When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Ahaha...good use of the Merc...I dunno if I'd do the same but...Glad to know it's possible.
There IS a pretty significant width limitation.
The C63 roofline has a lot of "tumblehome" (side windows tilt inward a LOT), so the actual roof is narrow. Then, Mercedes had Thule use a "captured crossbars" design versus towers that would accept variable length crossbars. They did this for both appearance and anti-theft protection (A thief can't steal the crossbars off of the lockable towers!)
The net result is that the widest canoe (or other cargo) that can be accommodated is about 29 inches.
This is no problem for bicycles, surfboards, skis, paddleboards, kayaks, or cargo boxes, but it is a significant limitation for canoes. Most canoes are 30 to 38" wide - significantly wider than kayaks - in order to displace enough water for sufficient freeboard for the hull to keep a non-decked canoe afloat in non-calm water.
My own canoe is almost 33" wide at its widest point, BUT it too has a "tumblehome" hull design, which results in an external width of just 29" at the gunwales! A set of crossbar-mounted "blocks" keeps the canoe from sliding sideways, and the ratchet webbed tiedowns keep it snugged to the crossbars vertically and longitudinally.
Since I knew about the roof rack 29" width limitation, this was a key criteria in choosing which canoe I would buy!
Awesome! I bought a set of Whispbar crossbars and a couple of bike carriers for my C63. The Whispbar system sits much lower than the MB solution.
Does the Whispbar solution also use the threaded bolt holes in the C63 roof, or ?
The use of those solid threaded bolt holes was a BIG feature in my liking the MB-Thule solution. Much stronger than the more typical "clamp-on" roof rack towers. Also, the MB-Thule rack towers NEVER touch the paint ANYWHERE. The ONLY contact points with the car are the 4 bolts (3/8" diameter!).
Also, when hauling a canoe or kayak, the space between the crossbars and the roof is needed in order to get your hands in to install a tiedown that ties from a solid point on the canoe to a roof crossbar in order to prevent the canoe from sliding forward under hard braking in an emergency stop, or if fighting a strong headwind at highway speeds. With a bicycle rack, you don't have that issue, as the bicycle rack is not "tapered" like a canoe or kayak and also is usually far less weight and wind-catching cross-sectional area.
Interesting fact from the canoe and kayak manufacturers: Way more canoes and kayaks are damaged or destroyed by falling off of vehicles at highway speed than are damaged in whitewater incidents. The cause is usually inadequate tieing down of the canoe or kayak OR the roof rack detaching from the vehicle - sometimes pulling pieces of car roof sheetmetal with it, and of course trashing the car's paint job! Not something you want to have happen to your C63!
Jim G
p.s. A C63 with a canoe on it will successfully handle the clearance height of a typical public parking garage. A C63 with a kayak or bicycle on it will not!
Last edited by JimGnitecki; Aug 21, 2017 at 10:58 PM.
The Whispbar rack uses the existing C63 attaching points. By the way, Whispbar was acquired by Yakima a couple of years ago.
Those look really nice with their "low slung" design! For bicycles, skis, paddleboards, and cargo boxes, these would be a really attractive way to go! For canoes, the access to the "underside" of the canoe, and the lower overhang of the upsidedown "higher" canoe bow into the driver's line of vision would be disadvantages.
Very sleek for a roof rack! Also "clears the way" for you better than my MB-Thule setup, as it looks even MORE like a police light bar in a driver's rear view mirror!
mouse over image, go into share links, select the forum/BBcode one, copy, paste, done.
imgur.com is independent of MBWorld. So, the same thing could happen there as did with Photobucket, right? i.e. You can no longer store images on Photobucket for free, so now all links you made to Photobucket are no longer nay good. This is why I wanted to upload to MBWorld instead, as these C63 images are MBWorld-specific anyway.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
