Trudy the Troopy

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grossdaddydave

grossdaddydave

Joined
Feb 26, 2024
Threads
1
Messages
12
Location
asheville
About to pick up my first troopy out in California next week. I have now plowed through every digital troopy build out there and I think I might be the first person come up with a different way. I also might be a dumbass. I want to do a bam bed style platform on top of jump seat verticals at rear window height. Three boards that sit on top with a return piece underneath so they don’t slide side to side. For reference I’m not living out of this troopy full time. A week tops on bird hunting and fishing trips. Trying to keep it as stock as possible. But minimalist functional. Photos of the troopy because I’m in love. And a photo of a bam bed for reference.
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grossdaddydave said:
About to pick up my first troopy out in California next week. I have now plowed through every digital troopy build out there and I think I might be the first person come up with a different way. I also might be a dumbass. I want to do a bam bed style platform on top of jump seat verticals at rear window height. Three boards that sit on top with a return piece underneath so they don’t slide side to side. For reference I’m not living out of this troopy full time. A week tops on bird hunting and fishing trips. Trying to keep it as stock as possible. But minimalist functional. Photos of the troopy because I’m in love. And a photo of a bam bed for reference. View attachment 3990635View attachment 3990636
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I don't know what all that is, but you're gonna have the headroom of a coffin if you take the platform up to the window bottom. My interior has a pretty standard layout with central aisle, and the bench seat on the left side is well below the window bottom, and I still can't sit on it and raise my head up. The original bench seats are very low, that picture may give you the wrong idea about interior space. But as long as you know that there's no reason this couldn't make a useful and versatile interior. Troopys are, or should be, super modular.

Welcome to the madness. That looks like a very nice, clean truck. Love the color. What year/engine is it? You driving it back to Asheville?
 
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Welcome, very nice Troopy!

I think you are 100% making the right decision. In the end you will likely find you want to cut the roof off and build something out inside or something in the middle, but by experiencing a truly (Trudy?) basic setup you’ll know what you want and need before spending 10’s of thousands and lots of time on a build.

That’s pretty much what my dad and I did on our Troopy. We didn’t have bench seats in the back, so a bit different.

janyyc

Build Thread 'Ozzi, 2000 HZJ78 in Canada - travel/maintenance/build'

Hey all :)
I have found the forum immeasurably helpful while researching (and then waiting for the arrival...) of my HZJ78 from Australia. I don't want to be "one of those" who just lurks, but I also don't have very much to contribute (yet?!) in terms of knowledge or experience... so at least I'm participating by posting some Troopy p0rn.

Story goes as follows:

For as long as I can remember, I wanted a :censor:Land Rover Defender:censor:. Nothing ever came to fruition, living in Canada without access to new ones and never really having the time to research and go through the...
  • Like

I think you will enjoy it for a while and eventually get frustrated by the mess and hassle of setting up and breaking down camp every night, and the mess of storing everything during the day.
 
Tennessee Jed said:
I don't know what all that is, but you're gonna have the headroom of a coffin if you take the platform up to the window bottom. My interior has a pretty standard layout with central aisle, and the bench seat on the left side is well below the window bottom, and I still can't sit on it and raise my head up. The original bench seats are very low, that picture may give you the wrong idea about interior space. But as long as you know that there's no reason this couldn't make a useful and versatile interior. Troopys are, or should be, super modular.

Welcome to the madness. That looks like a very nice, clean truck. Love the color. What year/engine is it? You driving it back to Asheville?
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Oning from a medium roof transit van where the bed was sittable but a very low slouch angle. I don’t really hang out in the truck as much as I crash in the truck. Will definitely have to consider once I get my hands on her next week. I am driving her back to Asheville in the ultimate shakedown trip before I drive her back out me New Mexico in December for a hunting trip. I would absolutely go the rv route on my build but once again my damn kids (one of whom’s name is Jed and drives. A 100 series) want seats. Even if they are jump seats. So at least a few more years of a convertible build. I’m also trying to be able to stash dog crates under the bed. Use the truck for bird hunting quite a bit. So head space for canine space.
 
Tennessee Jed said:
I don't know what all that is, but you're gonna have the headroom of a coffin if you take the platform up to the window bottom. My interior has a pretty standard layout with central aisle, and the bench seat on the left side is well below the window bottom, and I still can't sit on it and raise my head up. The original bench seats are very low, that picture may give you the wrong idea about interior space. But as long as you know that there's no reason this couldn't make a useful and versatile interior. Troopys are, or should be, super modular.

Welcome to the madness. That looks like a very nice, clean truck. Love the color. What year/engine is it? You driving it back to Asheville?
Click to expand...
1995 1hz
 
janyyc said:
Welcome, very nice Troopy!

I think you are 100% making the right decision. In the end you will likely find you want to cut the roof off and build something out inside or something in the middle, but by experiencing a truly (Trudy?) basic setup you’ll know what you want and need before spending 10’s of thousands and lots of time on a build.

That’s pretty much what my dad and I did on our Troopy. We didn’t have bench seats in the back, so a bit different.

janyyc

Build Thread 'Ozzi, 2000 HZJ78 in Canada - travel/maintenance/build'

Hey all :)
I have found the forum immeasurably helpful while researching (and then waiting for the arrival...) of my HZJ78 from Australia. I don't want to be "one of those" who just lurks, but I also don't have very much to contribute (yet?!) in terms of knowledge or experience... so at least I'm participating by posting some Troopy p0rn.

Story goes as follows:

For as long as I can remember, I wanted a :censor:Land Rover Defender:censor:. Nothing ever came to fruition, living in Canada without access to new ones and never really having the time to research and go through the...
  • Like

I think you will enjoy it for a while and eventually get frustrated by the mess and hassle of setting up and breaking down camp every night, and the mess of storing everything during the day.
Click to expand...
We’ll see. Would love to do the pop top, just can’t quite get over the kick to the groin financially quite yet. Y’all’s troopy looks awesome. Great build and looks like great time had in it. I got a long drive back from California to North Carolina in her, so I’m sure the list will be constantly spinning. Keeping it simple with a cot and a sleeping bag for the ride back.
 
@grossdaddydave nice looking truck- post more photos. How was the cross country trip?

There are quite a few of us with self-installed pop tops in NC when/if you go that route there's help, but plenty of room in the troopy without a pop top. I agree with @Tennessee Jed you may want to lower the platform a bit for more comfort and multi-use, but if it's just a sleeping platform then up above the jump seats would work. It's a big space, but not transit van big.

I'm in the far east, but get out near Spruce Pine frequently so maybe we can get a meet up some time. There's couple of other troopys in WNC and a few in the midlands. 🤙 🍻
 
So figured I owed y’all an update. Wanna hear it…here it goes. Flew out to Sacramento and picked up my new favorite truck ever, after the worst day of flying of my middle aged life. Vans From Japan was an absolute pleasure to deal with and went way beyond what was absolutely necessary to take care of a couple issues the troopy showed up with from Dubai, that he had no control over. From there I headed own to Stockton to the legendary Valley Hybrids. Let me just say Georg, the owner, and all the guys at the shop absolutely lived up to there reputations. They installed a new Terrain Tamer parabolic suspension and inspected her and cleaned up some issues they found before I made the long drive back to NC. The drive itself I burned in 3.5 days, because a hurricane was hanging out off the coast and after Helene last year, my wife was embodying the long tail cat on a porch full of rocking chairs. The drive itself was perfect. Slow, like real slow uphill, and a grin on my face ear to ear the whole time. Wound up having to run up to MA for family thing the next week and the Troopy plus the dog came with me. I was able to sneak in a grouse hunting trip in the Adirondacks. Between all that windshield time and hauling hunting gear I felt like the shakedown period was over. Got the racing stripes put on most importantly, and after that I’ve been working in the wood-shop building out the modular back gear and sleep system. So far so good. A little coffin like up top, but absolutely drunken crashing possible. I also busted out the back window getting the plywood home, so there’s that. Trudy is at my local long time shop getting new led lights with an auxbeam switch for it all. Got a warn 10k sourced sitting at a buddies house in ga, and then it’s off to the glass shop for the replacement install, and new tint all around. Rear window kinda forced my hand on that one. Hopefully by the time she’s out of the glass shop I’ll have all the wood stuff finished, and varnished just in time for a camping shakedown grouse trip around thanksgiving, before I take her elk hunting in NM in December. I’ll post more pics when she gets back with all her new high beams.

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Tennessee Jed said:
Sounds like an awesome trip. Nice dog! Really smart move starting at Valley Hybrids.
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Yeah don’t regret having Georg and valley hybrids give me some peace of mind on the way home. Cant recommend that shop enough. Called him as a stranger and felt like one of his friends the moment I walked in. And my mechanic here already commented how pristine their work was. By the way my teenage son who is driving a 100 for his first truck name is Jed. And hot damn still one of my favorite dead tunes. Seems like we should share a drink and a fire at some point. Shared interests and all.
 
grossdaddydave said:
Yeah don’t regret having Georg and valley hybrids give me some peace of mind on the way home. Cant recommend that shop enough. Called him as a stranger and felt like one of his friends the moment I walked in. And my mechanic here already commented how pristine their work was. By the way my teenage son who is driving a 100 for his first truck name is Jed. And hot damn still one of my favorite dead tunes. Seems like we should share a drink and a fire at some point. Shared interests and all.
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There's a few troopy's and other 70 series in NC and TN and now, we should get together 🤙
 
svsisu said:
There's a few troopy's and other 70 series in NC and TN and now, we should get together 🤙
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I do love it when a plan comes together. Definitely gonna do my absolute best to bring her over to the 70 meetup in Wind rock next year. Also been talking to a fiend in Charlotte with a brewery down there about putting together an informal cruiser meetup at the brewery and maybe throwing some pork on the smoker for good measure.
 
Between my old 40, 62 and my current 80, slow is a state of mind. With the troopy I have a tractor trailer mentality with a heavy dose of third gear in the right lane.
 
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