Hmmmmmm. On every tonneau I've seen, there are snaps located on the
cockpit sides immediately behind the door opening. The zipper starts in
front of these snaps, and runs inward and backward. If you left the
zippers zipped and the snaps snapped, the tonneau would only be able to
fold back as far as the rear of the door opening, about four inches
forward of where it would be with the zippers unzipped, and where it
needs to be for my seatback position. Also, the edges of the tonneau
would krinkle up and bind as they were forced to roll over inside the
cockpit edge. Not to mention tending to get caught in the door.
Unzipping the zippers is intended to relieve that "pucker" where the
tonneau material, which is wider than the cockpit opening, has to fold
down and in. Leaving the zippers zipped stresses the material, and makes
the process of snapping the tabs down on the inside impossible. Of
course, many covers don't have these tabs (or flaps).
It took me a while to figure out the full range of functions and fittings
on the various covers. Many people apparently never have been aware of
them. I don't mean to be "anal", you can do whatever you want with your
cover, but I think some people would be interested in how they were
originally designed and meant to be deployed. They don't usually seem to
come with instruction manuals...
John A. Walker had this to say:
>There is no reason to unzip the rear zippers. The top will roll up and fit
>nicely behind the seat with the rear zippers still zipped. I was always
>under the impression that the rear zippers were there for 2 reasons, to
>make reaching in behind the seat from outside the car easier and to
>facilitate a rollbar.
>
>-JW
>
> John Walker
> john@rmartin.net
> drone@d23.com
> ============
>~= Early 1974 MGB =~
> ============
> In Progress :)
>
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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