Canopy or hard lid?

[Cage]

First up, let me say that I'm retired, so don't need the ute tub for work, and a lot of my mates have trailers if I need to move something large.

Most of my traveling will be max 2 up and I intend to remove the rear seat and fit a shelf for the fridge and a secure box for camera gear etc.

So, assuming the roof of the D22 will support a roof-top camper, is there any other compelling reason not to get a hard lid?

Like if the tub tray was longer you could throw a swag on top of the drawers under the canopy, but I'm 6' and that ain't gonna happen.

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

 

[happy john]

I am going to say canopy you will double your space and in wet weather they are worth their weight in gold i have had them on my last 2 only reason i don't now is every thing is in the van and i carry motorbikes.

 

[Cage]

Thanks John.

Never thought about the weather, probably because it's forgotten how to rain where I live.

That's exactly the sort of feedback I was looking for.

Cheers

 

[1310/71]

I have a hardlid. The struts don't let it open up very high, making it hard to reach in and access or tie down stuff up the front of the tub without "climbing in" The moulding of the lid also intrudes into the space, restricting the height of stuff you can store in there.

I find myself often having to drive around with the lid up (which can't be good for the lid or struts) locally when picking up or dropping stuff off.

I've gone off hardlids if you can't tell. They only look nice.

 

[BJJ84]

There are only two negatives I can think of with a canopy. Firstly you can't easily remove it by yourself if you need to - which is redundant because as you said, you have easy access to trailers and the other is reversing visibility. Other than that, they give you much more room and flexibility. I have a hard lid on mine, but i carry dirt bikes and I can remove it by myself. In saying that though, I just built a trailer and am considering a canopy. I did a trip to Goondawindi where a largish esky, two swags and couple of backpacks filled the tub, a canopy would've been ideal at that point

 

[fourocker]

I feel hard lids..... well they look nice but really have no practical function, a mate has a Lux with one but he's forever taking it off, a canopy or soft tonneau may be the go, I use the tub a lot especially with mountain bikes so I find the soft tonneau most versatile but a canopy could really make the best of storage space.
Like you I often take the back seat out if it's just the missus and I travelling but wouldn't be able to fit the fridge through the door opening, still though the space in the back of the cab is great for clothes etc that you don't want out in the tub.

 

[tony d22]

Go the canopy.
You'd be amazed what you can fit inside them.

 

[4low]

Canopy by far!

 

[Tappet]

^ Same here. Canopy.

 

[Jase V9X]

Mine has a hard lid - looks great, but what a pain in the freckle....
Go the canopy!

 

[Old.Tony]

We got ours with a canopy because of the need to more securely (from people and weather) store more gear. On long trips, I can safely store our Engel with its aux battery system, 5 diesel containers, recovery gear, tools and our folding chairs inside the canopy.

Soft tonneau or a hard lid just didn't cut the mustard for us - not enough height for the fridge or the jerry cans. There have been a couple of reports from people on this forum of assholes coming along and slashing their tonneaus to get stuff inside - harder to do with the hard lid/canopy.

The other advantage we've discovered with the canopy is that we can have an awfully large awning fitted to the side of the car and it doesn't look out of place.

The roof carrying capacity of the canopy is limited - I think my SnugTop has a 100Kg limit (static), whereas the main vehicle roof has a 95Kg dynamic limit - multiply that by 3 for the static limit is my understanding, so a roof tent could go on the normal roof but not the canopy.

We usually tow a caravan anyway, but we're leaning towards a tent that we bought for a Simpson Desert trip and putting that under/near the awning. We bought the awning from Tough Toys - it has lighting built into it - will be looking at using it - and taking photos - on 14th Dec when we join the Sydney crew for a run to Lithgow.

 

[BJJ84]

I don't think it's fair to say hardlids aren't practical, depends what you use the ute for. Day to day, my hardlid is great, has some basic tools, straps, compressor etc in the back and is locked and secure. If i go for a surf, boards fit in the back (except the mal!) and are locked and secure, it's only when I need the extra height that it's a problem and a trailer fixes that most of the time, so I still say it comes down to what you want to do with it