996 cab Hardtop storage ?

[mid life 996sis]

Hello fellas,
Still mooning around on cloud nine since picking up my dream motor last week...my god there's a 911 in the garage....and i've got the keys !!
However, with the onset of spring ..it will be soon time to take off the h'top and get the hood up. With that in mind any suggestions on best way to store the 'tin lid'. My garage is only really big enough for the car, although i could possibly build a system against the wall/roof.
Also, any suggestions re-covers both for the hardtop over summer but also the car whilst garaged.
cheers D

[BliarOut]

Bubble wrap it and bend cardboard over the corners/edges Seen this done for an M3 one and it really did the trick.

[glenn mcmenamin]

I have the same problem with mine, it sat in the house for best part of last summer, but that's far from ideal.

Porsche do a floor standing frame, but this still takes up a lot of floor space.


Their is a company in the back of some of the Porsche mags, that advertises some mechanical lifting system that lifts it off of your car and holds it in the roof of your garage until you want to put it back on, but seem like you need a high garage for this.

G.

[mid life 996sis]

God that was quick ! Thanks Blairout, seems a sensible default setting for protection how about poss storage systems ?
Cheers D

[BliarOut]

Wooden frame suspended from the ceiling with some carpet wrapped round it?

Colour co-ordinated of course

[Don]

I got a great system that doesn't take up any garage space - it hangs from the wall...a huge bag.

I don't use it any more (as I didn't bother with a hardtop on my second BoxS) but it worked great whilst in use.

I'll try and google it for you.

[Don]

These are the people:

http://tpseatsavers.co.uk/

A product called an Auto-Pak hardtop storage bag.

A take the bag and lay it on the ground behind the car fully unzipped. Then you and a pal disengage the hardtop and walk it carefully back to the bag. You fold the top of the bag back over the hardtop and zip it up. You then lift the bag, hardtop and all to the vertical, carry into your garage and hang it on two hooks (the hooks and fittings are supplied with the bag).

It occupies *no* garage floor space at all and if you put it up high enough the car fits underneath...

[clorenzen]

Here is the quick solution:

You only need the hardtop the day you buy the car and the day you sell it. In between those two events it is a vaste of space, so in my humble opinion you forget all about it and leave it with the dealer. I was told by my local OPC that they had app. 50 of these stored with nobody claiming them. The conv. roof of the 996 facelift is well insulated and has a glass rear window so the hardtop in this kind of mild climate is only a nuisance and prevents you from opening the roof when the sun is shining.

[Don]

clorenzen said:

Here is the quick solution: You only need the hardtop the day you buy the car and the day you sell it. In between those two events it is a vaste of space, so in my humble opinion you forget all about it and leave it with the dealer. I was told by my local OPC that they had app. 50 of these stored with nobody claiming them. The conv. roof of the 996 facelift is well insulated and has a glass rear window so the hardtop in this kind of mild climate is only a nuisance and prevents you from opening the roof when the sun is shining.

For this very reason I didn't get a hardtop on my second Boxster S. I believe they are standard on a 996 and so you don't get a choice?

Do OPCs charge for storing the 'top? I understood that they did and included in the service putting the top on at the beginning of Winter and taking it off again in Spring?

The Auto-pak bag is inexpensive and at least you have the 'top at home if you decide to put the damn thing on...

[mid life 996sis]

Don.
Fantastic, an ideal solution at a reasonable price.
Many thanks.