N
nfrey2
Guest
Had been wanting to build a roof rack so I'd actually be able to haul stuff again. So I was able to convince my Kin/Dyn professor that a roof rack with a moveable top would be a good design for the required project. Since it became a school project my parents would fund it for me.
So I built a roof rack that had pretty much a tonnaeu cover that would orient itself to 3 positions.
The 1st covering the roof rack basket so that what ever is in it will be covered from the sun, branches due to height, and can be locked.
The 2nd position is essentially the cover opened from the rear to access the stuff in the rack.
The 3rd position is for camping. The entire cover translates to over the hood. This allows you to utilize the entire roof rack for storage yet still have the off the ground sleeping ability. Everything in the roofrack is accessible without having to move or left the tent. It allows for any 2 person tent to be used, so it isn't proprietary.
I didn't finish it in time for the class presentation, but got it done enough to present nonetheless. In the pictures I have it still needs a floor and a ladder. I was thinking I could make a ladder that double as a sand ladder. The entire weight of it including hardware and flooring I calculated out to a little over 100lbs
The whole mechanism works better than I thought it would. With the tools I had to work with it is hard to make good, tight, and precise mechanical linkages.
The only way I would ever use the whole setup is if I was planning on going camping and I knew I wouldn't come across a campground for more than a week. There are few places in Florida where you need to sleep in the air.
Like my front bumper, this will most likely get ridiculed but I enjoy building the stuff.
Of which the high arches on the bumper do exactly what i wanted them to do, keep rope vines up off my hood when I go barreling through the woods.
So I built a roof rack that had pretty much a tonnaeu cover that would orient itself to 3 positions.
The 1st covering the roof rack basket so that what ever is in it will be covered from the sun, branches due to height, and can be locked.
The 2nd position is essentially the cover opened from the rear to access the stuff in the rack.
The 3rd position is for camping. The entire cover translates to over the hood. This allows you to utilize the entire roof rack for storage yet still have the off the ground sleeping ability. Everything in the roofrack is accessible without having to move or left the tent. It allows for any 2 person tent to be used, so it isn't proprietary.
I didn't finish it in time for the class presentation, but got it done enough to present nonetheless. In the pictures I have it still needs a floor and a ladder. I was thinking I could make a ladder that double as a sand ladder. The entire weight of it including hardware and flooring I calculated out to a little over 100lbs
The whole mechanism works better than I thought it would. With the tools I had to work with it is hard to make good, tight, and precise mechanical linkages.
The only way I would ever use the whole setup is if I was planning on going camping and I knew I wouldn't come across a campground for more than a week. There are few places in Florida where you need to sleep in the air.
Like my front bumper, this will most likely get ridiculed but I enjoy building the stuff.
Of which the high arches on the bumper do exactly what i wanted them to do, keep rope vines up off my hood when I go barreling through the woods.
