Habitat Owner's Thread

[eskimoquin]

Years ago when I first looked into a RTT, I inspected the AutoHome line a lot. I imagined making a hole in the roof of my car and bottom of the tent so I can crawl up into it. Then word of the JK Habitat came and I loved how seamlessly it fit together with inside entry. I hate a bulky roof top tent on top of roof rails; back then, I even drew up plans of a low profile roof rack to fit an AutoHome.

Thanks for the info. I see now that AT has a page for their "Vehicle Habitat" on their website. It includes a video of a Vehicle Habitat on a JK. Funny, I had seen this version before and didn't understand how it was opening to the back. Now I see that it is not the JK HT replacement. I'd like to see one closed to see how bulky it may be on top of a roof rack. Its a shame they didn't get more orders for the JK Habitat; maybe with this version they'll get more business.

NEway, I suppose this thread should die. The Vehicle Habitat can continue the story for others. Also the J30 from Ursa Minor Vehicles remains an option though no where near the space the JK Habitat (J180) had.

 

[ntgbrl]

I am now the proud owner of Habitat #15. I have the first weekend trip with it under my belt with 2 friends and a dog, and am looking forward to getting the setup dialed in to my liking and getting more trips in.

 

[DingusKahn]

Congratulations on your purchase. I have #6. It is the only one with a textured surface, or so Mario told me. I am putting my Jeep up for sale with the Habitat and all the trimmings on it. Getting too old to climb in and out of it. It is great if you are young and limber enough to climb around.
Enjoy!

 

[Healeyjet]

We sold our 2007 Jeep with #17 of the originals on it today. A sad day for sure as we had many good adventures in the Habitat. It was just time to move on to a larger platform that we could spend extended periods in.

Ward

 

[ntgbrl]

I noticed the other day that water is getting in the Jeep at the corners of the rear glass liftgate. If I hose down the car, a stream of water will pour in, not a few drops. Looking at the weather stripping on the hardtop, it appears that something is missing. Could someone take a pic of the weather stripping on their hardtop, or take a look and tell me if a part has fallen off?

Glass open:


Glass closed:

 

[AZUnlimited]

I noticed the other day that water is getting in the Jeep at the corners of the rear glass liftgate. If I hose down the car, a stream of water will pour in, not a few drops. Looking at the weather stripping on the hardtop, it appears that something is missing. Could someone take a pic of the weather stripping on their hardtop, or take a look and tell me if a part has fallen off?

Glass open:
View attachment 413388

Glass closed:
View attachment 413389

I had the same issue with water getting in there on Unit #3 for the time that I owned it. The weather stripping around the rear glass on Unit #3 looked similar to the pictures you have posted. Perhaps if someone could post a picture of the rear seal from a factory top it would shed some light on how Jeep solved/minimized the problem.

 

[ntgbrl]

I looked at my fathers Jeep, but he has the new style hardtop with the wider hatch glass which is totally different. I did come across this part though, and there are fancy rubber ends on the weather strip. I might order one and test it out if everyone else is in the same boat as I am.

https://www.quadratec.com/products/11190_8080.htm




Edit: According to Mario at AT Overland, the quadratec part is the correct replacement part. Ill order, install, and report back.

 

[ntgbrl]

The Quadratec part mentioned above does NOT fit the hardtop. I'll have to come up with a different solution.

 

[eskimoquin]

ANNOUNCEMENT: the JK Habitat has now been discontinued.

...

Will a fold-over Jeep camper ever be available again? Ursa Minor remains busy shipping 2nd generation J30 pop up campers and continues to build our experience with Jeeps. Any fold over Jeep designs will await the new Jeep JL, and the potential JL truck, hitting the market.

Cheers,
John

That was a long 2 year wait. I would be interested to hear what plans you may have at the moment.

 

[DaVikes]

Buy a Rubicon, get a Habitat for Free!

Just saw this at local dealer in Denver. Judging from the price and the verbiage, they have no idea that there is a Habitat on the Jeep, lol. Does anyone know anything about this Jeep? From Carfax, it appears that the Jeep was traded in on a Toyota. Also, I looked it over quickly. The seam where the lid meets the body of the camper on the driver's side did not look as I think it ought to. It perhaps looked like the dealer closed it improperly and the lid was slightly curved upward/outward. You can almost see it in the picture of the left side. Is this even possible? I'm not really in the market, but on a warm day I could be talked into checking it out more thoroughly.

https://www.larryhmillercoloradochryslerjeep.com/used/Jeep/2015-Jeep-Wrangler+Unlimited-9f5b33bc0a0e0ae737519f11e704cbc6.htm?tcdcmpid=490616&tcdvehicleid=9f5b33bc0a0e0ae737519f11e704cbc6&tcdadid=37377464&utm_medium=display&utm_source=ddcads&utm_campaign=usedremarketing&sd_digadprov=dealerdotcom&ddcref=display&impId=1517959915576_5a7a3aeb00077d5a0a01ab01c405d216_ACT_B_4533960_S_1003_EUIDS_Fq4mh0C3BcnPqKvgPgHciz4l_EUIDE_EXCHG_1

 

[ntgbrl]

I forgot to update on the leaking rear hatch issue I was having. I replaced the lower hatch seal with the one from Ursa Minor, my hatch had the OEM seal on it which puddled water and forced it inside the Jeep. Water ingress is next to nothing now (a little bit can get in if I shoot a garden hose at it), though a bit of dust works it way inside the rear still. Ill have to do more to reduce that issue. I also decided to replace the bulb seal around the rear glass at the same time with one from Amazon. The hatch seal now looks like this (there's no pic of the seal on the Ursa Minor store)



I also took the opportunity to make some simple modifications, like adding usb power ports upstairs (not pictured) and in the rear. I gutted the wiper motor area (I cant see out the back with the AEV fuel can and stuff packed in the back anyways) and added a dual USB power port that powers an RGB LED light strip that is mounted to the glass hatch with adhesive anchor points, so now I can see when using the kitchen area at night.

 

[ntgbrl]

Got a pic of the USB power ports installed in the tent. They are placed roughly near the B-pillar and inboard enough to not get squished by the tent poles when the top is folded. The wires are accessible above the roll bar padding near the drivers head and run through the padding to the cargo bay where the second battery fuse block is (between the fridge slide and rear seat). I also added some adhesive felt to the hatch doors so they dont rattle anymore.


The canvas gap below the side tent doors always bothered me, its large enough to stick my whole hand through and will let bugs in if there is a light turned on inside


I bought some adhesive hooks that the drawstring thingy can hook onto and keep the canvas pulled down in that area. That closes the majority of the hole, but a dedicated (or lucky) bug can still find their way in. Not a perfect solution, but still a lot better than it was.


Next mod will be fixing the torsion bar cover that rattles over bumps. I thought for the longest time it was the tent poles making the noise till I heard it from outside the vehicle. There is still a loud crack/pop noise in the top near the B-pilliar when the vehicle flexes or hits larger bumps, for the life of me I cant figure out where its coming from. I've wedged foam between the rollbar and top, drilled through some of the areas to fish an inspection camera, tightened the mounting bolts, nothing i've done helps.

 

[JDaPP]

I have the same B pillar noise with my J30. I read on a Jeep forum somewhere that it is the door flexing in relation to the top. Post said they had normal hardtop and when they took the doors off noise went away. I was happy with that explanation so I just accepted without any experimenting....

 

[ntgbrl]

I have the same B pillar noise with my J30. I read on a Jeep forum somewhere that it is the door flexing in relation to the top. Post said they had normal hardtop and when they took the doors off noise went away. I was happy with that explanation so I just accepted without any experimenting....

Interesting, I'll have to do some testing with that in mind and see if I can localize the source.

 

[eskimoquin]

Cool work ntgbrl.

Regarding J180, here is what Ursa Minor has to say about it:

At this time, we are not working on a J180 version for the JL, there's too many other campers in process

http://www.ursaminorvehicles.com/campers/jeep-camper/jeep-hard-top-popup-camper-package-132.html

Sad but understandable.