Finally got to repairing the pop-top. The canvas had seen better days, and Trakka did some questionable things in the 90s. The ribs in the fiberglass top meant to strengthen were made of flimsy plywood with (now almost nonexistant) foam between the fiber and wood. The edges were cut sharp as well so they would cut into the headliner. I filled the supports with new wood and re-fiberglassed them with a smooth edge.
A few hours later I was happy with the shape and repairs to the edges, so I installed a new headliner.
By now the new canvas had come back from the upholstery shop. I had replaced the old fabric with Cordura 500 canvas. Lightweight and breathable, but seems to be completely waterproof. Now affixed to the top with extremely heavy duty velcro as apposed to wood nails as trakka had originally designed. Everything about the new setup I would like to be easily removable in case of repair.
BUT
I had dropped off the old canvas with the upholstery shop with instructions to copy it exactly, but add 6" of length to the top. I had longer and stronger gas struts along with plan to lengthen the torsion bar to account for the added height, but after few hours of trying to figure out why my
geometry was wrong, it turns out the fabric was cut too short! My old fabric was 100" long, the new fabric 96". Must have had a new guy doing the measuring. Hahahaha
That sucked but I'm actually happy, because I'd like to change the entire design. Instead of a flat top, I'm going to transition to a slightly angled setup. It should give more headroom where we need it, and help in heavy weather. I think it looks a lot better as well. The angle reminds me of certain hardshell tents, specifically those from James Baroud.
New fabric should be here in a few days and this Saturday we're going to try again. I'll be personally helping with measuring this time!
In good news, I picked up a set of Recaro seats. I kid you not, I've been looking for a set of Recaro "Spectrum" seats for about 10 years now. I'm a Recaro nerd and these have been my personal holy grail set. I've never found a set under $1500, so when these came up for $400 I had to jump on them. They are from 1978 and were about $2000 a piece back then. They might be a little overkill for the troopy, but I love the 70s/80s vibe. They aren't as "lazy boy" feeling as the stock troopy seats, but I find after a long drive my back is happier. As is my heart.
Also got out camping a bit as well. Before the tent came off.