I will also answer the other question as well- :snorkel:
Things are coming along well. The preproduction process has started and there is a patent pending. Some improvements are being made on the hardware right now and for the soft portion, the list of improvements is extensive. These range from enhancing reproduction costs all the way down to small things like changing fasteners or the type of zippers used. It is a monumental project, but having the original and armed with the knowledge that it is a sound design after testing it has lent confidence for success.
Charging forward with a TJ version was top on my list, however I realized I was putting the cart before the horse. The lady really wants one too, but since the design is not production ready it makes more sense to focus efforts on the preproduction prototype first for the LJ which can be reproduced and sold at (hopefully) a pallatable price.
Once finished, it would make little business sense to produce these solely for the LJs since the TJ market is about 15 times larger, hence once a reproduceable version of the LJ is ready, the TJ should be close behind.
A note on the windows:
I love the rear window design too and it functions well along with the rear view mirror under regular driving conditions, however, backing the jeep up with the full top on is another story. The small windows do not allow visibilty well enough and I have found myself using the side mirrors when backing out of parking spaces. I plan to extend those down to match the level of the side windows. This would be a compromise between keeping the vintage look and still having some lower/rear visibility. A recent mockup was done and it looked great. While we are on the windows subject, the side windows give far better visibility than the OEM top.
The noise on the road is about the same as my sailcloth OEM top, which is fairly quiet-a slight fluttering, but not bad at all for a soft top so I am pleased with that aspect. I may have mentioned some of this before but I had an original OEM top (it came with the Jeep)and it was very rugged material so I used the same thing. Unfortunately, the rest of the top (the hardware) fell apart. I have a friend who has the aftermarket replacement top (made by the OEM manufacturer), which is supposedly exactly the same, and it ripped after less than a year, flaps heavily in the wind and the stitching is falling apart. I believe the original tops were $1650 and the replacements are less expensive. It appears that they moved their manufacturing to Mexico and China in 2009 so that could be the real reason the replacements fall apart, but I can tell you for sure that the replacement material on my friend's top is not the same tough material from my original OEM top. The price of the more rugged soft top material is quite expensive so folks who are used to buying really cheap stuff from other manufacturers may be a bit disappointed on the price ultimately, but you get what you pay for (they also are cheap because of chinese labor and thin aluminum and plastic hardware, which this top will not have). That actually made me think back then; what if someone built a top with that same tough material and had hardware that never needed to be replaced? The other thing I disliked about the original top was zippers that go around right angles which make it so hard to zip on during the winter months. This new top addresses all of those issues.
I guess I also need to clear up a misnomer while I am on the subject of "sailcloth". Sailcloth is not really a certain type of material, it is just the pattern or style that is imprinted on the material. Anyone can say they use sailcloth but it may not be the same material as the original OEM soft tops that came with jeeps in the mid 2000's.
