Hi folks I'm needing to mount my Pelican cast to my rear Borneau rack on my DR350SE. As the rack is a bit smaller than my 1550 Pelican I thought I would mount a piece of 5/8th plywood to the tubular rack the same size as the bottom of my Pelican. So my question is how do I mount the plywood to the tubular rack so my Pelican case will lay flat on the plywood....? I"m sure there is an easy solution but my limited brain capacity can't figure it out (please include pics of ideas/mounting hardware). I'm planning on using wing nuts to mount the case so I can take it off if I want without too much fuss. Ps: the tubes are too small a diametre to drill a hole through which is what I'd like to do so I could bolt the plywood "through" the tube but no such luck.
I mounted a box similar to the Pelican to the cast aluminum rack on my bike using brackets designed to hold 1/2" EMT wiring conduit to a wall. In my case I didn't make any kind of quick-removal arrangement, I just ran machine screws down through the box floor to the brackets, and put nylon lock nuts on. You could get some T-nuts (which embed into the wood and project out only a very small amount) and put them on the upper surface of the plywood, put the brackets on the underside and run bolts up into the T-nuts. You'd have to cut the bolts short so they don't protrude, probably. Sorry if this isn't clear. PM me if you want more help.
Thanks for the great ideas folks. What about just "U" bolting the case right to the tubular rack and forget about the plyood. I"d have the wings nuts inside the case so it would take more time to remove the case but not a big deal. Would I want to put some sort of material (rubber) between case and the rack to help with vibration and wear? I'll look up those clamp suggestions as well. Another idea was to use hose clamps as when tighten up they would sit flat against the plywood. Cheers...
see post #12 for how I mounted cheaply to a tubular rack. http://www.honda599.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9541
I used these: Made a plate: Drilled some holes, rubber washers for vibration and water resistance, and some wing nuts to hold it on: Voila! Used it for my camera. bolted on super snug, slight vibration damping seemed to work pretty well and it never gave me any indication that it would come off. I almost safety wired it just in case (again, camera was in there...)... but it was easy to make, cheap, and worked great!
Wow that looks like the cat's meow with those aircraft clamps, nicely done and very helpful! Did you put anything between the bottom of the case and the bolt heads to prevent possible wear on the bottom? I guess it would not wear if its securely bolted into place though. Interesting to see the case mounted sideways, (I guess that would narrow up the profile for those "tight spots). What model of Pelican is that? I have the 1550, mounting it sideways would be good to narrow up the profile on my DR350 but I wonder if it would be better to keep the contents weight closer to the center of the bike and not having more hang off the end of the bike...? Here's yet another idea from a buddy. He suggested I use very large zap ties/straps to hold the mounting plate (ie: cutting board material) to the rack. He is very confident they would not come off for nuthin. They are easy to install, lay flat and can be replaced on the road in a jiffy.
It's a Pelican 1300, just big enough for a single DSLR, and I did mount it sideways on purpose to minimize the profile... It would be easy enough to fab up a slightly larger aluminum sheet to bolt on with the little bracket things... chances are the mounting points on the 1550 arent that much larger than the ones on the 1300.. shouldnt be a huge deal.. I don't think it matters one way or the other which orientation you choose for the case, it's not that much weight being moved a couple inches outward if you mount the case facing the back... The bike weighs a couple hundred pounds and the average ADVrider weighs a couple hundred pounds... the center of gravity of the box itself shouldnt change enough to make a difference.. fit it where you think you'll use it best... As far as the bottom of the case wearing, I mounted the case using the molded in mounting points, 4 little dots on the bottom. They won't wear through.. just bolt it down snug and go for it. As far as zip ties go, they have repeatedly impressed me with their strength.. but I wouldn't trust them to hold a box of my belongings on my bike if i were to drop it or something... bolting the board in place isn't expensive or difficult.. If you don't care if you lose your stuff, you might as well strap a small duffel on hte back and call it a day.. What are you packing with your Pelican box? That makes the biggest difference.. if it's camera equipment, bolt that shit down, and safety wire it just in case... if it's clothing and your toothbrush, zip tie it, you can buy another toothbrush... it just depends!
Another thought.. instead of Zip ties, you could theoretically use small metal hose clamps, like from Autozone... be less likely to break than a zip tie, and very cheap, and you'd just have to cut a couple small slots in your baseplate... Also, I'd use aluminum or something else that will bend instead of break.. chances are your cutting board will be ok.. but all my cutting boards are plastic, and I don't think i'd trust them after drilling all sorts of holes and bolting them down in a manner not originally intended.. you can always beat metal back into place.. plastic doesnt really work like that..
I did the same. It's surprisingly VERY strong and sturdy and non permanent. I can life the bike by that GIVI plate if I wanted to.
Great ideas using the wire clamps. Gonna get some of those tomorrow. I'm really liking that GI Joe HD 500. Super nice.
