They will take a great deal, seen one in the scrap yard with a Jag on top, still wasnt flattened

The figures quoted by LR will be constrained by the dynamic load (moving) as this will be much higher than any form of static load. The downforce generated by 75Kg hitting a pothole or rut could be quite considerable although heavy braking would be under 1g. This would be a shear load on the mounts which is not what is experienced statically.

The roof crush test require the ability of a vehicle to withstand a multiple of the weight of the car (I think 1.5 times though I am not sure) but this does allow some small intrusion and still comply with the regulations. In practice most cars will more than meet the limit but the FL being what it is I would expect it to be much higher. At a vehicle weight in excess of 1700Kg a few hundred Kg of static load really should not be a problem for the monocoque of the body itself. What I would be less certain of are the roof rails themselves as they do not form part of the compliance testing.

However having fitted my own set and seen how they are constructed I would have no worry personally with one caveat. That is that the rails are not straight so how any heavy load is transmitted down needs to be considered carefully. Prog rock is cool!
2012 XS SD4 Indus Silver

I dont think defenders would ever pass that crush test At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

So this is an old post but if your interested in a Rooftop Tent on a FL2 then check out my blog at http://trngia.wordpress.com

Great effort. It will be interesting to see how you go with all of the modifications in your wish list. I will pay particular interest in your plans for a secondary battery. I simply put a second one (fully enclosed battery of course - hence no dangerous gases) in the foot rest cavity of the rear left seat and connect a solar panel to my home-made roof-racks when I'm on a trip. The wires from the solar panel are simply put thu the door and when closed carefully, present no problems. A trick is to make sure the wires enter lower down the door, otherwise rain will follow the wires and end up inside, next to the battery box (soggy!).
On rare occasions where the second battery struggles to remain charged (eg: solar panel is in shade for too long) I simply connect an inverter to the main battery and plug a standard 240v battery charger into the inverter to charge the second battery. I only do this with the engine running. On my last 4WD, I hard-wired a connection from the main battery to an anderson plug inside the vehicle, thereby making it easy to charge the second battery via this method whilst driving from A to B. I haven't found the need for this in the FL2 as I upgraded the solar panel from 80watts to 120watts and the fridge has managed to keep the beer cold thus far. In a strange twist though, I now predominantly holiday into the snow regions and use the fridge to stop the beer from freezing!

Sounds like a good setup.... I have already gone for the dual battery, just not got to updating that part of the Blog yet . I went for a Thumper fridge battery with an anderson plug connected back the main battery. So it's in the boot and has been good for all the trips so far. So far its gone for about 3 days and nights running the ARB fridge, brilliant...

This thread is a few years old but this question has come up for me as well.

I have bought a Hannibal Impi Rooftop Tent (weight 63kg) and need to mount this on the FL2 roof. Hannibal do have struts and crossbars, but I don't really like their offering (which I am sure could take the weight).

I am quite happy that the FL2 roof can take the weight of the tent + sleepers (ie that the LD 75kg limit refers to the dynamic weight), but I am more concerned about the rails and crossbars.

Has anyone used the LD OEM rail (LR007220) + Crossbars (LR002417) for a rooftop tent ? Any problems ?

The Aussie, a few posts up, used a rooftop tent, but did not use the Landrover rails and crossbars.

Edit : Have now read that D3 thread, makes me nervous.

trngia, you still around, any long-term feedback ?

Having put the tent on the roof just how do you get up into it, I cant reach the roof to wash it let alone shin up to get into a tent, or do you enter through the sunroof?

You have to use a ladder (comes in two pieces which you assemble before use).

With the Hannibal Impi you have flap openings on the side and rear of the car.

http://www.4x4lifestyleshop.com/shop-equip...-tent.html

I have just come back from a trip where I had leopards and elephants roaming around the tent, and hyena and lions nearby. This was in Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe.

On top of that setting up and pulling down the tent was a mission.

So would rather sleep in a rooftop tent.

Hi,

This was my answer, take a look at the link below. Ultimately I went for Land Rover Rails and then fitted Thule Legs and Bars. Was quite tricky to find the right combination that would work. The issue I had with the LR Bars were the length of them to take the weight of the rooftop tent to the edges so this is why I went for Thule Legs and the longer bars which worked well.


https://trngia.wordpress.com/rooftop-tent/

Rich.

Hi, thanks for the response.

I would appreciate some more feedback from you, I have a time constraint, leaving on a Namibia trip on 1 September.

So it seems that you are happy with the LD rails. Strong enough ?

No problems with the FL2 roof ? I have the panorama sunroof version.

I understand your concern about the LD crossbars.

Do the Thule bars just fit right in ? Strong enough ? Do you still have the model number ?

Unfortunately there is a big time difference between myself (GMT+2) and you, so I hope that you can assist.

I will drop in at Thule this morning and have a look.

Unfortunately I don't have LD rails yet, so don't quite know what to look for. My RTT is 1.3m wide.

It was quite a while ago when I did this and have since sold the Freelander for a Discovery 3. However never had any issues with the LR Rails which coped with the weight, no problem. My rooftop tent is around 65KG and with two people sleeping never had any issues with strength on the rails.

Thule do different length bars so you can select the bar length and then the right legs to go on the bar for the right vehicle. The bar is the Thule Square bar and available in 5 lengths. I went for the length that covered the width of my Roof Top Tent so it was reasonably flush and not sticking out too much.

Take a look at http://www.thule.com.au/details.php?p_id=3..._SquareBar
and the RT757 Feet http://www.thule.com.au/thule-rapid-system-757

The Thule bars are strong and never had any issues.

As for the Freelander roof I had no sunroof but never had any issues with this.

Rich.

Thanks, very useful info, going to Thule this morning.

Edit: Been there, interesting visit, great stuff. And they have everything in stock.

Also went to Landrover and ordered the Rail Kit, should be there on Monday.

Also parked next to a Freelander 2 at a shopping centre with the full Landrover roof kit, including crossbars. I could see why you did not want to use the Landrover crossbars.

All done, thank you very much. Just hope that all is strong enough, I leave for Namibia on 1 Sep.

Pictures required.

Obviously.