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Old 04-14-2018, 09:07 AM   #1
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Penthouse in the wind

At what wind speed is it likely unwise to pop the penthouse up?

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Old 04-14-2018, 10:05 AM   #2
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Somewhere I read/heard that these penthouse tops are "engineered" to withstand gusts/wind up to 40mph.

Whether or not you can sleep soundly inside it when the wind is gusting that high is another matter entirely.
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Old 04-14-2018, 10:48 AM   #3
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When I had one I would usually get the wife to drop it once we hit 85 or 90, especially with big trucks around. Kids had to come downstairs and play hide and seek at that point. Just too much noise. I couldn't hear my gangster rap anymore at speeds higher than that.

Oh.....Mike is right BTW ^^^
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Old 04-14-2018, 11:52 AM   #4
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86Scotty raises a fair point! Most kids do find that "hide and seek" is an ultimately boring game in the van if the penthouse roof isn't raised (two full levels to hide in.) Safety first however --- be sure the kids are wearing parachutes and quality headgear above 22 knots.

There is a reported "work-around" for the wind-speed limitations, however: if you've pre-applied proper amounts of de-icing fluid to the forward edge of the penthouse roof, its been demonstrated to almost completely mitigate the dangerous wind-shear-driven instability and lift that normally starts to occur at 65 knots. Just be sure your anemometer/pitot tube instruments are regularly calibrated to the local wind sock.

(*just in case this added emoji is necessary: )
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Old 04-14-2018, 12:18 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer View Post
86Scotty raises a fair point! Most kids do find that "hide and seek" is an ultimately boring game in the van if the penthouse roof isn't raised (two full levels to hide in.) Safety first however --- be sure the kids are wearing parachutes and quality headgear above 22 knots.

There is a reported "work-around" for the wind-speed limitations, however: if you've pre-applied proper amounts of de-icing fluid to the forward edge of the penthouse roof, its been demonstrated to almost completely mitigate the dangerous wind-shear-driven instability and lift that normally starts to occur at 65 knots. Just be sure your anemometer/pitot tube instruments are regularly calibrated to the local wind sock.

(*just in case this added emoji is necessary: )
*And that everyone on board is wearing Depends.
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Old 04-15-2018, 02:36 PM   #6
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The SMB top is not built very stout and tends to flap around and make quite a racket in light to moderate winds. I couldn’t tell you the technical specs on what wind speed it’s rated to hold up in, it was usually the noise that prevented us from keeping it up in any moderately light wind. To solve this problem, all you have to do is drop another $10K into getting a CCV top......


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Old 04-15-2018, 07:09 PM   #7
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Thanks, REF. Actually, I waited until the wind dropped from around 23-24 mph to the 11-12 mph, put the top up and hardly felt a wiggle.

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Old 04-15-2018, 07:56 PM   #8
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Well, ya know...sometimes a person just has to test things to see what they will do...

(At least that's the story I'm telling. )

I was in a hurry to get on the road a couple of months back. I had dropped the top earlier, but had not latched it. You can see how this story is going to go, right?

I made it about ten miles at sustained speeds of up to 50 mph with no issue whatsoever.

Then, as I was merging onto the freeway and accelerating down a hill to about 60mph, there was a very loud noise, and the top popped fully open.

That woke me up.

I was able to slow down and get onto the shoulder pretty quickly, but the top took some wind on the way. The good news is that nothing broke, nothing bent. No harm done. But I do double-check my latches now.
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Old 04-15-2018, 08:09 PM   #9
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ARRRRRGH!!!!!! Yes, that would wake you up!!! You could maybe advertise it as the new, easy lift method.... Oh, wait...someone would try it, for sure!

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Old 04-17-2018, 09:07 PM   #10
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Funny and informative...

That woke me up.

Well delivered advice. Especially on what to look for in this situation.

Laughing with you, not at you.

Thank you for the funny... and glad all is well.

Brian
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