Fixed Top: Cruiser / Cruiser II

[gerrym51]

more like a nightmare

[dave_in_delaware]

Um, yeah. ANYWAY, I still have not heard from Fiberine. I suppose since online contact failed, the next attempt will be a phone call.

[Bigduke6]

Dave,
I thought they didn't get back to me either. Turns out their email went to the spam folder and I didn't find it for
about a week.
Brian

[teeots]

HI Dave,



I bought a top just like that one (mine is the 32" version). I think the one in the picture is the 24" version from the same manufacturer. I ordered it through Cycle Van located in NJ. I am pretty sure it was delivered to my door for just under 2k.

ELvis 2!

[dave_in_delaware]

Originally Posted by teeots

I bought a top just like that one (mine is the 32" version). I think the one in the picture is the 24" version from the same manufacturer. I ordered it through Cycle Van located in NJ. I am pretty sure it was delivered to my door for just under 2k.

Thanks for the info, teeots. I'll have to check them out. They're a little closer to me than Fiberine. LOL. And I'll need someone to install it professionally. I don't think I'd be able to cut up my own van roof that drastically.

[billwilson]

i am in south orange county
(reading 700+ emails after trip so this is breif)

PM me if ya wanna see my cruiser

bw

[smugdoug]

PM sent.

[coyotearms]

Originally Posted by dave_in_delaware

I think I read somewhere that Fiberine used to make the Cruiser tops for Sportsmobiles? And then they were discontinued but are being made again as Cruiser II?

Here's the top pictured on SMB's website:


And here's the page where I saw the "Super Camper" top on Fiberine's website:
http://www.fiberine.com/GVMR/Full_Size_Van_Tops.html
Click on the photo on that page (2nd row, 1st pic) for a bigger view.

That is my van! I know this because I have three house batteries, the vents for which are clearly shown. I also have a black awning. When it was put on my 2008 E-350 EB diesel by SMB Indiana, it was the first they did of that model. When I visited SMB in Fresno in 2/2010 I got a quote for a conversion including the Cruiser Top. But when I found my van in 3/2010 in Ann Arbor, about 140 mi from SMB Indiana, I decided to have it done there. When I arrived there, they found out that the Cruiser Top was no longer available, and the mold was broken. I told them that was a show stopper, because I am 6'5", wanted stand-up height for me and did not want a pop-top. I had planned to spend two days there to come up with the build sheets, and by golly, by the morning of the second day Nancy had located a source for this top. I estimate the standing height to be about 6'7" in the completed configuration, with insulation and that fuzzy liner stuff called Ozite, I think. So the top was ordered, and I went home and had a nice month to work out a floor plan that we really like, which might not have turned out that way if we didn't have the month it took for the top to be fabricated and delivered.

Does anyone know who the manufacturer of this top is? FYI, mine is not a reverse flange for whatever that means. Does anyone know in detail how a non-reverse flange top is mounted and sealed? Note the black band around the top does not contain the bottom edge of the top, but apparently just covers fasteners? In which case those fasteners are subjected to moisture, right, and should be stainless, right?

[gerrym51]

I actually thought the vents were for the vented portable generator carrying(not running) compartment sportsmobile makes for the honda 2000 or 3000. they show a similiar one on their generator page. don't they put the batteries under the van ?

gerry

ps based on what happened I don't know if i did you a favor. I'm the one who e-mailed Nancy several months ago telling her that sportsmobile california had a new cruiser top supplier. she did not know that at the time.

[coyotearms]

Gerry, If your email to Nancy was was before 3/2010, then maybe Nancy did not know about SMB Fresno having a replacement for the old Cruiser top. But as I recall, the first thing she did at that time was to check with Fresno. That's when she then went hunting, but I still don't know what manufacturer they got it from. But the one on the on the SMB website is definitely what she found independent of Fresno. By now it may have been adopted by all the SMB's. Or perhaps if one tells SMB Fresno they want the one in the picture you get what is apparently(?) Fiberine's Cruiser replacement shown on their website as the Super Camper? I say that because I understand that the SMB's don't always use the same identical tops. At the time of my build, Indiana told me the Voyager used by SMB Fresno was NOT the exact same top that Indiana calls the Voyager.

However, if the top I have is your doing, we can still be friends! I know the problems will eventually be worked out one way or another as is being described elsewhere (viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6095), and at that point I will again be very happy we got that top! Aside from the standing height, it opens up so much storage possibilities and a "upstairs" bed that is as usable as the "downstairs" bed, it is super. In fact, we are migrating to a configuration in which we took out the mattress behind the "downstairs" bench seat/bed, making the back section of this EB a huge trunk that might make the popular under floor storage compartment a mute point, maybe. Ditto a toy trailer I have envisioned might be needed for multi-month trips.

Last thing, about the batteries inside the vehicle. I took great pains in the design in an attempt to make the vehicle very winter camping friendly. The batteries stay warm and happy given them more reserve, the gray water tank is also inside under the sink. And I rejected the idea of a diesel hot water heater, because what they offer requires plumbing and the heat exchanger to be outside under the van. While on the subject of winterizing, SMB did not alert me that they would install the outdoor shower w/o any valves separating it from the rest of the plumbing (like we do with the outside spigots on our houses in order to keep using the rest of the household plumbing in the winter), and instead of putting the city water connection straight out the side from the fresh water tank under the bench seat/bed, they put it at the very rear of the drivers side with the pluming running through two unheated closets. Doesn't it get cold in Indiana? Again, these issues are fixable, but give me a break, SMB!