roof bar fix points

[speedgreedy]

Hi has anyone welded on some roof bar fix points to a pre 06 sprinter as i didnt fancy the unsightly gutter fixed roof bars....many thanks

[Afigman]

The roof is too thin to weld to. You could bolt through the roof to the ribs below. You would need a thin spacer between the roof and the ribs inside as there is a gap with caulk now. The force must be direct to the ribs. Not to the sheet metal. I would use aluminum to build a rack if I had to have one. The load capacity would be less than a gutter support. My 2 cents.

[speedgreedy]

Thanks that was very helpful
Regards
jeremy

[d_bertko]

My 02 has a full walk-on roof rack. It is bolted through in 8 places. Outside supports have bottoms in the gutter channel. Inside utilizes spreader plates of a few sq inches.

My rack is made of 1" square steel tubing and expanded metal grate. Came with the van and is awesomely useful.

I'd make one out of aluminum if I had to do another one.

I did see an excellent NCV3 version using rooftop L-track. Made it very easy to detach for winter/less wind drag.

[jmoller99]

I have a 2002. I plan on welding together some steel square tubing as a roof rack - I also don't want this attached to the rain channels on the sides of the van roof top. I am only in the planning stages at the moment, but I will use the place on the roof that looks like a channel to mount something like this - it will be bolted thru the roof where the roof supports already exist.

I have bought the steel, just need to work out the plans and make it. I have 2 solar panels I want to attach to it as well as be able to hang an awning of some sort from it when we camp.

[Altered Sprinter]

Mimic the NCV roof rail mounted bar installation. although some what more obvoius it will work.
Richard

[d_bertko]

Originally Posted by jmoller99

I have a 2002. I plan on welding together some steel square tubing as a roof rack - I also don't want this attached to the rain channels on the sides of the van roof top. I am only in the planning stages at the moment, but I will use the place on the roof that looks like a channel to mount something like this - it will be bolted thru the roof where the roof supports already exist.

I have bought the steel, just need to work out the plans and make it. I have 2 solar panels I want to attach to it as well as be able to hang an awning of some sort from it when we camp.

My roof rack was already in place when I was given an awning. I made an L-shape carrier for it and bolted it to the roof rack. Since this would leave a gap between the gutter and the awning anyway, I installed the awning higher than usual because I use it a lot to bridge the gap to a 10x10 quickshelter. The vertical gap does not cause any rain intrusion. Normal folks probably wouldn't want this extra height but I'm 6'4" and the quickshelter top edge is around 6'7". Just wanted to point out something you might not have thought of.

You could also incorporate a homemade awning since commercial awnings are so expensive. Pull-out or swing-out awning arms with drop down supports wouldn't be too hard.

It could be an interesting design if the solar panels were part of a slide-out awning. A tilt could max the solar gain but it might constrain your parking orientation.

I'll note that my wind deflector minimizes noise and wind resistance. I leave my airbags in my canoes on the roof since there is very little turbulence. I take them out when atop the Subaru.

[maxextz]

these look neat.