Reinforcing a Softopper with a Bed Rack?

I'm really thinking about getting a softopper from a buddy who would sell it to me dirt cheap.

I've always wanted to have a camper shell since I could put a roof rack on it but prefer the rugged look of the softopper.

I was wondering if anybody has ever reinforced a softopper to be able to support a roof rack?

I've seen the ones that cage in the softopper and the rack is on the outside but I was thinking about seeing if a fabricator could manufacture a kind of skeleton for the topper, then I could cut hole for the bolts to go through to attach a prinsu toprack to the softopper and seal the holes. I think it would look pretty sweet and be super strong.

I want the dry storage of a softopper but still want a roof rack.

The rack I was looking at was this since I have the access rack.

 

Have you sketched anything up? I work for Mobtown Offroad. We are on the East Coast, there are plenty of fabricators out your way. I was thinking of getting a Softopper and coming up with exactly this type of product.

 

Awesome. Yeah I might order sliders from you guys soon.

I haven't sketched anything since I just thought of it last night while I was talking to Billy from BruteForce Fab about a rack to go over my tonneau. I really want to do this though to be different. I'm going to sketch up some designs really soon.

 

Cool. I want to do it because I don't like the look of the exo-racks that are available to go around Softoppers/Bestops. The difficult part will be sealing around the holes made in the canvas. I haven't put much thought into how you will past through the canvas while keeping it from leaking. It also needs to be sealed in a way that allows easy removal for collapsing the 'Topper.

 

Subbed. Want to see if this goes anywhere.

 

You and me both. If you think of anything helpful, let us know.

 

I think I've got a few ideas. I wouldn't mind mine being near permanent. I don't haul tall stuff. Pm me I'll bounce some ideas around after work!

 

sounds like a cool idea and something I might explore down the road when I look at getting a bedrack but wouldn't it be easier to get a bedrack and then bring it to a canvas shop / upholstery shop to make custom canvas that can cover up the bed area? Going that route, you can design the rack to your preferences and then have the canvas made to fit.

 

That is true. I'm looking for best value as well. I don't know how much a canvasing company would charge.

 

I was thnking about something that went over the rack, and bolted onto the some type of mount near the bed. that way you could remove it semi quickly if you needed to haul taller stuff

 

I'm not following entirely. You mean something that goes over the Softopper that is removable? There's a few options already that go over the 'Topper, though I don't know of any that are quickly removed.

 

Yea I was thinking something that goes over the soft topper.
Connects to 6 points right outside the softtopper and bedrail and gets bolted on through the bottom.

Sounds confusing lol. let me see if i can draw something real quick

 

i'm no Picasso lol
sorry didn't wanna draw something up on CAD.
Quick sketch to give you an idea

 

i know what you are talking about.

theres a few companies that make them

 

yea i knew i saw it somewhere..
what i really wanted to do was try and design something so that the soft topper could fold down when its on.. like a removeable center section of the rack.

 

Was talking with my friend about this type of solution early this summer. She works in the theater / movie industry and deals with any number of fabrics all day long.

I currently run a softopper on the truck and have been happy with it for the most part. When you start modifying, or tying in tarps or other such accessories is when you start running into issues (especially in high canyon winds / storms). So yes this is outside the intended application of the design.

Replacing the plastic bed rails with metal would give us a much stronger tie in point to build from. Ideally on the back side there would be counter sunk holes to bolt a softopper type frame. If someone wants just bed rails, great; if they want the full package, great.This way you'd have an expandable product to build off of. The Canvas would take some work, but is very doable and compartmentalized in the same manner around the exo skeleton. Don't know if we would actually ever get around to building it, but have sketches and designs floating around.

First need to finish a Soto grill integration project.

 

did this get anywhere?

 

I made one that is easily removable. Nobody offers anything the OP was asking about but SOS and allpro make over the softopper racks

 

It looks awesome. I`ve been on your build thread multiple times. The size of the rack and sitting flush with the softopper is perfect. But I have no skills to make them...........................

 

Practice. I have no prior fab "experience". Just took a few measurements bought some metal and cut away