[tinsoul]

I'm working on a light to medium duty utility rack for the bed, and it'll pull out from under the tonneau, ie- you can still have the stock folding tonneau and be able to use this utility rack to extend the use of the luggage rack. I'm going to have it stowed along the bed sides when not in use. I have not seen any aftermarket racks that do this, although there are some temp. racks out there.

The other thing I'll look into is installing a solenoid to interrupt/block the unlatching of the tailgate. I heard one company is coming out with one for $90, and if my idea doesn't work of course I'd go with that, but I think I can do it much cheaper.
Both of these ideas are very do-able, and I'll let you all know my progress.

 

[zero]

Definitely keep us updated on your efforts.

 

[tinsoul]

I bought all the metal for the rack, but now I'm changing my ideas on the tonneau, which was not part of my original plan. Anyways, I think I can make the stock Honda tonneau pivot in the middle, so that either the front or the back could be lifted, and if you lift both sides you could remove the tonneau entirely. This would use completely different hardware and would then allow the proposed rack to utilize the side rails currently used by the tonneau. Anyways, I'm still working on it, it will happen.