Hi Volks,

I think the main advantage to a carbon-fibre roof would be the light
weight.

But: I don't think we need to re-invent the wheel here. If all you
want is weight reduction, then the solution is actually quite simple:
Remove flat sections of the westy roof and replace them with flat
pieces of carbon fiber. Flat carbon fiber panels are extremely
lightweight and should be MUCH simpler to work with than starting
from scratch and molding up a whole new roof. As cool as that would
be, I think the expense would limit its market. A quick look at some
of my digital photos shows me that a westy roof has 4 flat sections;
if they were cut out and replaced with carbon fiber you could
probably convert about 30 sqft of roof and save about 30 lbs of
weight in the process.

30 lbs doesn't seem like a lot, but it would probably make a lot of
difference for some owners.

It wouldn't be much more complicated to do this than it is to add a
roof vent, and I bet there are thousands of people who have managed
to do that successfully.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
www.pottsfamily.ca
www.busesofthecorn.com

On 6-Sep-07, at 11:34 PM, Don Hanson wrote:

> a Van top from carbon fiber, while it would be very trick, from a
> practical
> standpoint makes little sense.  Unless you're Bill Gates or Jay
> Leno or
> someone with lots of money to spend on a questionable project.  The
> amount
> of material you'd use to make the part...fiberglass or carbon
> fiber.. is a
> lot.  Glass fabric is a little heavier and not quite so stiff, but
> it is
> about 1/100th the cost of carbon fabric..In a piece as large as a
> Westie
> style roof, you might save oh, say 20-30 lbs, by using carbon fiber
> rather
> than the normal glass,  but you'd probably spend $500 doing
> it...You could
> save almost that much weight just by vacuum-bagging a fiberglass
> lay up and
> being very careful with the fabrication..
>   Now, in a racecar or a bicycle or an America's cup yacht or an
> airplane...that kinda dollar per lb. may be worth it..but for the
> top of a
> Vanagon?  Prolly not to normal humans...
>   Don Hanson