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The short story is that I built in a half inch of allowance for flex between the cab and bed. This should work, but read the thread for the backup plan, if it's not enough.

Here’s the Jeep hinges and compression locks for the rear hatch. They are both heavy duty cast metal.

Well, here comes one of the more difficult items to build, the rear hatch. I'm making it from 1/4" Acrylic sheet and will be cutting and using part of the shell as the lower frame. It is a bit complicated as I'll be using Jeep hinges, compression latches on both sides, a couple small pneumatic...

The only thing stopping it from racking is the tent material. The material is under tension and does a pretty good job on it's own. It's very stable front to back but wobbles a couple inches left to right. It would definitely be wobbling while camping in the wind. I'm thinking about a simple...

The front panel is removable, just in case I ever want to have coffee on top of the roof top rack. Assuming I make a rack on top of the freedom panels.

We’ll this time it worked! I needed to do a fitting of the tent to locate the final seam. Looks like the rain skirt will work. There’s a few inches of wobble left to right, so I’ll have to make a stabilizer. It’s at 8 ft. Tall inside so plenty of room for upstairs sleeping.

Nice catch, buy a Spacekap for $10K and build it out yourself. It would be nice if they built a Tacoma/Gladiator size.

Wow, wouldn't it be nice if Loki made an Icarus for a Jeep Gladiator? Oh and it was't $70,000. Pretty steep price, but man it is a nice slide expedition camper.

Putting the velcro on the shell for the tent material. It looks like I'm adhering it to wood, but the wood has a layer of clear acrylic glass on top of it. This velcro has extremely strong peel and stick glue on it. It's made for marine applications. It should stay on, but it's hard to...

Here is a debatable decision I made. I wanted my gasketted seal between two painted solid surfaces and not against the tent material. Because of this the tent material is connected to the inside of the lower shell and not the outside. The flaw to this design is that rain will run into the...

It's about time to plan out the back hatch. While I was looking for a hatch hinge I came across this. This hinge/light mount won't fit my JT back top, but it fits JL tops. It would be nice if I didn't have to drill through my top to mount the back lights.

I think you found a winner! I like the Trim Lok D shaped gaskets with 3M tape. I just have to check the bend radius in my structures corners to see which type can take my 5" radius. Trim Lok says they work best at a 25% to 50% compression and that over compression can lead to a compression...

Takings a break this week.

There is no better catalog than McMaster Carr for a DIY’er! It’s incredibly how much stuff is in there.

This brings up another issue. What recommendations for gaskets are there? I'm looking for a 3/4" to 1" wide stick on gasket between the shells. Should I stick it to the top shell or the bottom? Currently I have two flat surfaces meeting with a 1" upper rain shield covering the outside...

New subject. What about using Jeep Hood Latches to hold the Roof Top Tent down? It would keep with the OEM look and match my hood latches. These even have locks. What do you think?

I've got the stitch length as long as she will go. The problem is with a home machine, it can't pull this much material easily. It sounds strange but I'm controlling the stitch length by helping to pull the material through by hand. The pro sewing machines have a top dog that walks along with...

90% done! One long panel with two large windows in it. Also a short panel with no windows. Might add a screen or door to the short panel later. Still need a final fit and join the panels together.

Four layers of material and the vinyl window. My little Kenmore has found it’s match. I finished one window. Not too bad as long as you don’t look too close to the stitch spacing. I would drop down to a thinner window next time.

I can’t believe my Kenmore!