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Roof Cargo basket on a Beach manual roof?

MattBW

MattBW

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Bedworth, United Kingdom
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T5 Beach
Pondering something like the Thule Canyon for the roof of my beach but wonder if anyone has done this. My concern is the beach roof is manual and thus it may not hold up properly with it on. I tried a roof box previously and it sagged the roof slightly even empty.

I like the look of the overland style appearance and ability to remove the contents when not in use. I also want something I can mount antennas on for my Ham Radio hobby. My concern is the gas struts won't be up to the task with this and roof bars on.
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Anyone used one or anything similar on a manual roof? What was your experience.
 
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Did a bit more digging. The cage weighs about 13kg, estimate the roof bars are probably 4 or 5kg, leaving 32-33kg left on the roof allowance but with manual roof I'm guessing it wont lift fully.
 
That sounds like similar weight as a large roofbox. I don’t have experience with. Roofbox on the poptop, but surely someone on here could comment?

over the summer, you regularly see vans with roofboxes popping up the top. At least part of these will have a manual roof and don’t seem to have an issue, i would expect?
 
I did use a roof box for a while, it did indeed make the poptop a bit lazy.
 
Hmm, sounds like there aren’t many alternatives. Haven’t heard of stronger struts exist for the poptop, that would probably be the only real alternative....

i do like the adventureous look, though!
 
Manual roof will sag with a loaded roof box / basket.

If we take the roofbox we take the bags out first before raising the roof, or, if staying for a while just slide the roof box off the bars and use as a storage chest next to the van.

I wouldn’t wedge it open as the Aluminium roof is quite fragile so easy to bend if not used as intended.
 
I did use a roof box for a while, it did indeed make the poptop a bit lazy.
Hi Matt,

I also tried a roof box which made the roof close on its own, so I would suspect the additional weight of the cage would do the same.

there was a post about the tailgate dropping on some people, one of the forum members use a split pipe under the lower section of the gas strut (thin section) to prevent the strut from closing, could that be a solution?
 
there was a post about the tailgate dropping on some people, one of the forum members use a split pipe under the lower section of the gas strut (thin section) to prevent the strut from closing, could that be a solution?
I think you can also get similar on fleabay, you just trim the length down.

In theory would work on roof struts, but would keep the weight under 50kgs

 
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