To anyone with roof racks on their Mini, I would be interested in knowing the distance between the crossbars for the various Mini roof racks - the stock one, the Thule, Mt Blanc and Yakima. And any others I haven't run into yet.

I want to carry a rowing shell, and want the one with the greatest distance, since the shell is very long, but no one seems to list the distance in the specs.

 

Thought I should answer my own question, in case anyone else needs the info.
Thule 24 inchs apart/110 lbs.
Yakimas 18" apart /75 lbs (!).
Mini 27" /165 lbs.
Mt Blanc 28"/165(?)
Thule lists a Short Roof Kit that puts the back bar 4" further to the rear. The Mt Blanc racks have an almost identical arrangement. Both seem to offer a lot of extra hardware, and in the case of the Thule, expense, for very modest gain.

That being the case, I think I will go with the factory ones, as they are the best looking and strongest, figuring the I can make a backbone-type holder for the shell, to put the cradles a bit further apart. One bonus to the factory rack - since both racks don't have to fit in the door opening, the Mini rack can sit further back, which should greatly reduce the wind noise.

 

I am having the same problem finding a rack with a longer mount distance. Thank you for your advice on the mini rack, but it was my understanding that the rubber molding on the gutter had to be removed in specific points for the racks to mount, regulating the distance. Am I looking at the wrong mini rack?