roof sacks

Good quality canvas.

I borrowed one off a mate, the TJM brand one (cant remember), and the ties that you tie it on with ripped a large hold in the front. Maybe I had it tied too tight, but wasnt impressed when I had to buy another one for mate

I have the Freedom Camping version, a little more expensive than the Southern Cross but they are well made

http://www.freedomcamping.com.au/roof%20top.html

big fella
work out exactly what u want to put in roof bag and if u also want to put fuel up there etc as this will determine size u buy-eg bag that covers whole roof rack may not suit as u may want to put chainsaw,petrol jerry and say gas bottle on roof rack-in this instance look for size that meets those requirements-i have southern cross canvas one and over last few yrs hasnt leaked or had condensation inside and has been dust proof. also good idea to put something inbetween bag and roofrack to eliminate rubbing.
i only strap on 4 corners and also tie one rope from front to rear.
check out quality of various ones and prices as both vary greatly like everything associated with camping/4wd accessories.
cheers
fozzy

We've had a Southern Cross one for about ten years, works really well, remember to wet it thouroughly a few times like a new canvas tent when new to make it waterproof.
I only tie it down on the four corners, a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet under it to stop rubbing and only has bedding, chairs(in a bag) and centre pole tent in it, no hard stuff.

Big Fella,

I have the Bushranger roof bag. It spent 3 months absolutely full on my roof around the top end of Oz last year. I had no trouble with it apart from a hole wearing in the front of it because I had something sharp against the canvas. (My fault). I think if you look after them and do not expect too much of the tie downs they are fine for light stuff.

cheers

I got mine from roof rack city (Gilbert St ADELAIDE), various sizes available, made of tough poly coated canvas so is 100% waterproof, tie downs were a joke because they weren't the clip ones (too weak apparently) but the thread through the buckle ones whcih were a PITA to do/undo each time. Fortunately had eyelets around the top, so I just bought 6 good quality short red ocky straps and is heaps easy to do up/undo. Good quality chunky zip. About the $260 mark I think. Only available in black, looks tough on my White Jackaroo. Consider these, they are awsome.

p.s. I can re-iterate though about needing something between roof rack and sack though - would wear though on corrugations in no time if you had anything hard up there.

I was going to go canvas but the thought of water sitting on the top all night with stuff underneath and the potential for it so seep though had me worried, although others have had good experience with canvas. Also the dirt and dust hoses straight off mine as it is poly coated.

D-Jack

My Michelle's Sacs bag has a heavy plastic/rubber/ute liner type material on the base and I had no worries with rubbing through underneath.

It's got a heavy duty zip all the way around and that is covered with a velcroed down flap to keep the dust out. Straps are seat belt material that go all the way across/along the sac. Each strap has an anti flapping 'thing' that keeps it all neat.

I didn't go through the proper waterproofing prior to my trip - who said it rains in the desert in July? so suffered from wet gear until the canvas sorted itself out.

I was also trying to minimise the frontal area of the sac and packed low stuff in there. Unfortunately this created a flapping area on the canvas that has worn a crease hole that I will need to repair. I probably could have avoided this by putting a rope across the front to keep the front down, but suspect the best way to pack these things is to keep them fairly full at the front.

The only other thing I modified was to put a cable tie through the zip pull so I could hang onto it easier.

I think on my last day of a 24 night trip I managed to get the sack packed properly with everything in it's best place!

Tim

Big Fella,

Ive just bought a canvas bag custom made for my basket. I got it from a local canvas shop. They were priced about the same as the mass produced, but much heavier duty canvas and has a built in marine type carpet floor. It is tied down using 8 ropes, a bit fiddly at first, but I can tie it down in under 5 minutes now.
Size 1220Lx940Wx375H, $230.
Dean

I had ours custom made by Halls canvas here in SA. Its made out of ripstop 12 oz canvas(this is tuff stuff), has 14 reinforced tie down points and heavy duty zips with a fold down dust cover. Does it leak dust? The smallest amount.(got lots of dusty driving on corner trip) Does it leak? Not that i have encountered yet,however anything like sleeping bags and pillows get put in garbage bags just in case. I have an old piece of carpet sitting underneath the bag on the mesh to help with any potential rubbing problems. Cost was approx $250-$275 (can't remember lol) Absolutely brilliant quality and customer service. Also check out their spare tyre rubbish bags. Hope this helps.

I prefer to keep mine in my pants. I hate cold nuts.

I have a Bushranger Rack Sack. No probs so far, however I'm disapointed they did'nt use YKK Zippers. Everything else may be tough as nails, but if the zip fails, the bag is pretty well useless untill it's repaired or replaced. Hopefully I dont ever have any problems, but I just wish I had checked that one minor detail 1st.