Thread: I want to make a DIY Tropical (or Safari) roof for my County. Has it been done before

The point of building a tropical roof properly is to allow someone to walk on it without popping the rivets and making it leak, not to carry hundreds of kg up there for ever. Point loads are the problem for a relatively weak structure so distributing any loads as widely as possible will help the roof to survive.

Ok. Based on all the good advice given I am now going in a slightly different direction which it turns out is going to be easier, cheaper and more effective. Happy chap.


I have an old full length alloy windcheater expedition rack hanging from my garage rafters holding all my camping gear. I’ll put it on the defender and then simply attach a sheet of marine grade alloy checkerplate to the underside.


I’ll weld thick alloy flat bar to the bottom of the racks 3 feet either side, giving me one long continuous foot the length of the rack to spread the load.
I’ll cut the legs to the correct height for a tropical roof before welding the continuous foot in place.

If I can find someone who can roll or press a radius into a 2.4m length of approx 150-200mm wide alloy plate I can attach these to the underside mimicking the left and right side downward curve of a genuine tropical roof.


Once done and if successful I’ll figure out where to get the the ceiling roof vents and install them