Canopy Selection Pros & Cons

[Byrnesy]

Gidday All

my first post here. So I can hope I can receive some good advice and info from like minded Gladiator owners.

I have just put a deposit on a Gladiator Rubicon and the first priority with all the Mods is to keep the weight down. The vehicle will primarily be used for hunting and over-landing with my son and daughter.

Hence secure storage is the objective of fitting the canopy, and a place for my eight year old son to sleep.

As I have read here, I have three options Down Under in Australia, being Alu-Cab, RSi and RLD. And I am having trouble getting accurate weights of the canopy.

The Alu-Cab appears to be the lightest , at 60kg 132lb, but the 'Center Flex' hinge somewhat concerns me. With firearms and other expensive equipment in the tub I could see some low life attempting, and possibly successful, in cutting it and gaining access to the interior.

RSi are telling me that their cap weights in at 110Kg 242lb. Certainly weighty. And RLD state 80-85Kg, approx 180lb.

Can anyone shed some more accuracy on these figures and experiences of pros and cons with each of the options.

Its years since Ive been on any forum and I've got say Gladiator Forum appears well run and respectful of different opinions.

I'll be asking plenty more and hope I can assist others.

Have a great day
Dave

Sponsored

 

[Jaxmax]

Hey Dave congrats on the new Ruby coming. All three canopies are great designs, I went with the RSI, and was told weight was about 170 pounds and shipping weight was over two hundred, my son in law and I picked it up off floor and set it on sawhorses, we did not pick up over two hundred pounds, and the boxes it came in were very large ,lots of them and heavy, I think 224 pounds is shipping weight. I think the RLD and RSI are very similar almost the same at some points I think they are both in the 170 to 180 pound range and the Aluma Cab is much lighter in the 130-135 range. This came up a year ago where someone at RSI quoted over 200lbs. But it turned out to be shipping weight…..Jack

 

[Byrnesy]

Thanks Jack.

Yep 50 pound is a lot of weight. Essentially its 20 litres of water. Sorry I do imperial on everything but quarts. Well its 21 quarts so pretty close.

It will interesting to see what others thoughts are too.

 

[Rokon]

I ran the Alucab cap for a year and then added the Alucab RTT this spring. Awesome gear, well made and really enjoy it. Great functional stuff that you can do a lot with.
I have no concerns of the hinge system. Pluses include dust/rain proof with no drips when open thru the hinge.
As far as security. I think any cap is pretty easy to get into by someone determined with a pry bar…..
I would lean more to security via lockbox/gun vault secured to the bed. That could be a lot tougher to get into or carry away.
Of most importance with these Gladiators is keeping track of weight. It is really eye opening how quickly it adds up and easy to get fat. Always take it into serious consideration.
You sure have some great choices in kit down under. Big bonus savings in shipping and wait times over us in the US.
You can find my threads here on my AluCap and RTT on a Rubicon.

 

[Byrnesy]

Bob, thanks for some perspective. It is often the case that in the evaluation process some of us get stuck in a 'groove' . You are dead right, smashing a safety glass rear window will get you into any of the canopies faster than cutting the Center Flex hinge and then trying to remove the gull wing.
And as you rightly point out weight and keeping everything 'trim' is extremely important with the Gladiator.

So Ill be ordering on on Monday.

And a draw build will be happening putting my trade skills to work.

 

[Byrnesy]

Well I did some further thinking and after all the research I did on line and YouTube haven't yet seen the Road Chose Me till I looked around the forum.

the I see he did a canvas canopy. So being a tradesman (Elec Fitter and holding some welding certifications ) I decided that is the way Im going. For security I will infill the support structure with Aluminium Diamond Mesh.

I will do a build up thread on the forum so all can follow. Based off my figures the entire cage/canopy and cover should come in at about 37 Kg or 82lb.

Looking forward to refreshing some old skills. All the Aluminium is ordered and should arrive this Friday. And then the clock is ticking to get it done by the end of January as the job is booked in at the acanopy manufacturer to be be custom made.

Sponsored