Hi, That's a good point but for a couple of reasons it was designed to face forward and should not be turned around:
* The aerodynamic design allows airflow to push down on the racks the faster you go and thus it faces forward assisting the magnets at high speeds; the design also adds to the looks as well.
* On smaller 4-door and 2-door vehicles the 12' rods would be sticking out a lot if MAGNERAK is turned around and placed backwards. Most vehicles have more room in the front so the rods will hang over the perimeter of the vehicles instead of extending out beyond legal limits which may vary state by state. Many vehicles have sunroofs so the rack is placed more toward the rear of the vehicle as can be seen on the Ford Explorer in the opening scene of the video and other smaller vehicles.
* The hump in the rear of MAGNERAK accommodates the reels that are mounted on the rods, we stagger them to fit. (After the 1st time you try it you'll get an idea how to place the various combinations of sizes of rods/reels you may have). This is another reason the rods cannot be placed facing backwards inside the device either, they will not fit. So in addition to supporting the airflow the design accommodates fairly big spinning and conventional reels. All testing was done with two 12' rods + one 9' rod primarily. Lately I travel with a 12 footer, a 10 and a 9 footer in one MAGNERAK and 5 bass/light tackle 7' rods with reels in another MAGNERAK. As I fish saltwater and freshwater its great to be ready for different scenarios on a 2-3 day fishing trip with the family. Or just grab one setup when making a quick run to the lake.
* We actually have 1 person who bought 2 CLAMPS models. He has a pickup truck with crossbars in the front above the roof and he says he will put them on backwards as they are clamped and not magnetic. Although this may be an exception for MAGNERAK C1 CLAMPS model and will probably be fine, I do not advise it as I have not tested C1 that way.
* In rare instances when you may have flying debris or if anything hits your gear or the racks, you must pull over and inspect the racks, gear and vehicle. Until now we have never had the racks move even when hit by small debris, small birds, and a half filled 24 oz beer can that was tossed out of a moving vehicle at 40-50 mph. It bounced off the windshield and stuck between the rods and rack pouring beer all over the vehicle. I immediately pulled over safely to inspect and clean up. MAGNERAK did not move and rods were fine.
Thank you!
Zee
