I’ve posted previously on roofrack options for the Grenadier. Most rely on gutter mount. Black Sheep’s offering uses the roof grab bars and the the rubber roof bars strips for additional support – suposedly to a 250kg static limit. The roofrack comes as two basic elements (each a mere 12kg) and an additional base unit that can join it all together to make a 3/4 length rack.
I couldn’t resist – so ordered one basic element (as I don’t need much carried on the roof), one MOLLE side rack, and one universal cannister rack from the good folk in Switzerland. In a short time they arrived. Beutifully packed but lacking instructions. Not a problem if your were brought up on Meccano!
Take the roof grab bars off, add the barckets (for both the roofrack and the side racks) and you’re off to good start.
Then everything screws together with nice stainless button head bolts…
Here I’ve installed the basic element as far back as it goes (for ease of access from the ladder). This is the Universal Carrier side unit. Which isn’t quite universal, as I had to make up the brackets to fit the ROTOPAX holders / handles. Nonetheless, it’s pretty flexible with what you can install.
The Black Sheep system does provide you with a lot more L-track to play with. The basic unit has L-track round the entire perimeter. So I used that for lights and the UHF antenna mount (just some steel bracket with a folding base mount). Plenty of mounting space left for cargo tie downs. The VHF antenna stayed on the roof grab bar (for now).
Both the MOLLE panel and the universal carrier are well designed, and with attachements to both the roof grab bar and the vehicles l-track cargo mounts seem very robust. Nothing mounted on the MOLLE yet, but I will try and mount my MaxTrax.
I’ll report back on how things go when we go and get dirty very shortly. By the way, ignore the door panels – they’re an experiment on having somewhere to put event stickers as well as protecting the doors off road!
