Child carrier / pannier rack

[ootini]

Hi all, can someone please explain to me why this is a horribly bad idea before I declare myself a genius. The Mrs has decided she'd like to come with me on an overnighter next week, this is great, it's nice to have company. However, it does change my plans a little, firstly she's quite new to biking and her current iron horse is a rusted out piece of garbage, with this in mind I'm keeping the distances down to 30 miles per day (TBF we're leaving at lunch time on the Saturday and hope to be finished by lunch time on Sunday). The other challenges this creates are:
* My current 2 man tent is too small for both of us and kit, therefore I'm now taking our larger Vango tent.
* Her bike (Emelle nightshade) is not designed to carry anything, it's crap, so I needed to think of a way to carry her kit.

Carrying the Vango was an issue resolved quite quickly. I simply man up and carry it all on my bars, just means to dry bags, not one. Went for a spin last night with it all strapped on and to be honest, it's not made that big a difference.

The biggest issue is carrying kit on here bike, now she's used to riding with rear weight as she often cycles with our 18 month old son in his Hamax Kiss child seat on here bike. I was thinking about this and had a brainwave. The child seat can be removed from the supporting steel bars, which can basically act like a simple, top rack. They look like this


Tada! So, whip the seat off, pack her stuff in a dry bag, strap it to the steel bars and we're golden.

So, am I a genius, or is this going to bite me on the arse?

[benp1]

More likely to be her arse than yours!

As long as it's not too bumpy and the weight is low I can't see it being an issue?

[voodoo_simon]

I'd leave the seat on and pack all your stuff into it, might be more secure that way?