"

With the 2x4 on can you open your hatch? looking to do the same and im thinking i might have to push them further forward.

Thanks for the info! You did a great job explaining the engineering part of the roof racks and the lumber rails you created. This is perfect because it's cheaper than running a truck or putting a friend out or a family member to borrow their truck.

Would of loved to see how you tie your plywood to the overall project.

Truly like your simple design. I'm going to modify it some so I can use wood clamps instead of straps to hold my sheets down.

Thanks for the info. I'm looking to do the same for my 4 Runner. I hate the fact that I don't have a pick up truck when I want to pick up oversized lumber at Home Depot or Lowes.

On my 2013 vw jettta I used 2 2x4 as the base. Tied thenm down real good. And transported 2 sheets of drywall with no problem. I drove approximately 1½ miles with it. And picked a day with low wind.

Thanks from the UK, will be starting to do some things with plywood in the future. Need to buy a roof rack first. Then a circulaw saw with those tracks, so it acts like a track saw. Hoping to make shed / Kitchen units, and shelving for home

Ok, you have saved me $40K for a pickup truck. I will use this idea, but I might use metal instead of wood.

What is a master carpenter?

Nice clear video, and really appreciated your humor throughout. Nice idea also on cutting the corners off the backs of the rails for ease of sliding the sheet goods up. I'm definitely going to do this. Fortunate enough to have racks already on my minivan.

thanks so much!

Thank you very much - this helped me out a lot. I followed your video today and I can't wait to go grab a plywood sheet tomorrow. So easy to build, so stoked to have this going forward.

Thanks for the idea. I will build this for my 2017 Explorer

Great idea!, even just a single 2x3 or 4 would be good to ratchet boards to, thanks for sharing!

I'm thinking of just having Home Depot deliver it.

thank you so much! this will be super useful for a lot more than just hauling lumber!

What length & size bolts did you use? 3/8?

Great video. Made me chuckle. 😆

Just saw another RU-vid video with this idea

Great idea! Needing this today. I guess I'll need to make 2 trips to the store - one to get the lumber for the rails, then another day to get the plywood home. Haha. :)

Love it,im fed up of sawmills picking and choosing when they will deliver, and charging to much,plus I want to pick my own timber,not the crap they bring,think what I would do is put pipe insulation around rails?

Check the installation of your roof rack. I believe you didn't install the strap through the side of the thing it sits on.

Good job and thanks for sharing.

Hi from England, that's a very useful video thanks for uploading.

Nice job thank you 🙏

Thank you so much

Thanks for video. Do you think the 2x3's you added are necessary for adding stability, or is this just to make your racks easier to take off and put on? If its for stability, the product says 150 pound capacity, which should adequetely handle a single 3/4" 4x8 plywood sheet, maybe even two sheets. I'm wondering if just adding extra rachet straps for security would be enough.

Yo, Mike.

What are those bolts called? I could not find anything like that at lowes. At least not in the bolt section. I had to use normal bolts which worked but I had to use two hands. Great video.

Perfect!! Thanks

Nice video, big help.

How to you stop the 2X4 from sliding left to right?

very helpful toturial very honest teaching througout, appreciate your tips

Nice.

Since the wood are 2x3's, what lenght are the bolts? 4" or 6"?

Clever idea and design. I've been woodworking for around ten years now and it's obvious that you have many years behind you as well.

And what size bolts (diameter is fine) are those ?

Any different setup for carrying 2x4x8 lumbers?

How did you decide how far back or forward to place the wooden rack? Should it stick out over the back of the car? Or should it be flush with the farthest back point of the car body?

There is no stop at the rear of the device. Is this a problem in the wind?

Thank you! Very simple yet practical idea. Well done!

I need something like this, and I like your design. I'm thinking about adding cross pieces connecting the ends so that I can secure the sheets with spring clamps to avoid the ratchet straps (or, in my case, nylon rope with trucker's hitches).

Well done ... thanks for taking the time to share! Cheers ...

What a brilliant idea 💡

Well done! Hope to see more