Jonewen413

Jonewen413

Member
I'm looking at buying a Howling Moon roof tent for my Defender 90 which is already very expensive. I've been looking around and the roof racks I've seen are around £400-700. Are there any cheaper alternitaves like just buying a few roof bars rather than a full rack? I don't need the rack to strap anything to the roof it is purely for the tent.
 
Jonewen413 said:
Do you know which company sells reputable roof bars for the defender that are not super expensive? Cheers.
Click to expand...
Nope, never brought any ever, sorry.
I have seen some a few years ago on a 110 that were simple galvanized box section rails with flat plate on the ends that sat in the gutter. Looked very strong and simple plus would make it easier to screw boards to.
 
A 90 roof is about 2 metres long. Standard folding roof tent is 1.4 m wide then you need some clearance to fit the folding tent cover say about 0.2 m that does not leave much room on a 90 rack. Depending on the sprung wires holding up any fly sheet not much you can have on the rack.

You just need two good flat top roof bars rated at 75+ kg.


Brendan
 
leeds said:
You just need two good flat top roof bars rated at 75+ kg.
Click to expand...
If you were just planning on driving on smooth tarmac that might be true, but if you are going off road or even on rough tracks, side to side sway will place shearing loads on standard roof bar feet that they were not designed to take. If you are planning on overlanding then buy a roof rack that is designed for expedition travel and expect to pay for the R&D and the strength that results. I doubt you will find one that only uses four feet like a pair of roof bars; even one small enough for a 90 should have six feet. You also need to consider the total weight when stationary. Roof bars rated to 75+ kg may be fine for a 1.4m roof tent @ about 65 kg, but what happens when you and your partner climb into it?
 
The rating of the roof bars is basically for 'dynamic' loading, i.e. driving down the road and not for static loading when camped up and stationary.

Note I said good flat top bars and they will cope with the shear load.

Now putting a roof tent on top of a roof rack you are putting extra weight and expense up top. Expedition roof racks are mainly of a basket design which will present a trip hazard entering/exiting the tent if a hard shell is fitted or need modifying for a folding tent by removing part of the luggage rail or alternatively position tent on top of luggage rail, raising centre of gravity even further.

A flat roofrack is best design for a rooftent. The closer the roofrack is to the roof the better as keeps COG lower, however may mean lifting rack and tent on/off as a complete unit.

Now if concerned about shear loads on roofbar feet then need some bars where the feet are an integral part of the roofbar. Lowest flat top bar with integral feet include the Nakatanenga Cargobear bars and the Safari Equip twin roof bars.


Brendan
 
leeds said:
The rating of the roof bars is basically for 'dynamic' loading, i.e. driving down the road and not for static loading when camped up and stationary.

Note I said good flat top bars and they will cope with the shear load.

Now putting a roof tent on top of a roof rack you are putting extra weight and expense up top. Expedition roof racks are mainly of a basket design which will present a trip hazard entering/exiting the tent if a hard shell is fitted or need modifying for a folding tent by removing part of the luggage rail or alternatively position tent on top of luggage rail, raising centre of gravity even further.

A flat roofrack is best design for a rooftent. The closer the roofrack is to the roof the better as keeps COG lower, however may mean lifting rack and tent on/off as a complete unit.

Now if concerned about shear loads on roofbar feet then need some bars where the feet are an integral part of the roofbar. Lowest flat top bar with integral feet include the Nakatanenga Cargobear bars and the Safari Equip twin roof bars.


Brendan
Click to expand...
leeds said:
The rating of the roof bars is basically for 'dynamic' loading, i.e. driving down the road and not for static loading when camped up and stationary.

Note I said good flat top bars and they will cope with the shear load.

Now putting a roof tent on top of a roof rack you are putting extra weight and expense up top. Expedition roof racks are mainly of a basket design which will present a trip hazard entering/exiting the tent if a hard shell is fitted or need modifying for a folding tent by removing part of the luggage rail or alternatively position tent on top of luggage rail, raising centre of gravity even further.

A flat roofrack is best design for a rooftent. The closer the roofrack is to the roof the better as keeps COG lower, however may mean lifting rack and tent on/off as a complete unit.

Now if concerned about shear loads on roofbar feet then need some bars where the feet are an integral part of the roofbar. Lowest flat top bar with integral feet include the Nakatanenga Cargobear bars and the Safari Equip twin roof bars.


Brendan
Click to expand...

https://www.flatdoguk.com/flatdog-rax-roof-bar---defender~1003

Something like fitting a couple of these? Much cheaper alternative than buying the full rack. Doesn't show load rating though.
 
Si Click said:
If you were just planning on driving on smooth tarmac that might be true, but if you are going off road or even on rough tracks, side to side sway will place shearing loads on standard roof bar feet that they were not designed to take. If you are planning on overlanding then buy a roof rack that is designed for expedition travel and expect to pay for the R&D and the strength that results. I doubt you will find one that only uses four feet like a pair of roof bars; even one small enough for a 90 should have six feet. You also need to consider the total weight when stationary. Roof bars rated to 75+ kg may be fine for a 1.4m roof tent @ about 65 kg, but what happens when you and your partner climb into it?
Click to expand...

The problem with the expedition racks is that they aren't flat and would cause issues with fitting a roof tent. I wouldn't be doing extreme off-roading with the roof tent fitted anyway, it's just for road trips.
 
Jonewen413 said:
The problem with the expedition racks is that they aren't flat and would cause issues with fitting a roof tent. I wouldn't be doing extreme off-roading with the roof tent fitted anyway, it's just for road trips.
Click to expand...
The traditional concept of an Expedition Rack has the side bars that are not compatible with a roof tent. However, what I said was "one designed for expedition travel" and many of those - ARB, Rhino, Frontrunner etc are designed for expedition travel but are flat to take a roof tent. The problem is that only the Frontrunner seems to be available in the UK, but I would rather not have lateral bars and I'm not entirely sold on the modular system, particularly as I'm not hearing good things about the Frontrunner bolt on kit. The Flatdog rack is a good price and might well be fine, but they do not even publish the dimensions, let alone load capacity.
 
nobber said:
Look for an old Brownchurch rack and cut the edges off it, I paid 50 quid for the one I had.
Click to expand...
This is a good idea. Brownchurch racks are pretty much bombproof ( not grinder proof though ! ), sadly not as popular as some others as they’re not as modern and trendy looking, though this means they can be had for a bargain.
Keeping the other side rails means you won’t roll off the roof during the night. I’ve no idea how roof rents work.
 
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