I'm hoping to place a floor on the roof rack that will sustain my muscular physique standing up top ;-) , I suppose to double as viewing platform, Air show pic-nic area for the nippers and such like along with the odd roof rack duties when caravanning thus allowing for tie down points midway etc.
I'm pondering the options whilst trying to balance the cost and weight
On or around Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:10:17 -0000, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:
more cost less weight
ally treadplate steel treadplate
plywood
more strength
about that, I should think. strongest and heaviest would be steel, lightest would be ally, and priciest. plywood somewhere in the middle depending on how thick.
Chicken coop flooring. It's a mesh, available in a composite material, a few dozen cable ties and you're good. Strong enough to stand on, no problem even if you're a bloke & not a chicken.
I'm leaning to the ply though concerned that I don't know enough about getting the right type of ply. Delaminating at 70 mph is not something I'd want to be a party to. Any pointers as to what sorts of ply I should be seeking and also what to treat said ply with to preserve it and make it safe (no moss).. I'd guess a type of Yatch varnish?
There is no doubt that the fuel consumption may be affected , but the 24ft
1300kg caravan behind will no doubt affect it anyway creating such disturbances to airflow that the roof rack will be negligable. Besides a 110 hardly has aerodynamics at the heart of it's design features. Also the last vehicle I towed the caravan with was a 101 Ambulance and the return on that trip was 9 mpg. If the TD gives me 20 towing with the rack on I'll be a happy chicken :-)
Then theres the fact that I won't be doing 70 with the caravan on (your worship!) :-)
If of course normal running about solo produces horrific results I will either remove the rack and place it in the garden until required, or go in the other car. The fact that the board would follow the line of the origional roof can surely not make that much difference to a rack with no boarding at all.
Cheers Natalie , I've emailed one of the companies to see if they would ship to the UK though the cost of that alone may be prohibative I can but try. I can't find anything like it in the UK.
You want 'marine ply' as is used for trailers. Sold in B&Q i believe. Should cope with getting wet and drying out. Everybody i know just used generic varnish or paint on it and it seems to do the job.
I might be off to get a sheet so can possibly deliver you one too if it fits in the back of the 101! (or you can get it from here and jigsaw it down to fit on the roofrack on my drive)
The stuff that's used for a lot of trailers is a phenolic resin-faced ply. It's that stuff with a slightly dimpled surface, often in a very dark red-brown colour. I believe it's also sold for high-grade shuttering for concrete - as distinct from normal shuttering grade ply, which is very rough stuff. It's slightly less slippery than normal ply, even when wet, but hellish expensive. If you park under trees or bushes, normal ply could become so slippery that it results in some flying displays by the kids.
It may be worth considering some sort of anti-slip paint, or that stuff like roofing felt that's sold for stair treads if you go for ordinary ply. How far apart are the bars of the roof rack? I reckon 10mm ply would be OK for a foot or so spacing, perhaps more. Wickes aren't too bad for something like that. You only need an exterior (WBP) ply - marine ply would be way OTT.
FWIW, the SD roof rack on my G4 has the marine ply boarding that Safety Devices fitted. It has numerous cut-outs to allow access to tie things down and reduce lift and looks good. IIRC Camel Vehicles had the same boarding.
They will in an emergency be able to be used as sand ladders, well at least the US ones anyhow, wire cutters and new zip fasteners to reapply them after. For as close I come to sand that should be fine. I've also read alot of reports of peeps taking sandladders across africa and never using them. Now bridging ladders would be a different bag of spanners and require something a bit thicker and thus heavier. I'm trying to keep the weight down for now.
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