Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
So here's an idea for an enterprising Overland company:
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Driving around last night I saw a couple of Jeeps with the modular hard tops. You know the type:
Anyway, that got me to thinking: I see a lot of people on ExPo who have crew-cab pickups putting rack-type systems on their vehicles to carry gear:
.
.
and it made me wonder if some enterprising manufacturer couldn't come up with some way to combine the two?
.
Maybe a rack system that featured panels that could be snapped or bolted into place that would allow for a hard, lockable storage system while still retaining the usefulness of the rack.
.
Being a modular system, the user could configure as needed - top only, or full top, sides, front and back. Sides could be hinged to open and close (like win-doors on a topper) and could feature windows or a place to attach/hold equipment, locking toolboxes (like an aluminum utility topper) etc.
.
The best thing about it, IMO, is that if you wanted to use the pickup to carry, say, a dirt bike, the panels could be removed and stored in the garage, and the rack removed to allow full access to the bed without having to lift a 200+lb topper off the bed.
.
To me as a former (and likely future) pickup owner, the dilemma with regard to a topper is that while a topper is great 95% of the time, providing safe, secure locking storage, for that 5% of the time that I might want the open bed, it's a complete PITA to remove the topper and then find someplace to store it.
.
The standard answer to such a dilemma is a soft topper but IMO that's not a real choice because while a soft topper might provide a modest amount of "protection" in the suburbs, it's not really any kind of "security" when all it takes is a second with a box cutter to open it up.
.
I realize a modular rack/topper likely would not be cheap, but I'll bet someone could figure out how to do it.
.
So am I the only one here who would be interested in such a thing? I think the two biggest hurdles would be (a) ensuring that it stays waterproof and (b) making it at a reasonable enough cost that people could afford it.
.
Driving around last night I saw a couple of Jeeps with the modular hard tops. You know the type:
Anyway, that got me to thinking: I see a lot of people on ExPo who have crew-cab pickups putting rack-type systems on their vehicles to carry gear:
.
.
and it made me wonder if some enterprising manufacturer couldn't come up with some way to combine the two?
.
Maybe a rack system that featured panels that could be snapped or bolted into place that would allow for a hard, lockable storage system while still retaining the usefulness of the rack.
.
Being a modular system, the user could configure as needed - top only, or full top, sides, front and back. Sides could be hinged to open and close (like win-doors on a topper) and could feature windows or a place to attach/hold equipment, locking toolboxes (like an aluminum utility topper) etc.
.
The best thing about it, IMO, is that if you wanted to use the pickup to carry, say, a dirt bike, the panels could be removed and stored in the garage, and the rack removed to allow full access to the bed without having to lift a 200+lb topper off the bed.
.
To me as a former (and likely future) pickup owner, the dilemma with regard to a topper is that while a topper is great 95% of the time, providing safe, secure locking storage, for that 5% of the time that I might want the open bed, it's a complete PITA to remove the topper and then find someplace to store it.
.
The standard answer to such a dilemma is a soft topper but IMO that's not a real choice because while a soft topper might provide a modest amount of "protection" in the suburbs, it's not really any kind of "security" when all it takes is a second with a box cutter to open it up.
.
I realize a modular rack/topper likely would not be cheap, but I'll bet someone could figure out how to do it.
.
So am I the only one here who would be interested in such a thing? I think the two biggest hurdles would be (a) ensuring that it stays waterproof and (b) making it at a reasonable enough cost that people could afford it.
