Build 100 Series Pop-Top Camper Build

[JAntosch]

Cut a hole in the roof to run solar wiring, went with a scanstrut for low-profile. It has a nice gasket included, but added a bead of butyl tape to ensure there are no leaks:

Ran 10awg wiring through the pop-top base and down the A pillar where the sunroof drain was routed and back to a breaker by the bluetti charger breaker:

And got 3X 100W panels wired up in parallel. These sit just below the crossbars, but off the roof to allow some airflow:

 

[ofer bruhis]

Recent progress on a few fronts:

Roof crossbars are installed. These are double lug threaded studs on the L-track into 4 hole joining brackets with outer holes enlarged, 1"x2" 10 series extruded aluminum, with single stud L-track tie down points on the ends. No detectable wind noise, but I don't think I've gone over 45 mph yet.
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Diesel heater modification is mostly complete. Still need to wrap the exhaust and build a stand-off for the muffler.
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Installed a nomad port through the canvas to have shorter hose runs, seems quite solid and has a block-off plate for non-heater times. Inside heater vent:
View attachment 4095895

Mostly wrapped up the pull-out table:
View attachment 4095903
UHMW tape on the sides and bottom to act as sliders, seems well supported with a single trekking pole (1/4-20 threaded top) but also added inserts to have two vertical or two vertical angled out for more uneven terrain.

I originally planned to use a spring-loaded plunger to limit how far the table could be pulled put, but it left the table far too wobbly. Switched to a threaded toggle clamp that solidly secures the table when pulled out or retracted:
View attachment 4095901
Drilled out some 2" furniture sliders (secured by the bolts on the tailgate storage) to ease table deployment and provide a bit of support:
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Nice build. What brand heater are you using?

 

[JAntosch]

Nice build. What brand heater are you using?

Thanks!

Diesel heater is a 2 kW Chinese unit from amazon in a harbor freight apache case, constructed mostly following this guide (and using his 3D-printed parts):

Around $500 in parts and components when I built it 3-4 years ago, no issues so far, and runs strong at 5-7K elevation.

 

[ofer bruhis]

Thanks!

Diesel heater is a 2 kW Chinese unit from amazon in a harbor freight apache case, constructed mostly following this guide (and using his 3D-printed parts):

Around $500 in parts and components when I built it 3-4 years ago, no issues so far, and runs strong at 5-7K elevation.

Careful. These heaters unlike the Webasto and Espar can crack the flame chamber and flow CO into the heated flowing air. I know of 2 people that died in one incident. Minimum is a CO alarm.

The safest is a hydronic heater to provide water-to-air and have the benefit of instant hot water.

 

[JAntosch]

Careful. These heaters unlike the Webasto and Espar can crack the flame chamber and flow CO into the heated flowing air. I know of 2 people that died in one incident. Minimum is a CO alarm.

The safest is a hydronic heater to provide water-to-air and have the benefit of instant hot water.

Absolutely, we use CO alarms by both the upstairs and downstairs inlets to help mitigate this risk.

Long term, I'd love to build and fit a water tank in the spare tire location with hydronic attached or in the rear a/c location....

 

[JAntosch]

Mostly been using the cruiser and fishing before the summer semester kicks off. One benefit of a terrible winter is the fun (dirt) ways to get into the high country are open much earlier than usual!

The drawers have been rattling or sliding out on the more corrugated sections, so I added some magnetic latches on the side. This mostly fixed the issue, got a few more sets on order to over-engineer it.

 

[JAntosch]

Solarscreens showed up from Australia, these are phenomenal! Well made, very effective, and worth the cost in my opinion. Ordered mid-April, arrived mid-May. Some modifications will be needed to fit the Emu wings, but I'm punting that for the time being.

Started cutting foam for the bench cushions, 2" firm with 1" memory foam: