Storage pod

[vonprum]

We newbes are are just full of silly questions! Has anyone ever installed a roof pod on an Airstream, particularly a 345? As if a 35 foot motorhome isn't big enough, there is never enough storage and women have more shoes than men have tools. Yes, my wife wanted me to post this.

And what about the ladder? The pod would obviously have to be in the middle of the coach, so a ladder in the rear would mean a long walk on the roof. Will the roof tolerate that?

[crazeevw]

I have a feeling roof will support the pod, but walking on the roof would be kinda tricky, especially since you'd have to make sure to place each and every step where the support bracket rivets are. Most of the others I've seen to get more storage have had some kind of box that they will use their rear hitch receiver for.
Kinda makes the 345 even longer, and puts the wife's shoes in a position to be crashed upon by that unsuspecting driver.
Just a thought.
Thanks, Derek

[vonprum]

Thanks Derek,
We'll be towing a Toyota pickup so can't do the storage utilizing the receiver and will have other things in the pickup bed so still no room for the wife's shoes. Is there even room on the roof between the roof vents, A/C units, satellite antennas, etc?

[Keyair]

Adding a roof pod would be tricky, but not impossible.
If yours is like mine, there is little room on the Centerline anywhere, which is fine, as maybe mounting one on each side would be balanced and also easier to get at? I would have it mounted on an offset bracket to put the pod level too.

Why not put a bed rack on the pickup, and mount it on that?

One of the things I am looking at in my longer term plan is making a storage pan to go on the underside, behind the gas tank... There is a lot of wasted space back there!

[streamquest]

I spent a fair amount of time on my roof this past summer.
My awning was damaged when I bought the moho, so I removed it and all associated mounting track and hardware, and sealed all of the holes left behind with Tremco and shaved rivets.
I removed, re-painted, and resealed the a/c units, and replaced both roof vents with fantastic fans.
I also removed the nonfunctional broken t.v. antenna, the waste tank vent, and two 6" diameter pop up vent fans, and applied round patches to seal up the remaining holes.
Then I polished the whole roof.

As long as you are standing on the structural frames, there is probably enough strength to carry a small car up there. However, if you step off the correct line of rivets you will immediately put a huge dent in the roof (or fall off, as you try to avoid doing so). Since I don't have an awning to lean a fairly tall ladder up against, I use a free standing 8' step ladder. In either case there is a fairly long step that has to be decisively made, with commitment, to get from the ladder to the point at which there is solid footing on the roof. Once up there, you can find yourself in an odd predicament where your feet are in the wrong place (or the wrong order) for the next step that you have to take. I gained confidence with repetition, but the consequences of damaging the roof or falling off were always in the front of my mind. Most of the time I worked with a piece of plywood on top of a piece of padding. My feeling is that unless you devised a really secure means of accessing the roof, that it would only be a matter of time before you hurt yourself (or your roof) doing it.
Also, and I know it's not a sports car, but philosophically, I just don't like the idea of carrying extra weight that far above the center of gravity of a vehicle with such a relatively narrow track. I think I'd rather pull a trailer. Just my two cents worth.

And if anyone's curious about weight..... I recently drove over a scale at a local contractor's yard. My 325 with Cummins, Allison, Gear Vendor, 3/4 tank of diesel, no water in any tanks, no generator, and mostly gutted interior, came in at 13,300 pounds. Not racing weight, but a lot lighter than I expected.

Charly

[sempi2]

As a woman, I love clothes, shoes and expecially jewerly. But while we are streaming, I have found I need much less than I think I really need. Perhaps your wife needs to rethink what she is taking. Our first couple years, I packed way too many clothes, cooking items,, you name it I had at least two of them.
PS, how long will you be in the AS? and what will you be doing in your adventures?
Our TT is 22', we have a Tundra PU, depending on our outings, we get in 2 bikes, 2 bbq's, 2 pontoon boats, 2 sets of golf clubs, and wouldn't go to far without the firedancer. But that is just my thought, I was a I have to have everything, then I learned, that weight counts and decide what you REALLY need. Best wishes on your new adventure.

[zlee]

I have to be honest, I agree with sempi. I traveled for four years with three pairs of shoes: hiking boots, dress/walking shoes, and a pair of FitFlops. That's probably a lot less than a lot of women are willing to countenance, but how many pairs of shoes is she taking?

[Keyair]

Vonprum...
Unless you have some welding done on that Towhitch, you will not be towing a Tundra... There has been much written here about the 2000lb max rating of the stock Airstream hitch...

[crazeevw]

Vonprum, contact gmehal in the Argosy forum, he's installed a roof pod, and a storage rack on roof of his Argosy. Attaching some of his pix to give you an idea.

[crazeevw]

oops, clicked too soon. Here are the pix

[crazeevw]

Here's another photo I found of storage pod and luggage rack setup.
Thanks, Derek

[Bigjohn59]

What if you mounted two rails of some sort than ran down the roof that would distribute the weight over the strong points of the roof, you could also add some railing and a tower to resemble a submarine lol

[8rmesse]

Here's an idea. Why not mount the roof storage pod on top of the Tundra? A friend of mine who tows an Airstream trailer with a Nissan Titan has a camper shell and a Thule "roof pod" on her truck. Your set-up would be the same set-up as hers only in reverse Might make it easier to get at those shoes as well...

The pod could also be cab mounted if you don't have a camper. Or you could get a roof rack for the cab of the truck and put sealed storage boxes in the rack.

[ScrapIrony-2]

We had two Kyocera 130 solar panels mounted on our roof...driver's side...a little bracket engineering was all that was needed...well, besides a bit of cash...don't see why a carrier would be a problem, except for access. m