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ronsmithis
Samba Member
Joined: August 26, 2010
Posts: 53
Location: Maui Hawaii
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 Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 7:38 pm Post subject: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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Aloha,
I came across this on another EVC forum and thought it might be of some interest here. These guys are out of Colorado but I've never heard of them mentioned on Samba AFAIK. I've read the threads on possibly fabricating a new one piece top and these guys might be worth checking out. How cool would a remote controlled electric operated poptop would be. There sure are alot more Westies out there than EVC so getting them to make a mould wouldn't seem to be a problem...
Cheers
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| New replacement top for Eurovan camper. After having two tops crack in half and facing a cost of $9300 to have a new one made, shipped, and installed, I asked Derek at Colorado Camper Van if he could replace it with a fiberglas top. After discussions about what he had available, he suggested that we copy the look of the Winnebago top. They made a plug, a mould, and laid up this top which incorporates the Winnebago top along with the luggage rack (without the hole). The top moves up and down using a scissor device run by two 1000# electric servo actuators. This means my wife can open and close the top. Other advantages include LED lighting installed, vinyl windows between the screen and the canvas layers, and much greater area to put stuff when the top is up -- including enough space where the luggage rack used to be to sleep a child. The top is a few inches higher than the Winnebago, but the utility is much greater, and at a fraction of the cost. I left the old top and luggage rack with Derek just in case there was a demand for fiberglas copies of the original Winnebago. I have put photos in the files section (New poptop for Eurovan Camper).It cost me a total of $5200 installed. I have installed Yakima roof rails for carrying the solar panel, canoe, etc., I'm sure you could easily put one of those luggage containers up there. I had the front portion of the new top done without the negative area that was in the original luggage rack, so the top is smooth from front to rear. |
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singler3360
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2009
Posts: 1191
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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| Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Your top looks good. Congratulations.
We rented a T5 California this summer in Europe. The electric pop top was very nice, I have to admit. There were plastic "ribs" sewn vertically up the sides of the tent that automatically folded the material in as the pop top went down. Very simple and effective. How does your custom top deal with the side gathering on the way down? |
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MarkWard
Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 17106
Location: Retired South Florida
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:42 am Post subject: |
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I like it. It appears to be wrapped with shock cords to help dropping it.
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Gruppe B
Samba Member
Joined: January 16, 2007
Posts: 1331
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:24 am Post subject: |
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Darn it
They made it to fit the long wheel base Eurovans. I don't think that they even sold any LWB vans outside of the Winnebagos in the US.
Here in Canada we had the transporter series in LWB but those are pretty rare beasts. That would have been a nice top for a standard hardtop Eurovan. |
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danfromsyr
Samba Member
Joined: March 01, 2004
Posts: 15141
Location: Syracuse, NY
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:31 am Post subject: |
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iirc they sold ~1000 EV winnie units in the US market.. the tops are fragile like my ASI top (though some appear to have indestructible ASI tops, not me) and do crack/buckle under snow load (or overloaded roof racks).
the shock cords are to tuck in the fabric (and keep it from flapping in wind) when it's being lowered. much like the elastic in the back corners of a westy (are supposed to do).
| rsxsr wrote: |
| I like it. It appears to be wrapped with shock cords to help dropping it. |
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DenverB
Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2012
Posts: 704
Location: Denver, Colorado
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Gruppe B wrote: |
Darn it
They made it to fit the long wheel base Eurovans. I don't think that they even sold any LWB vans outside of the Winnebagos in the US.
Here in Canada we had the transporter series in LWB but those are pretty rare beasts. That would have been a nice top for a standard hardtop Eurovan. |
That is a LWB Winnebago camper - the stove/fridge is visible through the slider door. I bet that they can easily fabricate a westy top for a SWB weekender, but frankly those Westy tops look a lot more durable than the finnicky crap that Winnebago put on their vans and I doubt there's as much a market for them.
Don't get me wrong, I love EVCs and our tops all work great, but Westfalia-quality they are not. Many tend to bow in the middle over time, especially with an improperly (leaky) roof rack fitted on them.
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'77 Transporter/camper (Bussy - Reef Blue/Pastel White)
'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)
www.RockyMountainCampervans.com |
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kage25x
Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2013
Posts: 9
Location: Santa Monica
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| Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Those tops might be the way to go! Looks great. Any problems with it so far? |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32567
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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lifsoncosby
Samba Member
Joined: March 30, 2018
Posts: 2
Location: Washington Metro
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 8:04 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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Three years later, how is the top now?
Can you send more photos? |
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pinetreeporsche
Samba Member
Joined: June 11, 2009
Posts: 752
Location: Falls Church, VA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:54 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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| And does the van have to be brought to Denver (or...?) to have it installed? |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22633
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 12:42 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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Non starter for me. Why one would add huge electrical and mechanical complexity to something g used 2x per camping trip escapes me
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bentstvrain
Samba Member
Joined: June 20, 2012
Posts: 2
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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| My poptop is still working well, thank you. The top is made by Colorado Camper Van in Loveland. I had it made because I didn't want to replace the expensive, ill-conceived Winnebago top for the third time. This one is made of honest fiberglass rather than some weird plastic. Cost of the Winnebago top, shipped, at the time was slightly more than $6000. Add $3000+ for installation and this one was a no-brainer. This top has increased in price over the past three years, but is still cheaper than a Winnebago top. Another possibility is contacting CaveVan. Cole Ford is a Reimo dealer now and he might be able to import the long wheelbase top as well as the short. |
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kage25x
Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2013
Posts: 9
Location: Santa Monica
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:50 am Post subject: Re: Eurovan Camper Electric servo replacement poptop (one piece) |
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| bentstvrain wrote: |
| My poptop is still working well, thank you. The top is made by Colorado Camper Van in Loveland. I had it made because I didn't want to replace the expensive, ill-conceived Winnebago top for the third time. This one is made of honest fiberglass rather than some weird plastic. Cost of the Winnebago top, shipped, at the time was slightly more than $6000. Add $3000+ for installation and this one was a no-brainer. This top has increased in price over the past three years, but is still cheaper than a Winnebago top. Another possibility is contacting CaveVan. Cole Ford is a Reimo dealer now and he might be able to import the long wheelbase top as well as the short. |
I know CCV prices have gone up a lot. The owner ( I forgot his name) hired a guy to run the office and shop. I think the manager makes good money.
I think the price went up $2,000.00 for thr Eurovan top.
Is yours the LWB also how do you like yours?
I like the fact that is higher and covers the whole top. |
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