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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Harry Dawg" data-source="post: 29559" data-attributes="member: 13234">Looking to get some feedback from the engineers here.I recently acquired an OVS 270 overland awning for FREE! Massive score, and I am stoked to have it.Only problem is, there is no mounting solution for the factory cargo bars or a basket style roof rack like I have.So, I was thinking about welding in some sheet metal onto the side of the basket and drilling 4 holes for the awning mounts.A couple concerns 1) The cheap thin wall tubing on the basket rack is going to get way hot and blow through before the steel plate does. Probably not great metallurgy here. 2) It's a lot of weight to support (70 LBS) on a fulcrum, so I am worried if I don't get good penetration the welds will break and just rip the sheet metal off.There is a piece of thin metal spot welded to the front to act as a wind deflector, but it looks like they may have used some kind of cold welding or mechanical weld process. If I could get the same effect just with thicker plate, I think it would hold the awning as it's pretty solid.Anyways - Open to ideas here if anyone is inclined to reply. I also thought about bracing the steel plate with something like a U-bolt to aid in load distribution (The sheet metal will run the full length of the roof rack FYI, just to increase contact area and spread the load out.Edit - After doing some more research with Google AI, I determined the Mockins roofrack is made of approximately 16 gauge steel. I found some 16 gauge sheet steel at Home Depot for like $24 for a 12" x 24" sheet, so I am going to pick up the materials.Will try with a MIG welder at 60 Amps and see what happens. Will report back when finished.</blockquote>