Building my own pop top (1 Viewer)

[sfluke]

This story starts about two years age. I was planning a longer road trip through California and Mexico. Living in San Francisco and not owning a car meant I had two options: renting a car or buying and reselling a car later. However not being 25 yet and wanting to take the car into Mexico made the rental option a really unattractive one so I started looking into good options to buy. I somehow ended up with a 1993 Land Cruiser and after a few days with it, I knew I’ll never sell it. I built the simplest sleeping platform and that kept me comfortable for at least 50 nights in the last 2 years. However it’s time for an upgrade, and ever since I’ve seen these fancy European 78 series that are basically full RVs and campteq’s pop top I’ve been making plans in my head to build out my own. After scouring the web for any pop-top for sale in the US and coming up short I decided to build one of my own. I went to the drawing board, read as much as I could about other people’s experience and started designing my own solution. It is mostly based on a photos of a European FJ80 that I’ve seen with a pop top that goes out on the sides a bit and heavily inspired by campteq.

I’ve set a few goals:
1) Similar to campteq I wanted a full aluminum frame that mounts in the rain gutters
2) I wanted it to be wider, at least 53 inches wide, the campteq version wasn’t going to be comfortable enough for two people. Similar to Romain's innovation camper pop-top (see http://up.picr.de/8352496jrq.jpg)
3) I want to share my plans with anyone else who wants to build one as badly as I did. So I’ll add as much information here as I can about how I built it, and if there’s any way to build a few of them, I will try to make that happen.

I’ve started drawing and building a wood prototype (to scale) to start figuring out what some of the curves need to be like. I'll keep adding more details as I figure them out and I'm looking forward to what you think!

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[FJRanger]

Your links aren't working. However, great idea and I commend your willingness to share.

 

[greentruck]

May need 10 posts for pics to work? Can't recall exactly, that may be the issue with the links. Just keep chatting with us here in this thread and you'll get to 10 posts that much quicker.

This sounds interesting. I've always liked the Campteq, but the budget isn't there despite what I consider to be a reasonable cost. My metal working skills aren't top notch, but it's not rocket science either. I'll be following along with interest.

 

[jtwopark]

sounds like you should have a conversation with @socallove!

 

[LINUS]

While I get away with just a sleeping bag in the cab with a foam roll if I'm feeling fancy -- I always thought I'd buy a nice standard camping tent, and look at it as bones & skin to be reworked while on a platform that wasn't anything of rocket surgery at all.

Prob most effort would be to cut some PVC/ABS pipe & hinge it to act as a clamshell for the tent when rolled into that side & covered - for the price they charge for these I figure $300 would get you a tent, metal, a section of 4-6" pipe, and misc hardware.

Mine wouldn't prolly be pretty, but neither am I. And I bet it would last at least as long as I had interest in using it, at 1/3 the cost.

Now that I took a second to think pipe caps & spray paint on final deal,, it may not look all that much like a Red Green project!

GL on yours, it'll be interesting to see if yours turns out anything like what my mind envisions a home job as final product!

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Subscribed

 

[sfluke]

Sorry about the images. I probably should also apologize to everyone here for using the metric system, not that I don't love america, but fractions of inches are really a pretty weird concept to work with. Here's another attempt:

My sleeping setup with a platform in the back served me perfectly well, however there are a few short comings that make it a hassle especially in bad weather:
1) You need to clear everything out of the truck before going to sleep. That meant that me and my girlfriend had to spend 5min every night moving our bags from the bed and piling it onto the driver and passenger seat.
2) You can't stand up to get dressed. This is fine if it's sunny and 80 degrees outside. However if it's raining or -10F and you're not just trying to get into your shorts but try to put on ski boots it really becomes quite the exercise in acrobatics or you invariable get wet or cold. Cutting my roof will allow me to stand in my car.
3) I will be planning a few longer trips where I want to have more room for gear. A pop top will give me that.

I am planning on getting this fabricated by a professional aluminum shop. I wouldn't trust my welding skills with such a project. That unfortunately also means though that it's very unlikely I'll be able to get below what Eric was selling his for. After the first conversations I've had with fabricators, I have to say, the campteq looks like a pretty good deal

 

[sfluke]

@LandCruiserPhil Good to have you subscribed! You're detailed answers to so many questions other mudders asked in your thread about the pop top were very helpful resource.

Here are a picture of the wood prototype that I mainly built to have an idea of what shape the side pieces need to be to follow the rain gutters.

 

[greentruck]

SNIP
My sleeping setup with a platform in the back served me perfectly well, however there are a few short comings that make it a hassle especially in bad weather:
1) You need to clear everything out of the truck before going to sleep. That meant that me and my girlfriend had to spend 5min every night moving our bags from the bed and piling it onto the driver and passenger seat.
2) You can't stand up to get dressed. This is fine if it's sunny and 80 degrees outside. However if it's raining or -10F and you're not just trying to get into your shorts but try to put on ski boots it really becomes quite the exercise in acrobatics or you invariable get wet or cold. Cutting my roof will allow me to stand in my car.
3) I will be planning a few longer trips where I want to have more room for gear. A pop top will give me that.

I am planning on getting this fabricated by a professional aluminum shop. I wouldn't trust my welding skills with such a project. That unfortunately also means though that it's very unlikely I'll be able to get below what Eric was selling his for. After the first conversations I've had with fabricators, I have to say, the campteq looks like a pretty good deal

I'm OK with metric. Lived in Germany for about 4 years. And we do have an international group of users.

I like your thinking on why you want to do this this. Add to that when you get old the tough decision about whether it's easier to lay there and put your pants on or stand up. The answer was obvious when I was younger, now...it depends on how I'm feeling. And old guys shouldn't use "depends" in a sentence, either. My wife, who is considerably shorter, likes the idea, too. I'll have to see.

Yeah, getting someone else to build one will not be cheap. Priced against some of the quaotes you're liable to get, the campteq is a good value IMO, I just don't have that sort of disposable income to drop right now. But I do get ideas And there is at least one nice long aluminum bending break in the family.

 

[sfluke]

@greentruck The sleeping platform was the greatest 300$ (100$ in wood, 200$ for two cot mattresses) I invested in my car. However I'm ready to upgrade from an economy class to business class bed... I'm planning a multi-month trip where I'm spending 80% of the time if not more sleeping in the car. That comfort will be greatly appreciated, no matter what age.

I've been busy in the last couple of days with figuring out all the final details. I ended up buying a hinge on McMaster and decided on the kinds of seals to use. I still have to decide on the struts I want and talk to people who can help me with the fabric.

I've been working with a local shipyard in Richmond to help me with fabbing the roof. I was talking to several fabricators. I ended up going with Bay Marine Boatworks in Point Richmond because they proofed to be very helpful in the design process and had capacity available. Being in the Marine Industry they're also very proficient with anything aluminum and custom, out of the box stuff is not something unusual for them.

While I'm on vacation in Germany, these guys have been busy at work. I can't wait to see it in person.

 

[NLXTACY]

DUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!!

 

[greentruck]

Luke,
That ROCKS!

I know nothing specifically about this outfit, but would think you could expect leak-proof work from a marine construction firm.

I know what you mean about getting a comfortable set-up for travel use. I keep hoping to get away for a trip to Newfoundland and Labrador for a few weeks, if I can just get the last revisions done in my diss. Already passed my exam, just gotta tidy up things now.

But even for a quick weekend getaway, sleeping somewhere off the ground is way better than a tent in terms of quick set-up and breakdown, no matter the weather. Making that space serve to store everything else you drag along is just cake.

I really like that you're widening things upstairs. I'm over 6' and not getting any thinner with age, so something like this is an important feature should I ever pull the trigger on something like this.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build

 

[LS1FJ40]

Are you planning on cutting out the roof of your 80? I think this would be awesome. Cut out the roof so you have access to the inside of the 80 and setting up without getting out. And being able to stand up.

 

[sfluke]

@LS1FJ40 yes, that's part of the plan. I'm going to put a bench & table in below with possibly even a third bed. The other big reason for cutting the roof is that I'll be able to use my espar fuel heater to keep me warm all night in winter time. Heck, I'll even be able to park, cook dinner, use my porta potti and then hop into bed without ever getting out of the car.

 

[e9999]

Looking good! Please be sure to have somebody video your facial expressions when you cut the roof and post that here!

 

[AaronM33]

dang, @sfluke enters the boards at WOT! Can't wait to see more! Sub'd.

 

[danadog]

@greentruck PM me if you plan to cruise Labrador. @sfluke I like where this is going! Do you plan to put t-slots or anything on the pop-top for carrying capacity?

 

[1973Guppie]

this is cool......

 

[greentruck]

@greentruck PM me if you plan to cruise Labrador. @sfluke I like where this is going! Do you plan to put t-slots or anything on the pop-top for carrying capacity?

Will do. We may have checked in on this once, but perhaps someone else? The trip has been delayed by the seemingly perpetual PhD diss for years now. I'm hoping to squeeze in a big loop up through Newfoundland then back west across the TLH after a ferry ride out the north way. Time and money are both up in the air right now and the revisions will suck the rest of this year's travel time in such climes. I've seen pics of what the TLH is like in the winter, so we know at least the photogrtapher made it back alive -- or at least had a good cell or satphone signal when last heard from.

It would be real luxury to have a pop-top on the rig for that. Doubt that will happen before then. What I like about the Campteq and Luke's version is that they might fit in our garage -- or at least be close enough to make it worth trying for a couple of more inches.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Looking good! Please be sure to have somebody video your facial expressions when you cut the roof and post that here!

My guess is that the OP doesn't have the same affection for 80s as the rest of us. I can't imagine cutting the roof of mine. She's been too good to me over the past 23 years. I guess I could imagine taking a wrecked 80 and cutting it up...maybe.