Varun Mehndiratta

Hi all Jeepers here in the forum Awesome UAE winter season has started and i have been planning to take my Wrangler's roof off. Last year i did it for 4 months - Nov till March. Was okay keeping it fully naked throughout with just mesh on top and Tonneau cover at the back. Challange was while being on sand over weekends and the days when while on road those occasional rains in UAE played a spoilsport. First day itself i took my roof off, on way to a meeting it rained for 2 min and this experience i want to avoid. Overall was an awesome experience. However, surely need some option to go with for those cases and seek advice of enthusiasts on couple of queries and options, there are. a.) Bestop Slantback Ultra, fully retractable one - This is really something i like. However, comes at a steep cost and trying to understand the cost vs price value. --- If someone using it, would be good to understand how comfortable it is to take off and reinstall, though will be doing once a season, is it DIY or need to visit a workshop. --- Anyone tried it during summers? Is it practical to be extended to say May/Jun kind of weather here in UAE? --- Anyone tried it off-roading? Not convinced if retracted one stands the test of shakes and shocks while off-roading? There are a bit of cheaper options available with sunrider etc, however, i want possibility to have it off for both front and rear seats so those dont work for me. b.) Alternatively thinking of going the low cost, do its work kind of Safari Style. -- Anyone using them, any feedback how well they stand driving on highways? -- Any feedback on them managing the rain - UAE rains arent torrential and in any case for occasional such rain, i am okay not taking my Jeep out -- In case i am driving with this off and it starts to rain, how much of a hassle it is to bring it back on? I already have a Tonneau cover, can go with this along with windbreaker for the Tonneau cover. Any other options, please advice. Regards

Congrats @Mark Birch

Congrats @Jaro Tuzinsky

Wow a super solid convoy… looking forward for the pics of the drive. Never been to this area, perhaps sometime soon.

I think issue is more when things come from IOS to Android. Noticed it couple of times not limited to off-road coordinates.

Congrats @Davie Chase

Congrats @Karthik Raptor

Congrats @Prakash Anoop

Congrats @Harshal 👍👍

Congrats @Beide Worku 👍👍👍

Dear Sand Sailors Thanks for joining in for drive today. What an interesting day in sand. We had the whole convoy on the spot, on time. 👍A day when all ⏰⏰decided to ring on time 😀 Somehow seems it was the case for the whole of Dubai. 6am at Qudra felt like Friday night at some nice places in Dubai 🤔 . High carbon foot print of our vehicles meant we had to find new starting point and eventually work out a completely new route. But then with lead so amazing 😎 and convoy so cool 😘, though an hour late we eventually managed to find our way into sand. And for next 45 min it was all about vroom vroom in the sand as in line with theme of the drive, we covered around 25Km in 45min. Brilliant job all. 👍👍 Ofcourse this was followed by an awesome hour of fixing pop out (and eventually change the leaking tyre) in a trickiest of soft pocket. Challenge took its time but eventually gave up to the team work of this convoy. It was already 930am when we started again and with sun shining bright, we sailed at high speed through some of the softest patches of sand and explored ourselves in awesome dunes that Ghantoot offered. Apart from couple of minor refusals and stucks including mine all managed the terrain very well as we exited the drive at 1030am. We managed to drive fast (average moving speed on dunes was around 28kmph) however thanks to multiple challenges on the day, the moving time ended up very short - around 1.5 hr. I really enjoyed the route and thanks to your response, will surely plan a re-attempt on the same in coming weeks. Thanks all for being patient amidst all the challenges and making it a nice outing in the morning. Special thanks to our platoon leaders, sl and sweep for their support. @Arda Yagcioglu @Jona @Mahmoud Taha @Jessica Lambert @Joseph Raju @salah2u @Looper @Beide Worku @Mario Cornejo @Yusuf Esaf

Hi Sand Sailors Please find below details for our drive tomo with convoy order. Meeting time : 6am sharp. Meeting point : https://maps.app.goo.gl/1oGtGNPWvUqib5dVA Radio Channel : Channel 3 Convoy Order: We will follow the platoon concept with a more experienced driver supporting/helping a small group of drivers. More details during briefing. 1. Varun in Grey Wrangler 2. @Arda Yagcioglu on Black Xterra in SL 3. @Jona in his FJC 4. @Mario Cornejo in Safari as our 1st Platoon leader. 5. @Mahmoud Taha in Silver Xterra 6. @Jessica Lambert in white prado 7. @Looper in Yellow Wrangler as our 2nd leader as well as Centre Lead for drive. 8. @Yusuf Esafin Nissan R350 9. @Joseph Raju in Patrol 10. @salah2u in Patrol as 3rd lead 11. @Beide Worku in F150 as Sweep.

Dear Sand Sailors @Beide Worku @Arda Yagcioglu @Looper @Jessica Lambert @salah2u @Jona @Mario Cornejo @Mahmoud Taha @Yusuf Esaf @Mohamad Anwer@Joseph Raju @Werno It’s weekend time 🎊🎊🎊🥳 feels like this one came after a month. I hope you all are looking forward for the drive. In case of any change of plans, please update your rsvp at the earliest. I will be finalizing the convoy by tomo noon, so would appreciate if you can review your plans and update before the same. Cheers

Hi @Arda Yagcioglu understand it’s your only planned drive for the weekend, so have extended the convoy to add you. Kindly confirm your availability for Sunday. Cheers

Oh read the message and thought we were going to have some cake 😀wish him very happy birthday and a great healthy, fun filled life… enjoy the day, hope to see you on next drive 👍👍

Now you are in ‘The Zone’… half of my work is done 😀😀

And wow we have our Truck in it .. welcome onboard @Beide Worku

Dear Sand Sailors @Werno @Jona @salah2u @Mahmoud Taha @Jessica Lambert @Joseph Raju @Gerrit Bus @Yusuf Esaf Thanks for RSVPing for the drive. What an awesome mix of rides and riders we have here - from new to Fb+ to experienced intermediates and that too with all makes of vehicles - actually, don’t think we are missing any options, perhaps a truck, let’s see we have may have new joinees over thr week. This is going to be some nice fun on the sand. I have been out of country and have missed the feel of sand for last two weekends, so really looking forward for this drive. Last time we were on this track, we covered around 75Km in 3.5 hours and that was not with intent for a fast pace drive. So let’s see what we can achieve with this awesome convoy we have here. No pressure, I think that was a NB or a FB drive 🤔🤔 Key elements to plan before Sunday. a. Take good rest before the drive. b. Hydrate yourself properly through the week, my ambition with this High speed Drive is not to even allow for time to drink during the drive 😀😀. Dubai 30x30 is starting soon, take this as a preparatory drive. c. Ensure your vehicle is in good shape. d. Check all your gears. High speed drive entails high speed fixing any issues as well and that requires all your gears to be in perfect shape. So sharpen up those shovels and wrap up properly those ropes. No radio, hmmmm it’s okay, drive back home from Last Exit can be exciting too 😀 e. Most important every day for rest of the week, before heading back to bed at night and as soon as you wake up, recite this Mantra atleast 3 times. “No Countersteering,No fighting gravity” ”No Countersteering, No fighting gravity” ”No Countersteering, No fighting gravity” Only those with recording of daily recitals will be allowed for the drive 🤣🤣 See you all on Sunday. Have a nice week ahead. Cheers

Congrats @salah2u 👍👍

Wow beautiful video .. either your editing is super cool or it really was a nice part of the drive we did 🤣🤣🤣 it seems super cool, didn’t realize it while leading it 😀. Thanks @Looper