rayra
Expedition Leader
Couple questions and ideas -
You talking about a fitted cover that remains in place on the highway, or something you erect at the track and leave in place while moving from location to location ~30mph?
Would you need it high enough that you could work up on the roof, but under the shade?
One method would be a fitted cover and a frame for it akin to a pop-up canopy, which would work as both a cap and as an elevated shaded with the addition of some vertical poles.
Another could be something akin to a ski boat canopy, a hinged folding frame that acts like those beach privacy screens. A hemisphere or arc. Which could be really advantageous as both sun shade and windbreak, particularly in the deserts. You'd park the rig facing into the prevailing winds and raise the shield up.
Another could be the roll-up tarps fit to cover huge roll-on trash bins. Reeled up at the front, pulled out to the stern as a road cover, or up over an erected tubular frame as working shade.
If it's a semi-permanent shade layer fit for highway travel, the fabric would have to be pretty robust, likely fitted to a perimeter frame like a trampoline, and best be criss-crossed with a network of webbing straps for reinforcement.
The real trick would be to make a multi-purpose design that works in multiple configurations. Or go simple and light and make a different piece for each application. The lighter stuff would be about 50-60cents a square foot for materials, including webbing, grommets etc. roughly.
eta wait, are you thinking of a close fitting fabric layer that you could walk on? Like the fabric deck of a catamaran?
This could be done as a roll-up piece, like a horizontal window shade. cross-bar anchored at the front, fabric rolled up on the trailing square-section tube. Unroll to a series of notched stops on some side frame rails, drop the trailing tube into the notch. Then tie off the sides. Deployed in 2-3mins, stored rolled up on the highway.
You talking about a fitted cover that remains in place on the highway, or something you erect at the track and leave in place while moving from location to location ~30mph?
Would you need it high enough that you could work up on the roof, but under the shade?
One method would be a fitted cover and a frame for it akin to a pop-up canopy, which would work as both a cap and as an elevated shaded with the addition of some vertical poles.
Another could be something akin to a ski boat canopy, a hinged folding frame that acts like those beach privacy screens. A hemisphere or arc. Which could be really advantageous as both sun shade and windbreak, particularly in the deserts. You'd park the rig facing into the prevailing winds and raise the shield up.
Another could be the roll-up tarps fit to cover huge roll-on trash bins. Reeled up at the front, pulled out to the stern as a road cover, or up over an erected tubular frame as working shade.
If it's a semi-permanent shade layer fit for highway travel, the fabric would have to be pretty robust, likely fitted to a perimeter frame like a trampoline, and best be criss-crossed with a network of webbing straps for reinforcement.
The real trick would be to make a multi-purpose design that works in multiple configurations. Or go simple and light and make a different piece for each application. The lighter stuff would be about 50-60cents a square foot for materials, including webbing, grommets etc. roughly.
eta wait, are you thinking of a close fitting fabric layer that you could walk on? Like the fabric deck of a catamaran?
This could be done as a roll-up piece, like a horizontal window shade. cross-bar anchored at the front, fabric rolled up on the trailing square-section tube. Unroll to a series of notched stops on some side frame rails, drop the trailing tube into the notch. Then tie off the sides. Deployed in 2-3mins, stored rolled up on the highway.
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