Roof Rack Flooring

[Maximus Ram]

Actually, seeing how I have a Con-Ferr, I am very much concerend about the weight and ways to keep it down I have a piece of plywood up there now and it is way to heavy, thats why I am considering the farmtek flooring. Plus the kennel flooring offers good drainage, so what ever you are carrying up top doesn't have to sit in a puddle if it rains :jump:

 

[cumminscruiser]

Where do you find the Farmtek material?

 

[tdesanto]

Where do you find the Farmtek material?

Here

 

[Overland Hadley]

Plywood gives you the best bang for your buck but there are many quality levels. Probably the best for your application is microlam, many thin layers of wood bonded with a waterproof glue. If you want to really reduce weight, then go with one of the engineered solutions like Baltek http://www.baltek.com used when you need really good strength to weight ratios, usually less than half the weight of plywood while maintaining the strength. The first product, Baltek, was pretty simple, just a couple doorskins, thin plywood, bonded to a balsa wood core. The newer products that they have are entirely man made so they will be more durable, and probably more suitable. They would be similar to the foam core floor of your rooftent. The idea is that the core doesn't give you much strength, so make it light out of foam. The stressed skin is where the real strength is, same concept as an I beam.

That Baltek stuff looks to be an interesting product. Maybe not for rack flooring but for interior build applications.

 

[cumminscruiser]

interesting grate material, I have expanded metal on mine vut I loke this stuff.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

interesting grate material, I have expanded metal on mine vut I loke this stuff.

I've got expanded metal on my bumper rack, I didn't do any research before I had it made. But, I'm never worried about it getting damaged.
And I'm thinking about cutting some larger holes in it, and making built-in lash points on the floor.
I have rails around the outside, but you can never have too many attachment points right?

 

[Abel Villesca]

I've got expanded metal, too. No worries with it at all.

 

[GaryMc]

Bump..... My Polymax flooring will be here tomorrow and I was curious to see how y'all had attached it to your racks....

Thanks- Gary

 

[mattarm]

I am about 2.5 years in from my original install shown here:

http://www.d-90.com/forum/showpost.php?p=85133&postcount=13

Flooring is on a daily driver that sees zero garage time through the full range of midwest weather. To date, I have not lost a single zip tie and the flooring seems just as secure as the day I installed.

 

[Antichrist]

Mine's been on for 3 years without issues. Here's an update I posted on dweb last year.
http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showpost.php?p=608577&postcount=303

One thing I did do when I had my rack off last year was to replace a couple of the zip ties because I installed the flooring with the rack on my Discovery and couldn't get some of them as tight as I'd like. I wanted the locking bit under the rack and couldn't get to it well enough to get them really tight.

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rackfloor.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rack1.jpg
http://s577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rack2.jpg

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: My rack will support 500 to 1000 lbs, but my JK hardtop is only good for 150 lbs, so

When ever I need to carry something HEAVY, I just use a cut/taylored piece of 3/4 inch plywood (sealed), the rest of the time, by not leaving it up there, there's no air drag, or loss of mileage

:costumed-smiley-007:safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

 

[GaryMc]

Mine's been on for 3 years without issues. Here's an update I posted on dweb last year.
http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showpost.php?p=608577&postcount=303

One thing I did do when I had my rack off last year was to replace a couple of the zip ties because I installed the flooring with the rack on my Discovery and couldn't get some of them as tight as I'd like. I wanted the locking bit under the rack and couldn't get to it well enough to get them really tight.

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rackfloor.jpg
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rack1.jpg
http://s577.photobucket.com/albums/ss215/rover_driver/Land Rovers/Accessories/rack2.jpg

Great idea! I copied you and attached mine with zips yesterday.

 

[mattarm]

I used either the same or similar zip ties on mine and found once I got them tight and cut off the excess, I could use a screwdriver to push the fastener portion of the tie under the bottom so it is not visible.

 

[Snagger]

:sombrero: My rack will support 500 to 1000 lbs, but my JK hardtop is only good for 150 lbs, so

When ever I need to carry something HEAVY, I just use a cut/taylored piece of 3/4 inch plywood (sealed), the rest of the time, by not leaving it up there, there's no air drag, or loss of mileage

:costumed-smiley-007:safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

WHile permanently having that weight up there may cause enough of an issue, especially cornering, to make it worthwhile removing, I don't think it would adversely affect drag. In fact, having a solid sheet on a roof rack is likely to reduce drag by stabilising the airflow over it and reducing the form and vortex drag from each lateral member. While better at reducing weight, allowing good drainage and easy tying-down, the worst flooring for drag (and noise) would be any kind of mesh.