« Same ole work, new projects on the side | Main | Easter at the Aileron Bush Rodeo »
March 19, 2008
Building of a canopy...the beginning
As mentioned before I discovered that I had a fair bit of time on my hands and had previously been wasting it in front of the tv or surfing the vast, mindless voids of the net, hoping to find something inspiring... which I didn't. Instead I noticed how ugly the cage was on the back of my ute and how impractical it was for camping. In reading all the 4wd mags that tend to accumulate around the house, I was always bombarded by pics of great canopy setups that that were out there. I knew that I'd never afford a brand new one and never do the trips to appreciate it so I looked at what it would take to modify my own.
The old cage came with the ute and was made out of 50mm square tubing with a plywood roof 
and aluminium security cage for the side doors and rear panel. It was alright for having a lockable section and still being able to chuck shit into the remaining section of the tray that was open. In terms of camping, it certainly wasn't going to provide any shelter for us or our gear.
My original plan had been to modify the cage by adding another rear frame that would cover the entire tray and replacing the plywood roof with a full steel or tin one while altering the rear panel so that there would be three opening doors with full access to the length of the tray for stretching out the swag or carrying longer cargo.
It was going to be a relatively simple plan which would provide the full length roof that I wanted and left it open to have canvas sides at a later date for further rain sheltering if I thought it would help. The main problem was aesthetics - the old cage was square and boxy and had a second layer of rails along the top for tie-downs which were going to make the new roof more difficult to afix.
Once I took the cage off to have a look at it, I made the decision to just start from scratch and build the canopy the way I wanted it. The best way I reckoned to build it was to use the existing bar that was part of the tray. It is nice and sturdy, made from 65mm square tubing.
The first little annoyance I spotted was the tie down points that were on the corners of the first 
bend. Highly useful bits with an open tray but a pain for a form-fitting canopy. They had to go so out came the 9" grinder and a cutting wheel.
With a smooth bar now showing I had a look around the workshop and found a great length of heavy angle iron that would suit the purpose. I was about to cut it apart at the angles to fit over the existing bar when our mechanic, Rex, convinced me to just cut out the excess steel and bend the iron so the top would be one single bit of smoothly bent steel. It turned out beautifully but it was a real pain in the ass to get right. Not to mention the fact that the rear bar had to be formed the same way, ensuring a straight bend and little kinking.
I forget how many hours I spent getting those just right but it paid off and provided a great start to the project. Next post - support and doors.
Posted by Dr.Unk at March 19, 2008 8:31 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)