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N.COM.AUThe sky’s the limit when it comes to canopy
setups. The only question is;
how far will you take yours?
WARNING: Serious inspiration ahead!SENSATIONAL CANOPY
This Patrol has been built for both touring and hardcore
4WDing, with the emphasis being placed on minimizing rear
overhang. Lachlan the owner is a metal fabricator, and has
built this canopy to finish over the back of the rear axle. This
means that the spare tyre sits above the tray, rather than
hanging off the back of it. Length of canopy is one of the first
major hurdles you’ll need to figure out when setting up a ute.Here’s a better photo to explain the real benefits of a jack-off
canopy. This alloy canopy is setup with a touring system inside, and
a rooftop tent up top. The legs are carried in the canopy, and a
simple winding handle allows each leg to be raised a little bit at a
time, until the ute can be driven free of the setup. Imagine how
good this would be for somewhere like Fraser Island for a fortnight- you could setup your base camp, then spend your days exploring
without having to drag all that extra weight around!
Joe from Darwin owns this insane dual-cab 79 – a dream truck for
just about anyone. The only downside to a double-cab like this, is
naturally you don’t have as much room to play with on the tray. A
dogbox setup like this (even if you don’t put your pup in it!) is
extremely popular, because it lets you store a fridge, battery and all
your electrical gear like battery chargers and inverters securely in a
waterproof position away from prying eyes, while still retaining that
tray space at the rear. Once again here you can see that the spare
tyre is not sitting right off the rear of the vehicle – an excellent idea
as it allows you to centralise the weight of the spare tyre better.This neat GU is owned by Keith from Darwin, and differs from
Lachlan’s GU on this page in a couple of areas. The first is that
the canopy is full-length to the tray, so that there’s more space
inside for setting the vehicle up for touring. The second has to
do with the square holes in the bottom corners of the tray. This
tray is setup to be removable, with winding legs that lift it up off
the tray. This setup has a number of benefits – first, when
you’re at home, you can leave the canopy in the driveway and
retain the use of your tray, as well as reduce everyday weight.
Secondly, when you are touring, you can get to a campsite,
remove your canopy and be free to do daytrips from a base
camp without packing up camp every day.MODS