RTW IN A CANTER

[gus]

G’day all.

A few weeks ago after an absence of several months, I re-entered the forum under my original thread HOME AWAY FROM HOME, but with no response.

As explained there, our plans for a RTW truck have been delayed by family issues, but I’m still heavily researching all aspects of the vehicle.

At the moment I'm chasing feedback on a particular style of hard-walled pop-top roof, that I haven’t seen discussed on any other site here or overseas.

I have a couple of pictures of it that I stumbled across somewhere through the years.

Trouble is, I can’t share them with you because I don’t know how to attach them to my posts.

I’ve read the ExPo instructions, but being only computer semi-literate am still no wiser, and I remember whatcharterboat giving someone a heads-up on the problem but can’t find that again!

Could someone please explain the process to me with ‘follow the bouncing ball’ instructions. The images are currently stored in My Pictures.

 

[SkiFreak]

There are two ways to attach images to posts.
1. Upload them from your computer
2. Link to the photos, if they are hosted on an online photo sharing site (like Photobucket)

Personally, I do not use online photo sharing sites, so I cannot give step-by-step instructions for attaching images this way. Uploading images from your computer is simple.

On the image bar in the "Quick Reply" window, click on the "Insert Image" icon (third from the right).
With the "From Computer" tab selected, click on the "Select Files" button.
In the "Open" dialog that appears, navigate to the location where you have the images located on your computer.
Select the files you want to attach then click the open button. Multiple files can be selected by holding down the Ctrl key while selecting files.
You will then be returned to the "Insert Image" dialog box and you should see the files you selected in the window.
At this point you can click on the "Select Files" button again and select more files from your computer or you can click the "Upload Files(s)" to insert the selected files into your post.

That's pretty much it...

 

[whatcharterboat]

I've read the ExPo instructions, but being only computer semi-literate am still no wiser, and I remember whatcharterboat giving someone a heads-up on the problem but can't find that again!

Could someone please explain the process to me with ‘follow the bouncing ball' instructions. The images are currently stored in My Pictures.

Hey Gus......did you suss it out? Regards John.

 

[gus]

Thanks SkiFreak, but I need a little more help.

Your instructions were really clear but when I tried to post two images in a reply, the following is what appeared:
... no images.

Both are jpg by the way.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Huh? I can see two pretty pics.

 

[blackduck]

Thanks SkiFreak, but I need a little more help.

Your instructions were really clear but when I tried to post two images in a reply, the following is what appeared:
View attachment 174589View attachment 174590 ... no images.

Both are jpg by the way.

What Owen didn't mention is they wont show up as images until you publish the page by hitting the post button
they will just show up as attachments
obviously he's slipping

 

[gus]

A really quick follow-up is needed in case you think I'm crazy ... I could well be, but what appeared in my previous post isn't what appeared in the draft version.

It seems the WORDING and Numbers in my draft relating to the two images, translated into the IMAGES themselves when the actual post was made ... tricky that!

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that the images seem to show a solid-walled pop-top camper.

If so, that appears to overcome most of the sub-zero failings of conventional pop-tops as described by Fearless and the Turtle Expedition, among others … failings such as difficulty in keeping heated, PVC/canvas ‘brittleness’ and excessive condensation.

According to Turtle, the only solution was to cook and eat with the roof DOWN …not too good with less than 5 feet of headroom!

Planning for our own RTW truck is based on a pop-top for the benefits of containerization, track access, lower COG and reduced highway drag. But any such roof would have to function properly in freezing conditions.

What’s your opinion … is this a pop-top, if so how do you seal the lift-up walls, any drawbacks, any reasons not to copy this approach etc?

Obviously, a lot more windows would be needed to cope with the humidity of northern Australia when the vehicle was being used on home soil.

 

[Ford Prefect]

A couple things for you.

"Soenka" and "Westyss" both have built custom one-off solid roof lift campers. Both of them are in the style of the typical Unicat where the walls are the same the entire time, and the roof and walls slide up and down (kind of like the lid on a box of copy paper). The one in your photo is not like that. This one, also built by unicat, is not like that. This one is like the old Apache Pop up Campers. You lift the roof, and then you fold the walls into place. The difference is, of course, if you are putting the top up in heavy wind, snow, rain, etc. then you will have a lot of that crap coming into the camper while you are trying to raise the roof. Second any heat in the camper would be lost as soon as you go to raise/lower the roof.

A Bonus of this style roof, however, is that should you choose to do so on a hot summer day you could build in such a way that one or more wall pannels could be left in the "lowered" position to allow for air flow.

The particular vehicle you have is listed on the Unicat Site as "BS 6-KD" if you would care to check it out, and look at more details on the truck.

An important consideration of any pop-up style truck would be "CAN you sleep IN it with the top Down?" You never know when something is going to go wrong, and that top just will not go up no matter what you do. You may want to be prepared for that possibility just in case. IE bad weather, snow, breaks the window or the corner of your wall, and leaving the roof up means leaving a basket ball sized hole in the wall.

 

[gus]

A big 'thank you' Ford Prefect for solving the puzzle for me.

I hear your reservations about the style of pop-top and its limitations, but for our requirements I'm now more excited about this
hard-walled approach than ever.

We live in one of the mildest climates going, and I'd hope the need for an insulated box would only arise relatively infrequently
during our overseas travels.

My feeling is that being from Unicat the roof can't be too bad. Their site says the pop-top is well insulated, expedition proven and maintenance free ... it can even be left erected during travel!

Also, it appears the 'box lid' approach like Westyss, which is a terrific build, would impinge on the height of a crawl through which is likely to be a legal requirement for us. It definitely reduces the door height, even for we vertically challenged.

 

[adam88]

I'm planning on building a hard sided pop-up camper as well. I think they have a lot of potential for a RTW trip and I am surprised they are not used more often. The only downside to them is they are more difficult to build and you generally have less storage space. If you notice in your photos there is nothing mounted high up (no overhead containers). Those provide a lot of storage in a camper that you miss out on.

As for the systems working in cold weather, if you use a lifting system you can find them rated up to very cold temperatures, including hydraulic lift systems or electric ones. Many hydraulic actuator lift systems work in freezing temperatures on dump trucks and things like that. It's just a matter of building it to suit your cold weather.

 

[SkiFreak]

There is a reason why very few commercial companies build this style of camper... there are lots of moving bits and sealing this up is not always easy. Add to that the rigours of 4x4 travel and things get even more technically challenging.
I too am building a hard sided pop-top, and I will tell you now, having a pass-thru complicates the build greatly.

I agree with Ford Perfect that being able to sleep in the camper with the roof down is a good idea. Being a pop-top means that it is likely to be less conspicuous when the roof is down. That means that you can potentially park overnight in some places where a normal camper may draw too much attention.
There are many methods available for lifting the roof. Electric linear actuators are probably the safest option, as these lock mechanically at whatever position you stop them at.

Personally, I do not really like the fold up style of the Unicat camper roof you have pictured, for pretty much the reasons described by Ford Perfect. The other thing I don't like is the concept of the door at the back, as this seriously limits some of your options. If you wanted to tow anything I would be a real pain.

Out of interest... why do you believe that must have a pass-thru?

 

[dlh62c]

What's needed is a good hard-sided camper design with a removable hard-top. Something that could be unbolted, lifted and placed either in front of or behind the vehicle when its containerized.

 

[SkiFreak]

Another option is to utilise a design similar to that used by Gait.
His design has removable side panels, which allows for containerisation. When you get to where you are going, the vehicle comes out of the container, the walls are reinstalled, making a regular shaped pantec style camper box, then off you go.
Given the amount of times that you would need to transport the vehicle in a container, this seems like a brilliant idea to me.

 

[PKDreamers]

Another option is to utilise a design similar to that used by Gait.
His design has removable side panels, which allows for containerisation. When you get to where you are going, the vehicle comes out of the container, the walls are reinstalled, making a regular shaped pantec style camper box, then off you go.
Given the amount of times that you would need to transport the vehicle in a container, this seems like a brilliant idea to me.

What Owen said it is a great camper.

 

[gus]

The challenge we face is building a truck to be pretty much all things to all people in all climates.

It has to be a pop-top for containerization.

While pvc walls would be fine for milder climates, the feedback says they don't work well in the extreme cold. Solid walls would appear to solve that problem while being workable in hot, humid weather with the addition of ample windows.

As for lack of overhead storage, aren't all pop-tops the same in that regard.

Obviously, I need to find-out a lot more about this roof, but I'm somewhat reassured that Unicat use it and claim it to be "expedition proven and maintenance free".

I can see the sealing being a challenge, but not insurmountable, and as I said, Unicat continue to use the system.

While I admire Gait's solution (a great piece of lateral thinking)' I'm looking for something which still leaves us with a low roofline for daily travelling.

The rear door just happened to be part of the photo ... we'd be having the door on the LHS (it's a legal requirement).

As to the crawl through, I've been told they're also mandatory if you intend
having anyone travel in the back, which we hope to do if/when grandchildren
eventuate.

Can anyone explain to me how the four folding sections on these roofs lay on each other? It appears to two long sides fold-down first, with the two short ends laying on them. But that makes for double thickness at the short ends,
so how does the hinging system work?