On the top of the G
Written by am
The remaining area around the centered roof hatch has been used meaningfully with the installation of boxes and solar panels.
When thinking about the creation of storage space, the surface on the roof gets easily omitted. It was a matter of course that solar panels will be mounted there, but what to do with the remaining space?
Like many other overlander, we have decided to install aluminium boxes instead of fastening things directly to the roof. Hence, on our roof there are now placed two thin-walled, ultra-light boxes made of aluminum and two solar panels.
In the case of the solar panels, we have opted for thin and flexible ones, which have been glued to the roof. In retrospect, one of the easiest tasks. The drilling into the roof for the wiring of the solar system had been less pleasant. Every hole involves the danger of leakage. Fortunately, the sealing of the hole seems to be properly done, until date we did not observe any water inflow from there.
The mounts of the roof boxes withstand every bumpy road. Stowage on the top
More challenging was the finding of a possibility to fix our two 130 liter aluminum boxes in the front area of the roof. To avoid any further drilling into the roof, we used the two existing rails running along the entire length of the vehicle for the installation of the boxes. With the purpose of pinching the boxes between them, two strips were placed transversely on these rails. Any sliding is hindered with angles, which are attached to the boxes. As an additional protection, tension belts are also used.
Due to the already high weight of our pop-up top, we try to avoid lodging heavy objects such as tools in the roof boxes. Instead, there are things with low weight stored like our Gordigear tent room, sleeping bags (if not in use) as well as various spare parts.
