I am starting a project of building my own penthouse top and was wondering if anyone has done such a project. I have a eb 2000 powerstroke quigley I junkyarded a 18 inch raised roof off of a conversion van and built my own hardware for it. that is as far as I got I am going to use a hydraulic pump and rams from a ragtop car to lift and lower the top. The hardware I built out of conduit and it work to prove out the concept but i will need to build it with something a little beefier to support the top to keep me happy so I will use 1.5 dom and weld els for the final hardware. The next step then is to hack the roof off of the van. Luckily I have a donor van I can cut up first to see if it is all going to work. Any help advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated. I will begin posting pics as I continue working on it. If this works out well I am considering doing this as side work out of my shop.
Thanks in advance,
Derek

I'll be stoked to see how it comes out, make sure you post some pictures of your progress.
I to am also building my own van, so I'll be excited to see your progress and to compare notes.
Cheers
Jamie

Seriously, post some pics...I would love to see this as well...

Last year in the Baja I ran into a guy from New Zealand that put and old school VW westy top on his full size Dodge van. He also completely decked out the inside of the van with some custom wood work, fridge, you name it. It was impressive...

Here is a link to some photobucket pictures.
http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p148/dsw4x4/van%20project/



not sure if that is the best way to do that but it should work.
If someone could post a few pics of how sportsmobile latchs the top down for traveling I would really appreciate it. The shots of my lifting hardware are pretty crude I am just trying to see what will and will not work. I was going to use the scissors set up like smb however my top is much heaver so I am going to use two sets of scissors with a 12 volt actuator to raise and lower the top. I am still not sure on how I am going to latch it down but i have some ideas. I will continue to post pictures as i work on it, any input will be greatly appreciated. I am very curious if anyone else would be interested in a top like this. I really like the idea of it being a raised top to start with and then still popping up for more room than any other top.
Thanks
Derek

Please don't use this site to post information for the purposes of copying SMBs designs. You can discuss the hooks in private, post pics for purposes of issues, tightening, comparison, etc. But blatent images and specifications for the express purpose of reproducing in a DIY rig will not be tolerated in the public areas.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Derek, I'm personally interested in your top project, and have no problem showing you my SMB in person. Maybe we can get together sometime and go over your ideas.

I tried to figure out the links you posted, but to no avail. Please try and post some pic's or better links so we can check it out, I'm really interested to see how it's coming & what it's going to look like.
Thanks

Fixed.

I guess I misunderstood the DIY forum. I guess in a way I am copying SMB design. Although my design is a bit different the smb. If they made something like what i am building I probably would be more interested in finding a used smb. Anyway I am seeing that some of the forum members are still in the dreaming stages of owning a smb "like I have been for many years". I have finally found a way to make my dream become a reality and just thought some other people may be interested in seeing it come to light. I invite anyone that is interested in hearing seeing or has any ideas that pertain to my project to pm me and i will keep them posted as the project starts to come together.
Jage I would love to spend a little time checking out your rig, i was really interested in looking at it the other day when i met you at RMNP, but I did not want to be that odd nosey stranger. I appreciated you and your wife letting us poke our head in you van. Next time I am headed down your direction I will get a hold of you and if your not doing anything I will take you up on your offer.

Yes, after much thought and research I completed my own top build. I was lucky enough to find a Volkswagen Sportsmobile for the mechanism and a fiberglass top off a hightop van. Putting both together I now have a fully functioning top. Now for the interior build.

Spurious, that is one impressive job. Talk about recycling! Can't wait to see what you do inside.

The volkswagon fiberglass was no doubt lighter (smaller), did you have to modify anything to keep the van fiberglass top up, or make it easy to raise?

It was lighter, but not by much. Nothing added. It is the same effort as a Vanagon Westfalia roof to open.....

That turned out really sharp, I am working on the material part of mine for the next three days so hopefully by sunday it will start to look like something by the end of the weekend I will post some pics for everyone to see.

Hay, way to go, that looks really good!
Did you happen to take any photo's while you were doing everything?

Nice work!

I couldn't figure out a way to successfully do that. I just put a small stand up section in so that I didn't have to crouch to cook. Since mine is mostly used for chasing wind it had to be able to stand up to decent wind locations. Thus the hinged style. And.. it was much easier!



I just used gate latches to lock her down and it works. The one piece of wood hinges up to hold it in place when popped. Not as cool as a SMB, but a hell of alot cheaper!





It's alot of fun to build your own. I sewed all the cousins even. I still have to tackle the curtains yet. Someday I might think about a penthouse style top, but this is working out great right now. When the kid gets bigger though he won't be able to sleep across the back section and then I'll either build a top sleeping space.. or better yet, kick him out into a tent!

A.