How tough are the pop up roofs to lift? - Page 2

PlayOutside · 01-26-2015, 04:40 PM

I was surprised how just one added solar panel made a huge difference in the manageability of our manual PH top. Before it was fairly easy for me even alone (5'10" and NOT a trained bodybuilder), but now I have to enlist the help of the hubby here and there to get past those first 8". Should the SMB piggy bank get a bit fatter again we'll definitely invest in the modification to electric. Because I do like to take the Mothership out alone every now and then, too

Good luck - and take care of that shoulder!

Anette

**daveb** · 01-26-2015, 07:17 PM

I'd never say that a manual lift is not for some people. An electric lift can have bugs that a manual lift doesn't although I've yet to have an issue with mine. Still it's very possible that down the road I might. Cost is a major concern and I understand that. Sometimes manual tops aren't a problem for people. I switched to the electric when I ordered because I fell and wiped out my back. I recovered but realized that on the road, what would happen if I injured myself?
For the price I feel it's worth the insurance cause I usually am by myself.
But the one story I think of (which don't mean much to this thread) is Marc (Twogone) when they were close to a tornado and the top kept going back up due to the high winds... Maybe Marc can chime in here. I still think he's satisfied with a push-up top but it was a great story.

boywonder · 01-26-2015, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlayOutside

I was surprised how just one added solar panel made a huge difference in the manageability of our manual PH top. Before it was fairly easy for me even alone (5'10" and NOT a trained bodybuilder), but now I have to enlist the help of the hubby here and there to get past those first 8". Should the SMB piggy bank get a bit fatter again we'll definitely invest in the modification to electric. Because I do like to take the Mothership out alone every now and then, too

Good luck - and take care of that shoulder!

Anette

Anette: For next to nothing you can add a couple of wood spacers to your helper springs, it's quite easy if you can saw a couple of small square blocks from some scrap plywood. Adding the blocks to the helper springs makes the first 8" or so easier to lift.

twogone · 01-27-2015, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveb

But the one story I think of (which don't mean much to this thread) is Marc (Twogone) when they were close to a tornado and the top kept going back up due to the high winds... Maybe Marc can chime in here. I still think he's satisfied with a push-up top but it was a great story.

Yep, a couple of years ago, there were some tornadoes that killed a bunch of people in Oklahoma. Christine and I were camping about an hour from the epicenter of all that. Woke up in the night to a shrieking, violent, scary storm that was really rocking the van. I fumbled and stumbled and panicked around for a bit, getting crap out of the rails, pulling down on the top with the door shut. I opened the side door, and the wind was so violent that the door began to oscillate at extreme speed, like a screen door in a storm movie. I pulled the top down with some effort, and at one point it actually hauled back up under wind pressure with my 240# hanging on it. I finally got it down and the crazy door shut. The next day I found that the door hold-open thingy was broken... luckily that was all that was damaged. Very intimidating! We were moved by the deaths of the people just up the road.

I can't say what an electric top would have done in that situation, but I'm glad I didn't have to "wait out" the downcycle... and as I understand it, e-tops can't be moved if the e-stuff fails.... hmmmm

LenS · 01-27-2015, 07:40 AM

I will be 71 :-( this March and I raise our manual top.

twogone · 01-27-2015, 07:49 AM

and one more storm-related episode... last summer we were in New Hampshire, in the White Mountains at a riverside campground. New England rarely has tornadoes. Just after going to sleep, some straight-line winds came down the river valley so hard that whole trees started falling like dominoes. We cranked up and drove out to some open land with the top still up. Trees fell at our abandoned site, though none would have actually hit the van if we had stayed. Very scary for us and other campers on the scene! I don't recommend driving with the top up in a storm, be we had to choose... it was only a few hundred yards to open land. I'm gonna stay with the manual top

berns378 · 01-27-2015, 09:38 PM

I have a electric 12 volt lift I bought from smb 10 years ago. I added a thule box which is loaded added a light rack with 4 lights and solar. too heavy by myself. it takes 15 seconds to lift roof. never any problems. heard of many problems with with the expensive electric smb installs