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

[alittlebitconcerned]

Hello wise forum.


I’ve just bought an Isuzu county with the three external ribs on the roof. The previous owner had glued and riveted a couples of racks and a solar panel directly to the roof and after removing all of the stuff I am now left with about 50 - 60 holes in the roof of various sizes.


Instead of paying to get the roof fixed and resprayed (expensive) I’m considering sealing all the holes and covering the lot with a Tropical (or Safari) roof made from checker plate marine alloy. I’d like to make it strong enough to carry loads which I think could be achieved if a fasten the checkerplate directly to the roof ribs as well as having gutter mounted roof rack legs attached to the left and right outside edges.

I’ve searched the forum and have found the odd reference to people planning something similar but have not found reference to anyone actually doing it.


Does anyone know if this or something similar has been done before?


Do I run the risk of making the roof structure too rigid and causing stress to seals or joins elsewhere in the body? Seems to happen to some using just roof racks.

[Bigbjorn]

Make life easy. Go to a wrecker and get a Series III station wagon roof and tropical roof. Tropical roof was standard on SIII wagons.

[bee utey]

I would not attach any plate directly to the ribs, you would still lack strength. I'd get a sheet metal shop to bend up some aluminium Z shaped rails, rivet and seal them to the roof, then add the new plate about 40-50mm away from the roof.

[alittlebitconcerned]

I would not attach any plate directly to the ribs, you would still lack strength. I'd get a sheet metal shop to bend up some aluminium Z shaped rails, rivet and seal them to the roof, then add the new plate about 40-50mm away from the roof.

Why do you advise against attaching to the ribs? Would this add strength to the design?

Also, is there an advantage to the Z bent design? Or could I achieve the same outcome using aluminium rectangular profile?

[Saitch]

Perhaps another thing to consider is using "Dimpled" plate instead of "Chequer". It's like a golf ball surface.
Why I say this is because a bloke I go camping with occasionally has a camping canopy on his Patrol and it is dimpled aluminium plate. After some advice from his welder and by doing some simple, pre-construction, temperature tests he found it was noticeably cooler than chequer plate and, after sticking my head inside the canopy on a rather hot day, I won't contradict him.

Steve

[bee utey]

Why do you advise against attaching to the ribs? Would this add strength to the design?

Also, is there an advantage to the Z bent design? Or could I achieve the same outcome using aluminium rectangular profile?

What gives you the strength is the distance between the top and bottom surfaces of the roof sandwich, just like a bridge girder or a builders metal plank. Close together will just buckle under load. The Z sections are there to make riveting easier, as you can get full access above and below. Box section means no access from above for the bottom sheet unless you drill it full of holes. And an excessive number of holes to fill gives vermin more places to set up shop and more opportunities for whistles to arise. You could use C section or box tube cut in half but that still makes riveting more difficult. IMHO you want enough room up there to shove/pull a bundle of rag through to clean out any funny bits of shrubbery left there by four legged fiends.

[LRJim]

Don't forget the roof is not designed to take any real load at all it has no vertical strength in it.
The ribs are there to keep the roof straight and sturdy and to attach a lightweight safari roof to.
If you want to carry a load anything you design should be supported off the gutters only or have a roll bar underneath in the cab and loadspace to take the load from above. Just because some fool attached a rack to the ribs dosnt mean you should also.
The gutters are strong as and the more supports the better.
I have 4 on each side of my disco1 and I can carry over 50 3m sticks of pine on it over speed humps and all. It's just a bit high up the only weight issue is with body roll so not really advised....


Sorry I missed the tiny little part where you mentioned the gutters.

[rar110]

Gutters also sag with excess weight on a 110 roof.

[LRJim]

Gutters also sag with excess weight on a 110 roof.I've had this fear with the disco.
At least with the series/def the roofline is much straighter than the disco, you can run a horizontal support like a 20mmx3mm on edge along the whole gutter length. I've been meaning to do this to my disco so it spreads the load rather than supported by 100mm on each leg.

Cheers jim

[JDNSW]

While I fitted a home made tropical roof to my Series 1 about 55 years ago, it would never have occurred to me to even consider it as load carrying.

As mentioned above, the roof is not designed for load carrying, and even with a roof rack putting load onto the gutters, the load that can be safely carried is limited - from memory about 150kg including the rack. Overloading is likely to lead to cracking of the gutter members, side pillars and panels, especially on corrugated roads. The fact that some have managed to get away with it does not mean that it is a good idea! (And the height of the vehicle makes carrying significant loads on the roof a real impact on roll stability.)

[bee utey]

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.

[alittlebitconcerned]

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