T6 external side mounted storage – anyone have one?

[wildslammer22]

Great thanks, probably do something similar, nice setup.

Where did you get the ladder from?

It’s from Front Runner

 

[hlobban]

So the gear has been ordered, took me a while to find places online that weren’t going to rip me off with postage to Ireland. I ended up ordering almost all of if through a eBay shop!

Will get a photo of the setup when installed!

Still haven’t 100% decided on the trasharoo situation but a mole style roof rack and side storage, plus front runner ladder is on the way!

 

[Habokjes]

View attachment IMG_1917.jpeg

 

[Blanco]

Perhaps I've become paranoid in old age but when we fit a lock to stop someone nicking the spare wheel, doesn't strapping all this costly kit on the side with star knobs and easy to remove fixings invite the same light-fingered bunch to simply lift the whole lot and walk off with it while parked in the supermarket or wherever.

The precaution I've taken is fit security nuts on the M6 bolts holding the Gruenthal airline rails to the awning, but short of glueing the screws in place holding the magnets I haven't yet found a solution to stop someone taking just these and leaving the ends of the rails against the paintwork.

Amazon.co.uk

These nuts aren't nyloc so need a drop of thread locker a bit of PTFE tape wrapped around the bolt thread to keep them from working loose.

Lockable star knobs from Kurierbedarf should hopefully keep the stuff on molle plates secure. Unfortunately they don't seem to sell them in M6 only M8.

 

[hlobban]

@Blanco Absolutely agree, that unfortunately these days you need to secure everything.

Thanks for the tips above.

The way I see my setup working, is the mole style flat roof rack (which will fit at the rear of my two existing solar panels) will allow for extra storage of external stuff while in transit.

When in a secure location, this stuff can be transferred to the side of the vehicle on the mole attachment, for campsite access.

Then reversed once again for transit.

I wouldn’t have the gear on the side for the supermarket run of school drop offs or on the top roof rack for that matter. Only fitted for longer trips etc.

 

[flying banana]

thats what bothers me. even locked onto the side of the van,if someone attempts to wrench it off your looking at serious damage. they do look cool, though i wouldn't have one due to theft risk

 

[Blanco]

@Blanco Absolutely agree, that unfortunately these days you need to secure everything.

Thanks for the tips above.

The way I see my setup working, is the mole style flat roof rack (which will fit at the rear of my two existing solar panels) will allow for extra storage of external stuff while in transit.

When in a secure location, this stuff can be transferred to the side of the vehicle on the mole attachment, for campsite access.

Then reversed once again for transit.

I wouldn’t have the gear on the side for the supermarket run of school drop offs or on the top roof rack for that matter. Only fitted for longer trips etc.

When they're not on the van keep the ends of the rails and magnets enclosed in a polythene bag taped around the top otherwise if they're in a garage/workshop every unseen shard and speck of ferrous metal lying around sticks like crazy .. not at all easy to clean off when attached with 20+ kg of pulling power .. became entirely obvious once I'd made the mistake of putting them on a workbench!

 

[wildslammer22]

Perhaps I've become paranoid in old age but when we fit a lock to stop someone nicking the spare wheel, doesn't strapping all this costly kit on the side with star knobs and easy to remove fixings invite the same light-fingered bunch to simply lift the whole lot and walk off with it while parked in the supermarket or wherever.

The precaution I've taken is fit security nuts on the M6 bolts holding the Gruenthal airline rails to the awning, but short of glueing the screws in place holding the magnets I haven't yet found a solution to stop someone taking just these and leaving the ends of the rails against the paintwork.

Amazon.co.uk

These nuts aren't nyloc so need a drop of thread locker a bit of PTFE tape wrapped around the bolt thread to keep them from working loose.

Lockable star knobs from Kurierbedarf should hopefully keep the stuff on molle plates secure. Unfortunately they don't seem to sell them in M6 only M8.

What I’ve done - which is by no means fool proof but gives some peace of mind is I’ve used proper maxtrax locking pins for my recovery boards. These lock with padlocks. I’ve fitted the maxtrax high so as to cover the bolts that attach the rails to the awning rail. This means you have to remove the maxtrax to get at the bolts. I also have fitted Van Guardian motion alarms on the van which will go off in the event of anyone tampering with the van.

As I’ve said it’s not fool proof - nothing really is - but the combination makes it much harder for opportunist thieves.

 

[wildslammer22]

@Blanco Absolutely agree, that unfortunately these days you need to secure everything.

Thanks for the tips above.

The way I see my setup working, is the mole style flat roof rack (which will fit at the rear of my two existing solar panels) will allow for extra storage of external stuff while in transit.

When in a secure location, this stuff can be transferred to the side of the vehicle on the mole attachment, for campsite access.

Then reversed once again for transit.

I wouldn’t have the gear on the side for the supermarket run of school drop offs or on the top roof rack for that matter. Only fitted for longer trips etc.

The risk to a degree depends on what you are attaching to the side I guess? A cheap trasheroo knock off is about £20 and likely full of smelly rubbish so not that appealing! I suspect most opportunist thieves won’t even know what a recovery board is (I get asked a lot at campsites). A Jerry can full of diesel however might be quite attractive.

For me the bigger worry as pointed out by another poster is potential damage to the van if some scrote decides to try and lever the whole thing off. That said a wind out awning is an expensive bit of kit as are solar panels and I’ve yet to hear of anyone having them stolen.

I hope I haven’t jinxed myself or anyone else now!

 

[Blanco]

.. and safety regs require jerry cans with diesel to have a hazard warning sticker advertising exactly what's inside. Doh!

The idea of hiding the awning rail fixings behind the Molle plate is a good one .. the best way to deter is make nicking things difficult and time consuming .. thieves want to be in and out quick.

Entirely agree the bigger worry really is frustrated toerags causing collateral damage. Our dashcam starts if the van gets rocked, but is only of use if the rats walk in front of the windshield, and Van Guardian sounds like it adds a valuable layer of defence

Although .. my vote would go to something more terminal when anyone disrupted the magnetic field trying to prise the rails off (haha).

 

[Tarquers]

I have a board that attachs onto the rail and is secured at the bottom with four very strong magnets. It holds a water cannister and ramps when we are going on trip that requires them. It wouldn't be difficult to secure lockable box to it but for safety I was very careful to ensure that nothing sticks out past the width of the wing mirror.

View attachment 143285

How is this for road noise? Does it make much difference at highway speeds?

 

[RedWhiteMonkey]

How is this for road noise? Does it make much difference at highway speeds?

Can't say I notice any real difference with or without it (its currently off the van as I made a better ramp holder and haven't put it back on yet).

 

[hlobban]

Side attachment molle board now fitted as well roof rack and ladder…

View attachment IMG_8077.jpeg

 

[Habokjes]

Perhaps I've become paranoid in old age but when we fit a lock to stop someone nicking the spare wheel, doesn't strapping all this costly kit on the side with star knobs and easy to remove fixings invite the same light-fingered bunch to simply lift the whole lot and walk off with it while parked in the supermarket or wherever.

The precaution I've taken is fit security nuts on the M6 bolts holding the Gruenthal airline rails to the awning, but short of glueing the screws in place holding the magnets I haven't yet found a solution to stop someone taking just these and leaving the ends of the rails against the paintwork.

Amazon.co.uk

These nuts aren't nyloc so need a drop of thread locker a bit of PTFE tape wrapped around the bolt thread to keep them from working loose.

Lockable star knobs from Kurierbedarf should hopefully keep the stuff on molle plates secure. Unfortunately they don't seem to sell them in M6 only M8.

Had the same thought but after more then a year I can state it isn't al to bad. We have locks so that makes it a bit harder but then again not impossible. https://adventure-van.de/tool-board-airlineschienen-zubehoer/AV10150