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Got Watertight Rooftop Storage ?


mountainborn

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A simple storage solution by Alan Young from ORCC ( Off Road Camping Club ). Here is a look:

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This installation on our Jeep wrangler was by all the guys at the Lake greeson Catfish Campout.

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I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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I'm not exactly sure what Mountainborn is going to store in there, but Chuck and I liked the set up so well we are going to make one just like it to store our screen panels in that were made by Sewing Susan from the Casita Club. It is a tightly screened panel that fits on the front and side of the awning that rolls out from the Casita or Oliver. With these panels, you are able to protect your home on wheels from wind, sun and blowing sand. These panels turn your ordinary awning into a screened in room open on one side. ( If you look at the photo, you can see one of the screen rooms I am talking about on Butcherknife and Mountainborns Oliver!)However, carrying around this screen room has always been a bit awkward and it takes up space that could be used by something else. This very lightweight piece of tubing, tied to the top of the car rack is a perfect solution. Chuck had been using a big fat piece of PVC pipe that was far too heavy and cumbersome. This is the perfect solution for us! We think it's a great idea!

 

:D

 

 

 

:)

 

 

 

:D

 

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The sun room has a couple of colapsable poles that will also roll up in the sunshades, along with fishing poles. Items that might need to stay dry and dust free such as rugs, ground cloths or the sunshade room panels, and the awning tie down straps, ect..

Many RVers use their awning sparingly though they would like to use it more often. Wind is the awning's enemy. The sunroom and tiedown kit allowed us to keep our awning out continuously for two plus weeks at Lake Greeson, and in periods of thirty mile per hour winds !

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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I guess that I might add that the loosely woven ground mats that we favor under the awning, the ones that rinse off and dry so quickly, will, unless you power wash them, bring a small amount of fine "grit" into your Ollie or tow vehicle's carpet or rugs, if stored there. Storing them in the roof top tube eliminates that and the tube cleans up readily at the next washing of your tow vehicle.

The tube goes on and off of the roof rack quickly with tywraps available from most hardware stores. The end caps will, I believe, be lockable with a cable padlock, making the tube somewhat secure storage. Which is a consideration because if you have loaded your awning sunroom up with accessorys, you could have four or five hundred dollars tied up in the tube hanging on your roof rack.

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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Tight fit ! We rolled all four of the large sheets ( Susan's Sun Room ) tightly around the awning tiedown kit straps, bundled all of the stakes and misc. small parts into the last foot and a half of remaining space, and there was just enough room to put the end caps back on !

No room for fishing poles or the REI awning poles !

He, he, Chuck, we may need to put another tube on the other side.

I drilled a hole in one side of the wing nut to pass a cable lock through and around the expedition rack.

100_0195.jpg

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I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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Our storage tube is such a good solution that we decided that we needed one on the other side of the expedition rack.

The cool thing is, that it is in a handy place and it goes on and off easily. However Betty would likely say that she doesn't have to tear the bed all apart to get to the sun room kit out of the storage locker by the water pump. She says that tearing out the bed and putting it all back in place is more trouble than putting up Susan's sun room, and that the tube eliminates all of that.

So, this morning we were sitting at the plumbing supply house at the County Seat when they opened up. They had the end plugs in stock but not the corrugated black tube. We purchased a smooth sided pipe with the intention of replacing it at the first chance. The pipe color choices were either green or white. We chose white and bought a can of black spray paint, knowing that it would get scratches and look bad, but also knowing it would be replaced at the first opportunity.

The supply house only sold the pipe in ten foot lengths so we will have to cut to our needed length. A local store that we had asked about the large black tywraps had finaly gotten some in. We are ready to start the other tube project.

Cost at this point:

Tube, plugs, paint and tywraps, less than $50. For practical purposes this translates into a signifigant increase in dry, lockable, storage for under $100 to build two smooth sided tubes. When we replace the smooth tube with a matching corrugated tube it will increase our cost somewhat. If it weren't for our time frame to leave for Colorado, we would have waited for the corrugated tube to arrive.

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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We decided not to paint the temporary tube black, thinking about how it would look with white shining through the normal use scratches and so forth.

100_0199.jpg

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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Larry,

 

Could you post a picture that shows some detail of that screen panel setup and how your awning was secured for wind there at Lake Greeson. I am particularly interested in how you secured it with any additional poles, ropes, lines, etc.

 

Also, I would be interested in knowing what kind of tubes you have there on the roof of your TV. What is the material for each, what are their diameters (6", as it says on the cap?), about how much does each weigh. What would I ask for, if I went into a plumbing or other supply store? Is there a technical name to identify the caps? Looks like a great solution for storing long materials!

 

Thanks,

Steve

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Hi Steve ! You betcha' ! The tubes first since we are on the storage tube thread:

The plug is localy called an expansion plug. The tubing can be the tubing of your choice. Example: the white tube is a 6" sewer drain pipe, non preforated.

The corrugated pipe is a 6" driveway culvert pipe, smooth on the inside so the plug can seal watertight..

Decide what size pipe you want to use, then see if there is an expansion plug available in that size localy.

There is a point where the cost versus the size will come into play. For us the the 6" size pipe seemed to look "right" on the expedition rack.

About the sunroom or sunshades, here is a series of photos by the lady that makes them and the tiedown setup. There are 39 photos and they pretty well give a good look at everything. Our Olivers sit higher off of the ground than a Casita and that needs to be considered when ordering.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/404604710WIdfzS

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I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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We choose to tow with a Jeep, and just love all of the cool outdoors stuff we can do with the Jeep. But, as is the case with any tow vehicle, there are trade offs. Our trade off is storage and horse power to weight ratio. We gain off road capability, but have less storage. As we find ways to store stuff, we also keep track of weight, to improve the horsepower to weight ratio.

Our solar panels are our heaviest carry along item. They are also large enough that we carry them up on the expedition rack. The total weight of the solar panels and the storage and securing gear, is 112 pounds. There is a painted plywood sheet that is cut to fit, on top of the panels. On top of that is a Sears cartop carrier that we put light items in such as a small aluminum folding table, our campsite sign and a three step folding aluminum handyman's ladder. Carrier total weight 74 pounds. Here it is loaded that way, it gets uglier after this point, he, he, you know, the classic "Grapes of Wrath" look.

Springtime Showers, Springtime Flowers & getting loaded !

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This higher wind profile cuts into gas mileage, so we accept that fuel penalty for around 800 miles then remove the wind resistance items to get back our best mileage for the four months we will be up on the Continental divide in the Rocky Mountains. Oh, yeh, surprisingly the 10K elevation while there doesn't seem to effect our indicated mileage all that much.

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I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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I am sooooooooo excited for you two! You are going to have a great adventure! I can't wait until we get the chance to come visit ya'll! I also can't wait to see you in our hot springs tubs! Grin! Keep in touch!

Happy trails to you until we meet again................. :D:lol:

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Betty's Trike and the external satelite dish ( we think the large connifers may obscure the sattelite ) are on the roof.

100_0206.jpg

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)

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Yup, it's "Grapes of Wrath" revisited.... But knowing you two, I'm sure you need everything you're carrying.

 

Good luck, and have a great summer...

 

Sherry & Paul

 

PS See you in Trujillo Meadows, we hope. (Missed the spring catfish... going for summer trout... ) Seriously, have a blast. In MHO, the management is so lucky to have you two up there on the mountain.

Sherry

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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