Club 80-90 Forums

Greetings.

I'm trying to solve a storage issue in my standard interior MultiVan and have decided that I'll go the roofbar/roofbox option as a means of stowing awkward items.

However, I already have a Fiamma awning fitted to the gutter with the standard Fiamma gutter clamps and was wondering whether I will be able to utilise the Thule 20cm feet (Thule part 952) for the Thule 765 bars - from what profile diagrams of the feet I have found it looks very much like that the awning shell will intefere with the Thule feet.

I'm unable to find any feet locally (Inverness) to physically check as my local Halfords and AutoSave don't stock such esoteric items.

Has anyone else out there got this arrangement or something similar using other roofbars and feet?

Cheers,

Mick.

Don't know if they would clash for certain, but sods law says they will.

Fiamma do brackets that mount to the roof bars though to help you in this situation - only another £50!!

https://www.leisureoutlet.com/fiamma-aw ... gLSfPD_BwE

Thanks for that.........I had sort of thought of something like that a while back thinking it was going to be a bit of a faff as the roofbar feet are still going to be in the way somewhat....maybe I'll have to 'engineer' a solution based on your suggestion.

Cheers,
Mick.

Hi Mick.
I have thule 952 20cm feet and I think the bars are 763 150cm, on my tin-top, with no fiamma awning but these pics might help you.
You might find the 765 bars stick out a lot at the sides.
roof box is an Exodus 360l.
If you want me to measure anything, feel free to ask.

P.S. I just measured mine and there's 11cm from the bottom of the roof bar to the top of the outer clamp, going by pics on Fiamma's site, the case of the F35 pro is 9.5 cm when closed. so you should have room for it depending how you mount the fiamma to the feet, might have to diy some brackets.
Or see here for brackets. http://www.jacksons-camping.co.uk/fiamma/brackets.htm
You might want to check the dimensions of yours to make sure the fiamma top cover will open far enough and not hit the roof bars when open.





BBB.
100 miles west of you.

Hi,
don't know if it's of any use but what I've done is fitted 4 bars with vertical sides so that the owning can be bolted firmly to all 4 of the uprights.




This arrangement leaves me with space for two roof boxes on the top, and the means to reach them, (basically a shortened ladder with bolts in for the runners) slung under the roof bars so the bars are still able to be used for sheet material if needed (sometimes the van has to work for its keep).



This arrangement also means I can fit a storage box on the other side (for fishing rods or work?)




Regards Gary

Thanks to you both, Bob and Gary,

Bob,
You may be right in that there might just be enough room with a subtle re-positioning of the awning shell with those feet - the acid test would be to make sure that the awning shell can open sufficiently - I might just have to order the feet and take a chance. Thanks for putting me right on the length of the bars - I had done a quick measure and thought the 765's were correct - I can see now that there would be too much of an overhang.

I'll take you up on your offer if I need some more measurements. Do you find that the size of your roofbox (both in length and height) is good or do sometimes wish for more storage? Trouble is, I probably know the answer to that one - the more space you have the more junk you end up carting around!

Gary,
You have set me thinking in that maybe a rack is perhaps worth considering. Thanks for pic as it shows a neat way to mount the awning. Not only that, it's made me think about rigging the van for an expedition!

Thanks to you both and I'll keep you posted as to how I get on.

(Just waiting to get the van back from the workshop......more chassis and sill welding. Does it ever end?).

Mick.

Bear in mind if you want it to keep the rain off that any gap between the van and awning will let the rain in, even a small gap will let rain in.

itchyfeet wrote:Bear in mind if you want it to keep the rain off that any gap between the van and awning will let the rain in, even a small gap will let rain in.

Totally agree, I thought the small gap would be ok, found out the hard way it’s not.
Board between awning and gutter is on my to-do list.

Regards Gary

mickcorr wrote:I'll take you up on your offer if I need some more measurements. Do you find that the size of your roofbox (both in length and height) is good or do sometimes wish for more storage? Trouble is, I probably know the answer to that one - the more space you have the more junk you end up carting around!

Aye feel free.
The 360l roof box is pretty much the right size for us, any bigger and I'd struggle to reach stuff that's further in and you need to be able to reach the mounting brackets from inside the box when you want to take it on and off. I can just reach mine by standing on the sliding door sill but a small step ladder makes it easier to take on and off. You might get away with the 470l version, it's not much bigger, but the bigger you go the more air resistance of course.
I'm interested to see how you get on mounting the awning so yes, please keep us posted.

Thread resurrection, but it has no conclusive ending.

Having just bought some Thule roofbars with 952 footpack, I can confirm they clash with the F35 mounted on standard brackets.

T25Convert wrote:Thread resurrection, but it has no conclusive ending.

Having just bought some Thule roofbars with 952 footpack, I can confirm they clash with the F35 mounted on standard brackets.

But there is a way of making it work!

Firstly, you need to turn round the boltand hand wheel on the gutter clamp.

Then replace the 10mm bolts on the back of the fiamma casing with longer ones, and use two 10mm nuts as a spacer between case and fiamma bracket.

Reversed foot screw:


Spacers

Sorry to pi$$ on your fire...
Be careful with those spacers, from a structural point of view it's totally different, it will flex the materiel around the bolt hole and eventually it will fail. If it comes off on a motorway you could kill somebody and when they find out you modified it you could be in doing a stretch.


Dunno about the F35 but my F45 clips on the bracket at the top so the bolt is just to stop it coming off the hook, the rear section of the F45 is not designed to take the weight but I know the F35 is lighter.

If you must use a spacer it needs to be the same profile as the bracket i.e a number of flat square plates or a large piece of box section something like that so you are clamping over a wide area not just an M8 nut area.

The F35 is the same as the F45, so it clips into two sections of what is effectively awning rail at the top of the brackets, then ‘flops’ (for want of a more technical word, been a long week) onto the bracket. There are then two small bolts (10mm heads so must be m6) that stop it sliding front to aft, or from rotating back up and hence out of the top mounts. The channel they sit in is substantial.

Fiamma do fitting kits that involve just the rail and two self tapers for locating duty on fibreglass coachbuilts. They also do a mount that is based just on the channel bolts, with no top rail.

I take on board your concern that by increasing the lever arm and reducing the clamping area I could be increasing the potential for a failure, but considering the forces and materials involved, and the other mounting options they sell I’m happy with what I have done.

I hadn't realised it was still hooked on at the top, I thought it was just held by bolts

I'm probably over cautions on these things, but I have reason, my sister in law had a piece of wood off the back of a lorry go through her windscreen with such force it went out the tailgate window, if it was an inch of so further over she would be dead.

If you put pics up you must be prepared for others to copy you, you might be happy but it's a risk that must be considered by others following in your footsteps.

Good to see you got it fitted Mick.
I'm right there with you on making sure it's well secured Paul, having seen the aftermath of an awning coming off a left hand drive gin palace camper and impaling the driver of an oncoming van (via the windscreen) I'd say you're right to be cautious. amazingly the guy survived.
Think I'll stick to my DIY tarpaulin awning, it sits in the gutter so has no gap to let water in and I keep it in the top box so it can't come off in transit.