On top of the fixed top will set a very cool custom roof rack built by Aluminess, and you can guess by the name that the roof rack along with the front and rear bumpers are lightweight aluminum. I am not at all worried about using aluminum on this project because SMB has been using them for years and I had one my FJC that has been very impressive.
I am very grateful to Aluminess for their support of this project and their willingness to customize the rack to our needs. And for those of you curious why a disabled group would even want a roof rack, well it is a great place to hang some lights, support a solar panel, screw on some antennas and keep the sun off part of our roof here in the brutal desert southwest. Another Aluminess feature that helps the disabled is the cool storage compartments within both bumpers. This is a great place to store recovery gear, has easy to open lockable latches that can be operated with one hand and aren't too high for someone in a wheelchair.
Rigid Industries is another company supporting our cause with their LED lights. These will be installed on the roof rack to provide front, side and rear lighting. While super bright lights look cool, in our case there is a real benefit. Seeing clearly isn't just for baja bashing down the trails, it makes a real difference in preventing suspension damage, busting a tire or missing a turn, all things that could strand a person with mobility issues who can't hike home. The side and rear lights are great for checking the ground before getting out to make sure a wheelchair can get around or there isn't anything to trip up a lower limb amputee.
Speaking of seeing what is going on, we will be transplanting the Total Vision Camera Self Spotting System over to the SMB WAV, it has held up great to my use and abuse. The only real change we are planning is to add a roof rack camera looking down at the passenger side to check clearance for the wheelchair ramp before stopping on a trail. We will continue to have the front and rear bumper cams along with the two axle cams so we can watch what we are rolling over. Running the cameras into the laptop will let us record some cool video for you guys to watch after everything is built.
