Buy all your VW California Accessories at the Club Shop Visit Shop

Holding the roof up during snowfall.

S

stim

Messages
76
Location
Switzerland
Vehicle
T6.1 Beach camper 150
Has anyone attempted to jerry-rig some sort of support to hold the roof up during heavy snowfall to prevent the said roof from collapsing again on those sleeping under? Perhaps a couple of struts between the bar that you push with your hands and the reinforced metal lip of the roof hole? FYI 20-25cm of light to medium density snow is about the limit before bed-person-roof sandwich occurs.

Talking about a Beach T6.1 with manual roof.

Asking for a friend :rolleyes:
 
- Removable Metal sleeve placed over the teloscopic strut (ie -pipe with a slot cut into it that slides over the narrow part of the strut, and sits on wider gas filled part). Just remember to remove it before trying to close the roof! Similar to below which are designed for the tailgate:


- You can get stronger roof struts, but it would make the roof difficult to close when there is no additional weight on the roof.

- Stay in a hotel
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I thought about this but then there would be additional load placed through the gas strut fittings and not at an efficient angle.

All of the posts about roof load refer to raising the roof with the load on or driving with the load on, neither of which apply here. I was thinking (on behalf of my friend) that adding some additional, efficient support struts would enable my friend to only have to get up once in the night to clear the snow and as a precautionary measure, rather than a necessity. Holding the roof up with one hand while trying to clear the snow from on top with the other arm through the front canvas window is somewhat difficult, so I've been told.

I'll take a look at the gas strut fixation to see how meaty they are...
 
- Removable Metal sleeve placed over the teloscopic strut (ie -pipe with a slot cut into it that slides over the narrow part of the strut, and sits on wider gas filled part). Just remember to remove it before trying to close the roof! Similar to below which are designed for the tailgate:


- You can get stronger roof struts, but it would make the roof difficult to close when there is no additional weight on the roof.
thanks for the link!
 
How about a correct length of 1x1 wood strip? Cheap and cheerful (paint it in a bright colour).
 
At first added support seems sensible, but if under exceptionable load might any form of auxiliary support lead to an irreversible / irreparable distortion of the roof?
 
At first added support seems sensible, but if under exceptionable load might any form of auxiliary support lead to an irreversible / irreparable distortion of the roof?
Agree. Strongest parts of the roof, when up, are the front and rear.
Using a support at the front only, with the hinges at the rear mean that the centre section is carrying the weight. Wet snow is very heavy unlike dry snow.

Just have a tarpaulin over the top. When the snow accumulates just pull it back to clear the snow.
 
If there’s going to be that much snow I think I’d be using a topper to reduce the snow building up around the bottom of the canvas
 
Back
Top