Penthouse-Power or not?

[jage]

Originally Posted by rustypayne

Anyone ever done a do-it-yourself convert to power on an SMB manual top?

Should be possible, not necessarily in the manner SMB does it. Colorado Camper Van has their own manner of lifting, if anyone could advise about refitting an SMB top to be power it would be Derek.

[rustypayne]

I was curious because all the used ones I was looking at had manual lifts. I've never seen an electric top in person so I wasn't sure how involved it was. We just bought a 1994 SMB on Monday and it has a manual ph top. It goes up really easy now but it sounds like that would change if I add anything up there.

[dparkwy]

I saw that Aluminess has an air-powered lift for penthouses.

http://www.aluminess.com/accessories/ou ... cessories/

Not sure how convenient it would be to fire up the compressor but it's one solution.

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by dparkwy

I saw that Aluminess has an air-powered lift for penthouses.

http://www.aluminess.com/accessories/ou ... cessories/

Not sure how convenient it would be to fire up the compressor but it's one solution.

Poked around the Aluminess site and found a picture of my ex-SMB.

[yvrr]

Originally Posted by rustypayne

I was curious because all the used ones I was looking at had manual lifts. I've never seen an electric top in person so I wasn't sure how involved it was. We just bought a 1994 SMB on Monday and it has a manual ph top. It goes up really easy now but it sounds like that would change if I add anything up there.

The electric penthouse wasn't available (or invented) until sometime in the early to mid-2000s. It wasn't available when we bought our 2001.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by dparkwy

I saw that Aluminess has an air-powered lift for penthouses.

http://www.aluminess.com/accessories/ou ... cessories/

Not sure how convenient it would be to fire up the compressor but it's one solution.

There ya go. If it will work off a small tire air compressor I would think those with manual tops would jump on those if they are having trouble lifting the PH.




Wonder how fast they are?

[mossbeachpaul]

I might volunteer to be the first one on the block to try this thing, unless someone else already has experience with it? Anyone?

My Thule box is pretty tough to deal with unless I keep the load in it under 50lb. Even with the jack solution (load stabilizer for pickup truck beds and cargo areas) it's tough. I'd like to be able to get the load up there closer to 125 lb and still deal with the penthouse,

Thanks for sharing this, Dave. I've never seen this on Aluminess's site before

[daveb]

Paul, I'd never seen it either until Dparkwy posted the link. I'd seen the old electric ones SMB had but they're long gone.