It’s all about having your cake, and eating it too.
Since putting down money on the 130, I can’t really ever see myself moving away from having a trayback dual-cab ute. Once you get used to the immense practicality of having a big, flat load bed on the back, you can’t really go back.
Read this in our online magazine HERE.
The one big negative of a flat tray is putting together a nicely organised and comfortable camping setup. No, I’m not talking about ensuites and automated whizzbangery… my idea of comfort is a fridge, a few LED lights, a bit of storage space and a dry bed. Achieving this, whilst keeping your tray practicality, isn’t really doable. You could always go to a trailer, but that’s not for me (at least at the moment).
So, after many hours of trawling the interwebs looking for ideas, I finally came across a solution: A slide-on canopy. My heart was set. Cue many, many more hours of products, ideas, and research; talking to industry folks and trawling websites. Considering I bought this car over four years ago, this idea has been bouncing around in my head for about that long as well.
Finally, I came across something that would potentially suit the bill: A slide-on canopy from Tong Metal. They are a small team of fabricators based out of Brisbane, building canopies, campers, generator boxes and toolboxes – and just about anything else – out of alloy and steel. I got my tray measured up, and the next thing you know, I’m barrelling up the Pacific Highway… very excited.
The biggest point to cover about this canopy is the material: It’s not checker plate or milled finished. Rather, it’s something called ‘Dimple Plate’. It costs you an extra $700 to opt for this material on a dual-cab, which can save you up to one-quarter of the overall weight of your canopy. This was the biggest point for me: Lighter is always better, as long as it’s strong enough to go the distance.
The next big point is that it’s quickly and easily removable, via legs at each corner. I can keep the practicality of the tray for when I need it, and then throw on the canopy when I’m ready to go bush. The canopy gives me an incredible blank canvas for building my own camping setup, which can be whatever I want. For me, it’s all about being lightweight and simple. I have some interesting ideas, so stay tuned…
