Is there anyway to safely transport a 1/2"-4'X8' plywood panel on the factory standard roof rack of a 2006 Forester? Thank you.

for a one time deal - sure. But a small tailer or borrowing a friends truck, or renting the HD truck, or paying for delivery are all options for more substantial/frequent delivery.

 

You don't need racks. Just cut a 10' 2x4 into two 5' lengths. Place them across your racks as far apart as possible and close to the actual rack supports. Tie them securely to the rack with some good rope. Then you can tie your lumber onto the 2x4's. The reason I say you should use 5' lengths is so that they project 6" beyond the plywood or drywall on both sides to facilitate tying things down. Of course, you should start and stop smoothly and try not to "jerk" the load or drive in high winds etc..

I use the setup in my avatar on my 87 wagon. It's a full 12 foot rack. For a single sheet of 1/2" or thinner, I put a 2x4x8 down the center on top of the plywood. Strap it across with ratchet straps. This prevents the wind that gets under it at highway speed from snapping it lengthwise. To use the stock racks, the earlier reply sounds like it would work for low speed.

If you have to travel much more than a couple of miles or over 40mph find a truck. 

The roof rails ways is probably better than inside, and I don't know if 48" wide will fit diagonally in the back or how that would work .. but in my '94 Legacy I hauled a sheet of 4'x8'x5/8" in the back. The loader helped me jam it in there diagonally as far as it would go, which was only like a bit over 1/3 of the way. He looked at me like I was crazy and I said com'n this can't be the craziest thing you've ever seen someone do here. Top 10 maybe. I rope the tailgate down over it and tied it. I was only going like 1/2 mile on a sidestreet from the lumber store so it wasn't too bad. The thing was so wedged in there I had trouble getting it out. And it scratched the heck out of the plastics. Then I went back and got a 2nd sheet. The guy wanted to put on the roof rack but those sheets were like 60+ lbs and I thought it would be too hard to get it off there myself. Pulling it out the back worked great, then I just had a furniture dolly there and wheeled it into the garage. I will definitely miss the cargo carrying ability in those. I carried a refrigerator back there one time, a full size upright freezer another time, with the tailgate fully closed. It was great.

Edited July 13, 20169 yr by porcupine73

Strap it down with ratchet straps and it'll be fine. I wouldn't go on the interstate/freeway with it, but easy driving on streets it should be fine.