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[ramblinChet]

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[ckent323]

It is my recollection that the amount of distributed weight the roof can support is several hundred pounds more than any of us can lift.

Pragmatically if you cannot lift it, then it is appropriate to consider safety issues. Yes, you can use a crank up speaker stand or electric linear drive actuator to lift a roof that is too heavy but what if that device fails? What if the end panel fails?

That written I have carried two Pygmy kayaks in the top of my camper several times and each kayak weighs around 40 pounds I also had two 100 w solar panels on the roof so total weight was about 120 pounds. I was barely able to lift the roof myself and I bought a crank up speaker stand to help. However, I have not carried the kayaks on the camper since I replaced the two 100 w panels with a single 360 w solar panel (it weighs about 40 pounds). I am confident the roof can carry the weight of the kayaks and the solar panel but the end panels are in our camper are showing their age and I don't want to add more stress to them.

In the end I think the limiting factor may be the repetitive wear on the end panels. I do not know if the new black end panels will handle it better than the old plywood panels.

Here is a post about someone who had an end panel failure apparently from too much weight.

https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/20564-lift-panel-structural-failure/?hl=%2Bmuch+%2Bweight+%2Broof

I hope this information is helpful

Craig

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Craig's points are right on.
I routinely carried a 12' fiberglass Old Town canoe plus the solar panels
for many ,many miles with know issues.With the weight
up there or lifting. I have #40 struts on my Bobcat.
Frank

 

[Vic Harder]

rack hardware, 5 pounds
330W solar panel, 45 pounds
2 max trax, 15 pounds
16.5' kevlar canoe, 40 pounds
Cell/wifi Antenna & ground plane, 10 pounds
= Total 115 pounds

We have 80 pound lifters in the front, 60# in the back. With the camper loaded as described, the front is tough to lift for me alone, but I can do it. With the boss' help, no problem. It also comes down well (using the fans) loaded even if the canoe is not on there. The Solar Panel is mounted driver's front corner of the Puma/Grandby.

The rear is perfect up & down with the canoe on there, a bit tough to pull down without the canoe. Fan helps.

Been using it like this for 2 years now, 100 or so camping nights. No issues with the mounts.

Vic

 

[Jsoboti]

From the FWC website....

The roof is designed to withstand up to 1,000 lbs. of an evenly distributed snow load.
When carrying luggage, coolers, kayaks, canoes, etc. on the roof, we recommend keeping the total gear weight around 100 lbs. or less. The less gear that is on the roof, the easier it will be for the customer to raise & lower the roof.
Classic answer of... it depends. Hope this helps!

 

[PaulT]

If you remove the vent cover, and use the solar panel over the vent with an air dam to prevent water entry while driving, you may need to fabricate or buy an internally mounted cover to reduce heat loss in winter.

Paul

 

[Jon R]

FYI the 40# maximum strut size warning is in red print in the on line version of my 2021 Grandby owners manual. It shows as gray in my paper black and white copy (see bottom of photo). This section also recommends no more than 150 lbs on the roof. I would unload the roof before raising it if I had more than about 80 lbs on it. I have 40 lb struts and 55 lbs of solar panels and hardware and another 25 lbs would be about my limit for lifting the front.

 

[ckent323]

I have a FWC Keystone Camper the largest panel that I could fit on my roof without covering a vent is right around 400 W. I went with a 360 W rigid panel because my calculations show that would be sufficient for or needs (and it has been). It weighs right around 40 ponds. I looked at many different manufacturer/vendors and found that no other combination of multiple rigid panels would be lighter in weight or cost less. Therefore, unless you need more than 400 W of power I recommend the single largest panel that will fit on your camper.

I have a spreadsheet comparing various solar panel sizes, weights and cost (in 2021) for Renogy, LG, Panasonic, Sunpower, and REC panels as well as some info on spacing between roof vents on various FWC campers. Unfortunately I can't upload a spreadsheet or even a pdf of the spreadsheet to this forum. I tried up loading images to my gallery but nothing is showing up. I will try again later but for now see the chart below for figuring out fitment on your camper.


Here are two charts showing some useful dimensions for solar panels including the largest solar panels available in 2023

https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blog/most-powerful-solar-panels

 

[Jon R]

I have two 200 watt Renogy rigid panels, and they fit nicely between the vents. I also thought redundancy if one failed on a trip was a good idea. If I was doing it again today I’d follow Craig’s advice and go with one large panel for the weight reduction.

 

[camper rich]

When figuring the weight of boats on top you need to add in the weight of the Yakima, Tule, or whatever rack and accessories that are up there. That being said, we have carried two 60# sea kayaks on a 72" Yakima bar with kayak cradles as well the the 160w Zamp Solar Panel without any negative effects. I put the roof up using the speaker stand. I crank it as high as I can before I push the endpanels in place. I never try to raise the roof from all the way down using the end panels, whether it has a load on top or not.

 

[Old Crow]

There's an interesting post on the Four Wheel Campers Owner's Group a few days ago with a roof-rack concept I've not seen before.

On April 9th member Jim Weibert posted a drawing of his idea of mounting the four jacks upside down. The jacks wouldn't push up the roof, they'd push up a separate framework built to carry kayaks and luggage.

And then member Tim Bowles replies that he tried that idea and in fact used it on a 3000 mile trip. And he carried up to 225 pounds total weight. He lashed it to the roof-rack to minimize forward/backward motion. And if he did it again, he'd anchor the jacks to the main body of the camper below the pop-up roof.

Here's a link to the post....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FourWheelCampersOwners/permalink/6092407240835321/

Also- in that same thread-- member Bill Koons posts a photo of his kayaks on the roof using Yakima Side-Loader brackets. Those are brackets attached to the sides of the outer perimeter of the roof. I have seen those mentioned here on Wander the West before but perhaps others haven't.