Mattress on the roof of a W124 estate?

[quenching]

I have to buy a new king size mattress and I'm too mean to pay £50 to get them to deliver it 15 miles down the motorway! Am I mad to consider strapping it to the roof of a W124 estate with 3 of these lashing straps? No roof bars just the original rails, I seem to remember that the roof load is 100kg but I could be wrong.

The mattress is 200cm by 160cm and weighs 40kg.

How fast can I go without taking off

 

[renault12ts]

Easy. Strap it really tight, and don't exceed about 40.

Why not put it in the car?

 

[Howard]

I put a double bed on top of a Honda CRX once and drove it back from Cornwall to London ...

The steering was strangely light for 250 miles ....

 

[jonnyboy]

In a word, yes.

How much is the mattress ? Why not just set fire to that amount of cash?

You could probably hire a van for less than fifty quid. A "drink" for a mate with a van will be considerably less.......

 

[quenching]

Don't think it'll fit without folding and its a pocket sprung mattress that shouldn't be folded.

 

[tippandy]

Why not try and buy the same mattress online from somewhere offering free delivery.

 

[The Boss]

I have to buy a new king size mattress and I'm too mean to pay £50 to get them to deliver it 15 miles down the motorway! Am I mad to consider strapping it to the roof of a W124 estate with 3 of these lashing straps? No roof bars just the original rails, I seem to remember that the roof load is 100kg but I could be wrong.

The mattress is 200cm by 160cm and weighs 40kg.

How fast can I go without taking off

hi. should be fine. as it is wider, you will overlap the edge of the rails a little, and if you use 3 or 4 sets of bungie cords, looped over and under and through the windows and then overlap, two through the front, and one through the rear.

dont put it through the front windows or the doors wont open or close, but do it through the door seal above the door.

if you have a sunroof, one option is to tie one more in middle and then us it to pull down the front and attach to the inside of the car, to top lift of the front.

if all is well, you should manage 40/50/60 mph or more.. as it is secured down.

but dont cut corners in tying it down..

 

[renault12ts]

hi. should be fine. as it is wider, you will overlap the edge of the rails a little, and if you use 3 or 4 sets of bungie cords, looped over and under and through the windows and then overlap, two through the front, and one through the rear.

dont put it through the front windows or the doors wont open or close, but do it through the door seal above the door.

if you have a sunroof, one option is to tie one more in middle and then us it to pull down the front and attach to the inside of the car, to top lift of the front.

if all is well, you should manage 40/50/60 mph or more.. as it is secured down.

but dont cut corners in tying it down..

He has rails so no need to loop through the windows.

 

[Howard]

Don't do it with bungee cords either .

Get some straps.

 

[The Boss]

Don't do it with bungee cords either .

Get some straps.

hi Howard, i do disagree with this.

With the forces of the wind, some elasticity must remain within the binding.
Bungie cords tied down tight is, from experience, the correct method.

This allows a secure fitment, tiny amounts of elasticity and a safe secure tight bind.

When using bungies, one must pull it very tight, to the point you nearly break your wrists, but this is how all my contractors tie things down to the roof of their vans for example.

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

hi Howard, i do disagree with this.

With the forces of the wind, some elasticity must remain within the binding.
Bungie cords tied down tight is, from experience, the correct method.

This allows a secure fitment, tiny amounts of elasticity and a safe secure tight bind.

When using bungies, one must pull it very tight, to the point you nearly break your wrists, but this is how all my contractors tie things down to the roof of their vans for example.

I disagree with this entirely - I had a friends mattress on my roof fastened as tight as you can get with bungees, from Woking to Walton on Thames which is only about 10 miles, back roads only and it flipped upwards so many times and in the end wrenched it's way off completely which bounced off the road behind me and the car following me was NOT a happy bunny.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

This can be achieved without any tying down at all.........

Driver holds mattress on to car roof... as he goes along motorway at 50mph | Mail Online

If you are strapping then you can easily get 7 mattresses onto the roof..... YouTube - 7 mattresses strapped to roof of car

Plenty to harvest from there Noodle Pulp!

 

[The Boss]

I disagree with this entirely - I had a friends mattress on my roof fastened as tight as you can get with bungees, from Woking to Walton on Thames which is only about 10 miles, back roads only and it flipped upwards so many times and in the end wrenched it's way off completely which bounced off the road behind me and the car following me was NOT a happy bunny.

did u secure it to the front?

the reason why i say through the window and roof and not the rails, as through the sunroof allows a front ancor, and the window, as the loop has no ability to slide down the roof rails if there is any lift.

in any situation, the front ancor is important to reduce / elimiminate lift, otherwise u r gonna be half way in the air flying home lol

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

did u secure it to the front?

otherwise u r gonna be half way in the air flying home lol

And therefore covered in volcano ash!

 

[Howard]

Bungees are not fine for heavy stress / load situations Boss.

The uplift on a matress at 40 mph will be huge. Get some straps , thats why boats aren't held to trailers with bungee cords ....

I would have a word with your 'contractors' as the time will come when they are stopped for having an unsafe load , or even worse for causing an accident. No excuse for doing it on the cheap with bungees , when proper straps are pennies , smacks of being an amateur too. Police will take a dim view of something coming off the top of a van / car held down with bungees.

 

[The Boss]

Bungees are not fine for heavy stress / load situations Boss.

The uplift on a matress at 40 mph will be huge. Get some straps , thats why boats aren't held to trailers with bungee cords ....

I would have a word with your 'contractors' as the time will come when they are stopped for having an unsafe load , or even worse for causing an accident. No excuse for doing it on the cheap with bungees , when proper straps are pennies , smacks of being an amateur too. Police will take a dim view of something coming off the top of a van / car held down with bungees.

Bungees come in various grades. Due to the weight of a boat, i wouldnt use a bungee ofcourse lol.

but i will find out more about the contractors, but its very common practice to use bungees.

Im sure straps are just as good / better / or not so good, i dont know as havent had experience, but i think with the right binding, it should be fine.

with a mattress with minimal weight, bungees, std or heavy duty would lock down well (from experience)

if there was more weight, then id consider something different, perhaps straps, or perhaps not..

but what ever you use, just make it secure at the front lip and the front of the sides and back, the later to stop pivotal movement of mattress if under stress!

 

[renault12ts]

Straps, with rachets are very strong and very secure. I had ten sheets of plaster board on my roof recently. They were not going anywhere. Bungee could not have done the job at all.

 

[Iain]

hi Howard, i do disagree with this.

With the forces of the wind, some elasticity must remain within the binding.
Bungie cords tied down tight is, from experience, the correct method.

This allows a secure fitment, tiny amounts of elasticity and a safe secure tight bind.

When using bungies, one must pull it very tight, to the point you nearly break your wrists, but this is how all my contractors tie things down to the roof of their vans for example.

Sorry Boss, but I have to go with Howard on this one. Just because all your contractors use bungees doesn't make it entirely correct. Lashings should be fit for purpose and I don't believe that something as light and un-aerodynamic as a mattress would be best served by this method of restraint.
He definitely needs to go with straps, possibly small ratchet types or even some rope (something similar to sash cord)

Also, I would use when lashing some timber the same length of said mattress on the edges to spread and protect the load of the tying down. This will almost certainly help restrict the 'ski slope' effect at the top of the windscreen.

Good luck OP

 

[ringway]

In a word, yes.

How much is the mattress ? Why not just set fire to that amount of cash?

You could probably hire a van for less than fifty quid. A "drink" for a mate with a van will be considerably less.......

Yes, just put it in divan..

 

[Iain]

Yes, just put it in divan..

a white divan man?