Well...I scrapped the plumbing pipe plan and pulled the trigger on a Gobi stealth rack...$700+147 shipping. It came yesterday and I dropped it off at Rudy's for a little plasma cutting and powder coating.
They're gonna cut the top bar off to convert it to a flat rack and re-powder coat it. To get the lowest profile possible I may have to have some shorter mounting brackets fabbed. It looks like it'll set pretty close to the roof as is...but we'll see.
The work should be done by Monday-Tuesday...I'll post pics as this progresses.
EDIT: in case anyone else is wondering...the outer portion of the sandwich clamp is removable once you get the Allen bolt out; but there's a metal support welded in place connecting both the top and bottom rail.
