Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

We tossed around the idea of gutting the interior and doing a camper conversion(taking some serious inspiration from some of the members here), but i love the functionality and look of the stock captains so we threw a tent on top instead.
http://www.delica.ca/forum/download/fil ... w&id=19189
One person can easily pop it up and stow it down again and its a bit of a room with a view! I had a problem locating the factory load rating for the rain gutters, but i figured the weight split amongst 4 crossbars each with wide 'footprints' on the gutters would suffice.

That'll keep the snakes away from your sleeping bags. LOL....

Looks secure and strong enough. I expect some funny stories to follow.
MD

thelazygreenfox wrote:That'll keep the snakes away from your sleeping bags. LOL....

I'd worry more about the bats now. (j/k)

I imagine that four bars would support the weight evenly, how are you getting up there? Do you have a ladder on the tailgate?
Also, how are you lashing it down to the bars?

Falco.

Bats, Ha! The tent mounted to the crossbars in 8 places with U shaped bolt mounts. Its on there but good. It also came with an extendable aluminum ladder that hooks on to either side of the tent. Ive been up and down a dozen times just fooling around and checking things out up there and it seems super solid. I had been looking for a rear mounted ladder for several months and couldn't get my hands on one. Even on totaled out Delicas that were being parted out it seems the ladders are the very first thing to go. Maybe I'll find one if i stop looking.

how much weight can you have on the roof set up like that? And how many people can you fit in it?

I have been told 300kg or approx 650 lbs is safe if the weight is distributed properly along the rain gutters. Ive seen photo galleries with 5-6 people standing on a rain gutter mounted platform atop an l300. The tent is 120lbs and the roof rack and bars are around 75lbs. That leaves 450lbs for the wife and I and a newborn(plenty). I was a bit worried about the van being too top heavy, but it drives and handles as if there is nothing on the roof. I will calculate the difference in mpg that i am getting with the tent at the end of this gas tank...