A $400 Roof Rack for My 4WD

The new Obieco box on the back of the Nissan has three Rhino rack uni-strut type assemblies running across front, middle and rear of the box. They are somewhat peaked in the middle. I needed to fit some kind of rack to allow tying down of swags etc but did not want to fork out over $1000 dollars. Whatever I came up with would have to be strong because I walk up there and carry large quantities of firewood at times.

While getting some other bits and pieces in Capral I noticed some aluminium walkway 6 metres long and 600 wide. It was very heavy duty mesh designed for elevated walkways. I figured at $400 a sheet, it would make a very strong and economical roof rack, so I purchased a sheet.

I cut two lengths to fit the racks front to back. At 600mm wide they would not fit all the way across the rack, so I left a small gap in the middle allowing the mesh to come out towards the edge of the box. I bolted it down with large washers and 10mm high-tensile bolts.

I am pretty happy with the result.