Four Low

I was thinking, the PVC pipe would be slotted for the shade , end caps would secure threaded rod , wing nuts hold end caps on.
The PVC pipe would be the "cover" the slot for the material would not admit much rain, a drain hole or two would suffice. Fiberglass support rods could snap on to pvc pipe casing with those little clips. All this because I don't sew !

jscherb

Unless you find a blind that's intended for exterior use, I really think you'll need to have a cover to keep the weather out of the shell when the blind is stowed.

My sewing machine is my second favorite power tool. I do so many Jeep projects with it, from simple things like the Molle sleeves for the roll bars up to the roll-up side panels for the Safari Cab and the camper canvas for my Jeep-tub pop-up camper. Used sewing machines like mine which are capable of sewing heavy materials like you might use for roll-up side panels and camper tops can be found on eBay regularly for around $100. Based on how often I use my machine and how many projects it's been a key part of, I highly recommend that Jeep DIY-ers consider adding one to their power tool arsenal .

jscherb

A few weeks ago I found a Garvin Wilderness Rack on Craiglist that I was able to buy for $150 including the optional jack and shovel mounts. It's designed to mount to the windshield hinges and to the rear of the tub, but since the Safari Cab roof rack rails are tied to the roll bars, I don't need the Garvin supports (which is good, because the rack only came with one of the four supports).

Over the past few days I mounted the Garvin to the Safari Cab's Cherokee roof rails. I used Surco Cherokee rail adapters and everything bolted right up.





I also made up brackets to clamp my roof top tent's crossbars to the Garvin so the RTT can mount directly on top of the Garvin. This will be nice because there will be about 18" of usable rack space in front of the tent.

jscherb

Outfitted:







My sand ladders are just sitting on the rack for the moment, I've got to pick up some j-hooks to secure them.

jscherb

I won't often use the HiLift and Shovel+Axe mounts that came with the rack, but I installed them just to see how they work.





I will use the rack to carry an extra spare, so I fabricated a tire mounting stud that bolts to the Garvin.

jscherb

To mount the DIY awning to the Garvin I made up a simple set of brackets.







The "rattan look" shade I chose lets some light through, but it's a very nice amount of shade. If you wanted to let less light through, or do something water resistant, a different fabric could be used on the shade.

jscherb

And finally, since the MultiPod LEDs are now in stock at the company that I did the LED project for, I had the company send me a few extra so I could use them in various ways on my Jeeps. The Garvin has 4 mounting points on the front, so here are 4 MultiPods mounted. Haven't wired them yet, just trying them on for size right now.

jscherb

I'm storing the Garvin above the first bay of the garage and I'll only put it on a Jeep when I need it. I can swap the locations of the Surco adapters to suit either the LJ or the JK, drive that Jeep under the rack and drop the rack down onto the Jeep. Only takes a few minutes to install/uninstall it.



BTW here it is on the LJ.

Four Low

That Awning is the Neatest thing ! A longer (wider) version could come off the sides, a real Camper Special

jscherb

The roller shade I used is 48" wide and I chose it because I wanted to make a rack that opens off the back, but I've seen them up to about 6' wide - my Garvin rack is 6' long, so it would be pretty easy to make one that's as long as the rack and come off the side.