One of the very first things we purchased and installed was a Flatline Van Company roof rack system. This roof rack is low profile and features aluminum side rails, and extruded aluminum cross bars that would easily allow us to mount accessories like solar panels and antennas up on the roof. The roof rack also features an aluminum front wind fairing, and mounts onto the stock Ford Transit roof mounting locations.
Throughout our research and planning we came up with 5 primary accessories that would need to be mounted to the roof rack on top of the van: a ventilation fan, an air conditioning unit, skylight hatch, solar panels, and antennas. This post will cover a quick intro of each item, and we'll do a more in depth post after the install where we'll talk about the process of each, and how well each item is working for us.
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Ventilation Fan
We chose the MaxxAir 6200K ventilation fan based on many reviews and guides we found online. Our intent is to install the MaxxAir centered on the roof and placed toward the front of the van in line with the sliding door. This is where our counter space and interior kitchen/galley area will be and the fan should be able to provide the best level of ventilation here.
Air Conditioning
Originally we were going to opt to not include an AC unit, however we plan to travel with our dog and felt it would be nice to make sure she had a cool place to be out of the sun if necessary (and for ourselves!). We chose the Velit Camping 8000BTU 2000R air conditioning unit since it was the perfect size for our layout and the price was right within our budget. It even comes in a 24v variant so we can power it from our battery system without having to convert the voltage input.
Skylight Hatch
Our first vision of the van build included side windows that we would have needed to install ourselves since our van came stock with no windows in the cargo area. Unfortunately shortly after we purchased the van, someone broke in by shattering the front passenger window. Thankfully we hadn't started working on the van so there was nothing to steal, and other than the window replacement, there was no other damage. This did get us thinking that because the windows we wanted to install would have cost thousands and would be an easy target and access point to get in, we postponed the window install. A neighbor of ours recommended the Tern Overland Electric Roof Hatch, and we thought we'd give that a try as a longer term alternative to side windows. The hatch does run on 12v so it would need a voltage converter, but it's power draw would be minimal for just the motor to open/close the hatch and interior LED lighting.
Solar
With the fan, AC unit, and hatch taking up a significant amount of space on the roof, we had to be creative with our layout to fit as much solar as possible in the limited remaining footprint of the roof rack. Explorist.life worked with Rich Solar on creating a few custom-sized solar arrays that fit our space exceptionally well. We will be able to fit four Rich Solar 35W (33" X 9.5") panels around the AC and hatch at the back, and four Rich Solar 55W (25" X 20") panels next to and in front of the fan near the front of the van.
The rooftop solar will be accompanied by a ground deploy solar array that we can move around depending on our location and position of the sun. We will have a plug located near the rear driver's side panel that this array will be able to plug into in order to supplement the rooftop solar.
Antennas
The final component we would need mounted on the roof will be antennas. We are currently using a weBoost Cellular Booster, and the antenna is mounted to the crossbars, but we will likely replace this with something else in the near future. There is also a stock Ford satellite antenna on the front left side of the roof for the satellite radio and the connected app functions that will need to remain accessible.