I've been thinking about taking a living room sofa on the roof bars of my car. Why? Well, it's too big to fit inside the car and I want it somewhere else. It weighs less than 75kg (max recommended weight) and is narrower and shorter than the car. Trying to imagine it I think it would be just about 1m tall and looking a bit silly.
Fuel consumption would suffer and maybe rocking it (with acceleration and braking) on 2 bars at 700mm spacing might cause damage to the roof rails and fixings. Do I want 3 or even 4 bars on the roof?
Anybody got any views?
PS I was at Dover recently (in the ferry queue)and saw an estate car with roof rails where the owner had laid 3 suitcases on the roof, yes, on the roof itself and not on bars. He had one elastic cord per suitcase stretched across the roof rails. How he ever got to Dover without the lot ending up on his bonnet I don't know. Did he get far in France I wonder?
Anyway - any views on a sofa please.
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It would have to be pretty small to fit inside a car...:-)
It could be that you will have to constantly stop to reload it onto the car roof - will act a bit like a sail cloth and, no matter how well it was fastened on, would be unsecure.
The police might take a dim view as well in view of potential danger to other road users.
Time to borrow a Volvo estate or hire a suitable van?
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I've travelled across europe with a roof box, with skis on the roof and with canoes on the roof (although not all at the same time!). Regardless of the nature of the object, one thing will get you every time: Sidewinds.
With a low profile roofbox you can find yourself fighting the wheel at 40mph if you get hit with a crosswind. I would recommend you
a) reconsider your mode of tranportation
or failing that
b) wait for a windless day and pray it stays that way.
The other thing to consider is that your car will now have a much higher C of G and will want to turn turtle on corners at speeds above 10mph
How far are you going? If more than a few urban miles I would suggest you forget it if you value your car and your licence.
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wait for a windless day and pray it stays that way.>>
Whether it's a windless day or not if you are driving at, say 40mph, the sofa is battling against a 40mph "wind".
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Whether it's a windless day or not if you are driving at, say 40mph, the sofa is battling against a 40mph "wind".
But its the side winds that destabilise the car, mainly.
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But a sofa, being asymmetrical, will act like a huge sail. Any sailors in here? I dare say that it will, as a result, cause some rather unpleasant side effects.
Cannot you get some of your 'men' to shift it in one of your builders vans?
[Not sure what to do with the apostrophe in 'builders' as either side of the 's' would do, but the meaning would change, so have omitted it.]
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[Not sure what to do with the apostrophe in 'builders' as either side of the 's' would do, but the meaning would change, so have omitted it.]
"one of" ... so builder's? [I'm not sure either]
Nice point re the sail - would suggest a max speed of 10mph. Then, fuel consumption would alos be improved by the extra forward motion obtained via all the rear-end shunts.
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>>in one of your builders vans>>
In this case as it's one van out of a number it would be builders' - otherwise you could have said "some of your 'men' to shift it in a builder's van."
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>>I've been thinking about taking a living room sofa
Well you wouldn't want a dead one, would you?
PS Many many years ago in France, watched 2 suitcases leave the roof of the car in front on the motorway. We were in a Maxi at the time.
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A few years ago I was overtaken by a car with a well-loaded roof rack.
A mile or so further on I undertook the roof rack which was sitting ,still fully loaded, in the outside lane.
The car was stopped a little further on, on the hard shoulder, with the occupants trying to work out whether it was worth risking being killed trying to retrieve it or to let someone else be killed running into it.
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"Anyway - any views on a sofa please."
I'd never get it into the post box!
V
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It all feels a bit 'Friday' in here...
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Rent a van or man and van,anything else would be an insecure load and you will get nicked.
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As long as you are not taking it too far or too fast, you'll be fine.
One thing though, securing it to the roofrack is one thing, you may also want to ensure that the roofrack has additional securing to the car - when I used to carry a great deal of windsurfing equipment I not only tied the thing to the roofract, I also put additional straps over the luggage and through the inside of the car. A bit of a pain, but very well worth doing.
I'd also suggest a single rope from the front of the load to the towing-eye on the front of the vehicle.
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Well, I really did know that trying to take it 600 miles into France doing 90- 100mph all the way was daft, but I wanted to see if that was a generally held opinion. It sure is.
Using a van makes sense but costs more.
I'll just buy one there - IKEA in Bordeaux rent vans.
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Honestly, all the way to Bordeaux? (Checks newspaper to confirm it's not the start of April.)
600 miles, reduicng 30mpg to 15mpg. So 40 extra gallons. At £4. £160.
With a supplement on the ferry for a huge roofrack. £50.
And reducing 90mph to 40 mph. So an extra 9 hours driving. So an extra hotel stop. £50. Plus dinner for 2. £50.
And then in one of those splendid French rain storms. So sofa written off anyway - and weighs lots more than £75kg as it's sodden, so the car roof collapses. £20,000 for new A4.
__________________________________
The only your car does that mine doesn't is depreciation! :)
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I've roof-racked a couple of large wind-surfers to Bordeaux:- possible but not to be recommended.
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Didn't they prefer seats in the car? Brave chaps!
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Glad someone isn't hysterical.
Depends on how far you're going. Stop to check security after a few minutes and apply lots of common sense to the loading and driving.
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Where do I get a new A4 avant for as little as £20000?
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>>>new A4.
but wouldn`t it be a "seat"convertible with the sofa fitted? :-)
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Being a bit more serious for a moment, I recall many moons ago taking a 3 section ladder on a roof rack of my Escort Mexico (aaaaah! many fond memories)about 6 miles to a friend's place. Even though it was properly centred and tied down I really wasn't overly comfortable at London town speeds. What with the creaks and wobbles.
No, you really do need the proper vehicle.
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The obvious question is why ?
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The obvious question is why ?
Mrs DE & I have just signed on the dotted line for a second home/holiday house/retiremant pad in SW France. The owner is deceased, the house is full of furniture but the 3 inheritors want too much money for it so we have told them we don't want it.
I have some furniture in England and have been pondering about a cheap way to get it to France. Trouble is, there is no cheap way. Movers seem to want about £1000. So DIY looks the only way. But, there's only so much I can get in the car / any car.
If the roof rack idea doesn't work (and it doesn't) it might be worth buying a van for a few months and then selling it on.
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DE, have you considered a big trailer? The load wouldn't be that heavy, but it would be bulky ... so as long as you covered up the trailer with a tarpaulin, and took care in sidewinds, it's workable.
Otherwise you need a Gloria Mundi.
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You need a Nice Transit. They go on for ever & are a joy to drive. Here's a particularly sexy one!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...1
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>>Otherwise you need a Gloria Mundi.
Is that Mappa's prettier sister? With foreign trips I should have thought that Mappa might be more useful.
BTW, isn't that the third time today you've recommended a 4x4 for towing....
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>>Otherwise you need a Gloria Mundi.
Doesn't she have a tendency to throw up?
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>>Otherwise you need a Gloria Mundi. Is that Mappa's prettier sister? With foreign trips I should have thought that Mappa might be more useful.
Nah, Gloria chose the name herself when she got ill, as in sic transit gloria mundi
BTW, isn't that the third time today you've recommended a 4x4 for towing....
A 4X4 Transit? Hmm, have you found one on ebay?
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oh. should have got that one.
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>it might be worth buying a van for a few months and then selling it on.
Buy an ex post office hi-top for just a few hundred quid, and they're diesel. You'll get loads in the van and if you time selling it with the start of the next windsurfing season you'll get your money back.
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Yes buy a van and flog it later. My parents moved to SW france and I sent a grand piano to them recently (don't ask). The cheapest option was £1000.00.
If you've just bought the property I should imagine there's loads of other things you'll want to take down there that with a van you would be able to.
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Our next door neighbour has just been doing some moving with a horse box! (I think the horse has been temporarily removed) Seriously, though, something like a horse trailer adequately scrubbed (!!) wouldn't be a bad idea. Even if you could borrow a small caravan (provided the sofa goes through a door / window!)...
A LWB Land Rover would do it.
Have you considered some of the carriers like Interlink or DHS. They can be surprisingly reasonable for bulky things. Only thing is they might insist you strap it to a pallet.
On a dafter note, I recall an episode of 'Last of the Summer Wine' where Wesley converted a sofa to a sort of rickshaw affair. There's your answer!
Whatever you decide on, do take care. It's incredibly easy to get into a scrape with something like this and spend the rest of your life regretting it.
Graeme
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This topic was just made for me! Here's the answer:
www.grfx.com/brninman/img0047p.jpg
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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LOL
nice photo
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I agree with the cheap van idea.
My brother bought a cheap box van for the trip from UK when he was furnishing his villa in Corfu.Returning through France it started to give up on him - he was putting more oil in the engine than diesel in the tank but it got him home.
He still sold it for more than he paid to a builder who wanted the box on the back as a cheap lockable store for one of his sites.
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Thank you Backroomers.
Why didn't I think of driving the actual sofa down there !?!?
What started as a slightly TIC idea has on the face of it produced a good result.
I hadn't really thought about buying a van for the short term. Research needed - I will respond when I know what I'm doing.
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I agree with C5 Owner - a horsebox or similar box trailer is brilliant for transporting bulky items. They can be hired cheaply for a few days or a week if you don't know any of the horsey set.
I did my first house move with one - the contents included a bed, tables, washing machine and an upright piano. Not bad considering I was using a 1.0 Metro to tow it....
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This topic was just made for me! Here's the answer: ... Cheers, Sofa Spud
are my eyes deceiving me or has a link to topless photo got pat the censor?
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edit button
"got past the censor".
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Who's Pat ?
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Who's Pat ?
>>
i refer the honourable gentleman to the answer i gave a moment ago.
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>> This topic was just made for me! Here's the answer: >> ... >> Cheers, Sofa Spud are my eyes deceiving me or has a link to topless photo got pat the censor?
Yeah, I noticed that too. Pick one of the following for the reason why I didn't mention it.
1) I'm obviously less of a trouble maker than you :p
2) I was too busy sniggering into my drink about 'Honest John's Porn Emporium' :D
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you guys have :-
1) very good eyesight
2) not enough to do
you have to get out of the car sometime
so visit www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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bazzabeartroublemaker >>
now, now.
anyway, here is a link to the original sofa-car company
www.cummfybanana.com/cars/cars_homepage.htm
click through their links for a few minutes of fun.
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Volvo oposite direction on the A5 just south of Towcester this afternoon with sofa on the roof rack. Covered in rapidly shredding polythene and looking distinctly unstable. Might have made Stony Stratford, but no way Bordeaux.
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