So, if you're like me, you don't get to camp every day and driving around with a giant heavy block on the roof did not appeal to me or my gas tank. I wanted to find a way to have an RTT with the convenience of easy removal when not in use.
I already have a Harken Hoister in the garage for my 2014 JKU's hardtop, but in a low ceilinged area that wouldn't work for the Pioneer Platform and Tepui Ruggedized Autana 3. So I decided to install a second hoister on the 18 foot ceiling in my garage. Lo and behold, Harken doesn't make a pulley system that can handle the weight of my platform, tent and awning (RhinoRack Batwing). Total weight is about 310 lbs. Harken's strongest hoister goes up to 200 lbs, so not even close for this project. I did email back and forth with one of their engineers and she gave me some great ideas for additional pulleys and fixation points. So I added 4 more pulleys into the system attaching to the load straps. ( I replaced Harken's with some 2000 lb straps). The line from the pulley is fixed to the mounting board with an eye, then to the load strap pulley and then to the traditional Hoister set-up. This addition of second fixation point and pulley cuts the load to the block and tackle by half. Yes, half! And that takes my 310 lb rack and now puts a 155 lb load on the 200 pound rated 8:1 block and tackle. I did upgrade the lines to 6 mm 2500 pound double braided polyester sailing line. This made their standard line organizer a tight fit, so I bought a second set of the 38 mm pulley wheels from Harken and stacked the new organizer as seen in the pics below.
Long story long, this pulley system doesn't even blink at the full load I'm placing on it and makes it easy to load and remove the entire rack and camp gear by myself. I even used it to install the Tepui tent solo yesterday. It hoists high enough to clear the garage door and just low enough to hit a pair of sawhorses for working on the rack. Hard to really get it from this post and my pics, but happy to directly message anyone that wants to duplicate this as its a game changer and I couldn't find mention of this modification done by anyone else.
Happy camper indeed!!
I already have a Harken Hoister in the garage for my 2014 JKU's hardtop, but in a low ceilinged area that wouldn't work for the Pioneer Platform and Tepui Ruggedized Autana 3. So I decided to install a second hoister on the 18 foot ceiling in my garage. Lo and behold, Harken doesn't make a pulley system that can handle the weight of my platform, tent and awning (RhinoRack Batwing). Total weight is about 310 lbs. Harken's strongest hoister goes up to 200 lbs, so not even close for this project. I did email back and forth with one of their engineers and she gave me some great ideas for additional pulleys and fixation points. So I added 4 more pulleys into the system attaching to the load straps. ( I replaced Harken's with some 2000 lb straps). The line from the pulley is fixed to the mounting board with an eye, then to the load strap pulley and then to the traditional Hoister set-up. This addition of second fixation point and pulley cuts the load to the block and tackle by half. Yes, half! And that takes my 310 lb rack and now puts a 155 lb load on the 200 pound rated 8:1 block and tackle. I did upgrade the lines to 6 mm 2500 pound double braided polyester sailing line. This made their standard line organizer a tight fit, so I bought a second set of the 38 mm pulley wheels from Harken and stacked the new organizer as seen in the pics below.
Long story long, this pulley system doesn't even blink at the full load I'm placing on it and makes it easy to load and remove the entire rack and camp gear by myself. I even used it to install the Tepui tent solo yesterday. It hoists high enough to clear the garage door and just low enough to hit a pair of sawhorses for working on the rack. Hard to really get it from this post and my pics, but happy to directly message anyone that wants to duplicate this as its a game changer and I couldn't find mention of this modification done by anyone else.
Happy camper indeed!!
