Ratcheting Shovel or Paddle Mount for Front Runner Slimline II Platform Racks - Side Mount

Video Transcript for Front Runner Slimline II Platform Racks Ratcheting Shovel or Paddle Mount Review

Hey everyone, it's Evangeline, and today we have our ratcheting shovel or paddle holder for your Front Runner Slimline racks. We'll take a look at how this works, how it installs right here at etrailer. So you have your Front Runner rack and you're ready to put all kinds of fun accessories on it. Now, if you are carrying a lot of things, you do have to be mindful of the space that everything takes up. So this is gonna be our ratcheting holder. That way if you wanna carry around your shovels, your paddles, your nets, you can put them off to the side or the front of your rack and you can free up the center area for tents and other accessories.

Now this is gonna be a very strong and durable holder. It can carry handles of up to half an inch to 2 inches in diameter, so this will be good for most applications. The way this works is we have this metal bracket creating a hold on your shovel or other handles, and then securing everything in place is this ratcheting strap. So if you've ever used like a bike rack, this might be a very familiar design to you, except this has an extra feature where you have this ratcheting lever. You pull on the lever and this pulls down on the handle, creating the most tension and security you can get.

As cool as that was for grip, we took the shovel off so you could see what that metal bracket inside looks like. Now since this is metal, you do have to be mindful of what you do have mounted here. If it's something that is made of, maybe, plastic or even carbon fiber, like some paddles, you have to be careful as you ratchet it down so you don't pinch it too tight. And this is going to fit around those handles. But like I mentioned, from a half-inch to a 2-inch diameter handle, that is because of how this bracket is shaped and the length of the strap.

To get everything installed, we do have our two brackets. So one bracket is gonna be the plate, the other one is going to be for your strap. So the bolts are included. Let's get them put together. For our metal bracket, notice how we have the bolt, the flat washer, then the strap, and then the bolt goes through the metal bracket.

We don't have the nut in there yet because we first need to set that up on our rack. For this, you do not need to remove the corner bracket, you just get your nyloc nut and that's gonna fit inside that corner bracket and you are gonna slide it through. Once that slid through, you can then get the rest of your metal bracket. Move the nut over to a spot in between the slats, and that's because there's a hole underneath your side rail where you can attach the rest of your metal bracket too. But first we're going to line up our strap with the bolt sticking through it, and that is gonna secure to that nut that is in the rail. Line up your bracket, so it lines up with the hole in the rack, and that way you can get your strap bracket up and into that spot. Now this is gonna be secured with a nyloc nut and you can tighten that down. This is going to use a 13-millimeter or half-inch wrench, and that's gonna secure the nut, while you use a 5-millimeter Allen key to tighten down the bolt. So this whole process here can be a little tricky to do because there's limited clearance underneath that strap bracket as well as in the rack, so just do your best. As you're installing your second ratcheting strap, be mindful of the location between the slats where you can put the strap and make sure it lines up with the handle of whatever you're carrying. For example, we have this spade here and our straps are situated 16-inches apart, which is perfect. But if you had a longer paddle or shorter handle, that's something you can adjust, except for the fact that your adjustment points are only 8 inches apart. If you need a spot in between those, it's easier to go shorter than it is to go further apart. To secure what you're carrying, you have the strap. The strap fits into your bottom piece. And notice here how you can lift this lever, and that's gonna ratchet your strap down. We're gonna want it as secure as it can get, although not too tight. So like here is perfect. Do that on both sides. And when you're ready to release whatever you're carrying, you lift up on the lever underneath and that disengages the strap so you can fully take it out once it's loose and then go on with your day. Now, this isn't the ideal configuration for our paddle, but this is a great way to take a look and be mindful of the length of whatever you're carrying. Notice how far this sticks out. So we would not be able to open up our hatch of our vehicle. Fortunately, it's easy to take the paddle off if needed, but that's something to consider when you're putting this on your rack. So you put it off of the sides or the top channels, whichever works best for you. So a lot of what Front Runner does is they make accessories and brackets that you customize to work best for you. For example, we now have our shovel here, and this is a perfect fit both for the length of the shovel as well as clearances around the shovel. We have our RotopaX mount up ahead, and I have space for all of our canisters, and I can carry around our shovel here in the back. So whether you're carrying around shovels, spades, nets, paddles, you can carry them with this strap. And since it ratchets down, you have a very strong and sturdy fit on your vehicle. So hopefully, this video helped you out with seeing how to customize this, how to install this, and why you might need to use this. This was a look at our ratcheting strap for your shovel or paddle from Front Runner for your Front Runner racks here at etrailer. My name's Evangelina and I hope you enjoyed the journey.