Roof rack provisions.

[dales133]

For those of you with roof racks on your TD what have you used to support i and what sort of weight have you put on it..
I've had several ideas.
First thought was to have 2 steel square box sections running up between the skins to bolt into that are welded to the chassis.
This will over complicate building the walls and assembly though.
Second option would be to use wider than normal prices of hardwood in the frame with says aligned to them in the roof.
Anyone done something similar, or different for that matter they are happy with?

[Redneck Teepee]

Here's a thread on mine, not all builds have 3/4 Birch Ply sides but this worked out for me.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=60566

[grant whipp]

Hey, Dale!

What is your wall construction? I use plywood walls (with cutouts and insulation) and have put racks on the last couple of my personal teardrops:


What you don't see in this pic is the 7-gallon propane tank (full) and the portable propane fire-pit that had already been unloaded. I've also carried a 17' Grumman aluminum canoe on top of a similar load, all with no problems!


This pic shows the simple mounting system ... the racks are removable, and the stainless steel bolts that hold the rain-gutter sections to the walls have only 1-1/2" ss washers against the inside walls.

I've never weighed all the stuff I've put in that basket and on the racks ... all I can tell you is that my back always hurt after loading or unloading it ... ...!

Check out a couple of bicycle or canoe/kayak stores in your area ... I'm sure they have something like our Yakima or Thule brand racks and similar mounting systems (though most of those don't fit on the straight side walls of a teardrop). If you can't find anything similar, I could probably sell you a set of towers and mounting rails if you could source some 1" steel tubing locally (remember, I'm limited to a maximum of 42" length in shipping to Oz ... ...). Just let me know if I can help!

Good Luck, and as always ...

CHEERS!

[dales133]

Thanks for the reply!
I'm going to use 6 mm ply for my inside wall lining and a glued and kregged stick frame.
I'm unsure of skin until my doors arrive and I can see the maximum wall thickness I can get away with.
My foam for the walls is 1 inch and if I don't have to make it thinner it would be easier and better.
So my frame will be 19 or 25 mm thick depending.
I'm going back to my earlier plan possibly of using composite panel for the side walls but I'm easy undecided at the moment.
I've hit some hurdles with my underfloor storage plans to and may need to revise it all
I'll post some pics today in my build tbread

[H.A.]

.....

[dales133]

Hopefully I'll get a start on the framing today.
Still in the doldrums as my initial floor plans have to be revised and it's doing my head in.

[mkitchen]

Not the best pictures but this rack mount is available through SoCal Teardrops. It has served us very well. We have mounted bicycles on it or the roof top box, as needed. The brackets are stainless steel and allow for the mounting of a Thule Rack.





Mikey

[dales133]

Thanks for the ideas.
I'll probably make my own rack but may use some off the shelf hardware as well

[rand_98201]

Sorry about the double post

[dales133]

At least if I accidently take something I can look up the symptoms....[WHITE SMILING FACE].
No worries rand happens to the best of us