I was pretty close to building mine. I had it drawn up, had my parts list assembled when I saw a group buy on it. The group buy was only $100 more so I went with that. When I got it, I swapped all the hardware for stainless and I added edge trim where it clamped on the gutter so it didn't dig into the paint.
There's a few things that I would do diffrent if I made mine.
1.The clamping system works but needs improvement. There is another company making one like it with a better clamp. It looks to be a 2" wide draw clamp. I was never able to figure out where he sourced them. It has never had an issue, I just think I can make it better. If your bolting yours down, obviously this won't apply.
2a. Good tie down points on the bars.
Everyone uses 1/4" eye bolts on T-Nuts (including myself). These work well in the slots and they can be moved. I eventually made some wide tie offs out of 1/4" 3x3 angle. They attach under the crossbar with 2 T-Nuts, cut off on the bottom at 2.25" and stick up 3" with a 1" hole on top. This gives me a stronger moveable tie off that acts like a short wall to prevent cargo from sliding. I made a couple for my last trip to try out and now I need to make more. I got the idea when I made my awning mounts out of the same material.
2b. Good tie down points on the sides. Part two from above. When I drew up the plans for mine, the sides were going to have raised tabs with holes for tie offs. Now I'm going to use 2" wide plate, bolted to the side rail's similar to the ones on the crossbars.
3. More crossbars. Not so much for strength. I have about 10" between rails (guessing). I would like to have no more than 6" wide gaps. Some of my boxes hang over slightly. It's never an issue I just want a better platform.
Overall I like the design. I've had mine since they first came out and it's worked flawlessly. I did add a 10 gauge ground wire for my antennas, solar and eventually I will cut the front windscreen for a light bar.
