Penthouse resurrection

[Flux]

Nice work. You know at the end of the day you will end up with a stronger penthouse top. The ends don't suffer the same stress as the center and that square tube will be much stronger anyway. nice nice nice.

[marret]

Very nice. Well done.

[Flux]

Michal470


Thank You for thanking me.



Tell you what, anyone who has built up a van with an ambitious design will tell you that things like this come up. Trick is to never get disheartened. There's no magic and really you have the most difficult components in hand, the lift and the top itself. Keep fighting the good fight and when that top is up and you are camping you will have some serious satisfaction.


And as an aside, I may be ripping out my entire interior and starting over. I have come to the conclusion that a bathroom closet with a portable toilet is a necessary item for our travels and comfort.



Cheers

[michal740]

Small update today.
I have a working lifting mechanism. Finally modified the aluminum rails and connected the springs today.
I managed to lift the top and position it over the bars.
It still sits on it without lowering it,but there is going to be more weight added overall,so hopefully the springs won't need to be adjusted too much.
I also cut large piece of cardboard to copy the rear part of the top to compare the fit on the roof of the van. I was really happy to see that it fits perfectly.
I also forgot to mention that this top is from RB and my van is EB...
I always thought the tops are same sizes.
Sometimes you learn the hard way right?

[Twoxentrix]

Results of your project so far are commendable - been following your Thread. Just chiming in to offer moral support, and rooting for a desirable outcome.

[marret]

Agree with TwoXentrix. Great work. Glad you are getting it worked out and thanks for posting.

[SMB OCD]

michael740 - Thanks for the inspiration!

[Nrobert10]

Great work! Keep at it! I am positive this thread will be useful to someone else in the future.

Rob

[freeagent]

Keep it up! You're making great progress and the best part is that you'll have a stronger top at the end of the journey.

[michal740]

Working on the headliner and fan/light finish. I wrapped the Eucaboard in light grey foam backed headliner fabric.
Will make only 2 pices headliner instead of 3 as the SMB original design was.
I spend lot of time trying to make unique light around the fan. Basically got a plexiglass piece and cut center hole for fan trim in it. Then glued led strip on the vertical part of the fan trim. I cut few lines into the plexiglass using a handsaw and straight edge. I think it came out nicely.
The light is more of a "mood" light.