Pop top completion (sort of)

Got the tent done today.

It went smoothly, I guess, for a humid and 90 degree day in a pop top.  Think I will need to wash those cushions from all my sweat. Yuck.

The next step was to try the fitment on the Wasserstopper.  It took some doing, and I cannot foresee how happy I will be if I need to do that in the rain.  Also - the van sits too high for me to reach up to the extension snaps without a step up.  That makes me nervous.

Ok it fits, but I still have some reservations.  We shall see the first time I go to use it.  I do like that the clips on the passenger side attach to the awning case thereby eliminating the drip line from the roof, behind the awning and onto everything I attempt to keep dry in the first place.

Final touch was the new Westfalia sticker.  It looked wrong to me when I was gazing at it.  Could not figure out why.

Then after grabbing a celebratory tasty beverage, I figured it out.

The Westfalia sticker that was on there prior was brown.  I went with black on this round due to the changes taking place in and out of the van, but had forgotten as the parts have been in the garage for months.

Now I only need that flat pop top gasket that has been back ordered.  May need to reuse my 2 year old one so I can camp this weekend.

Pop top - part 3A

Some added pictures from tonight.

The new stainless footmans cleats.

Rebuilt the skylight with new stainless hardware. 

Got the Wasserstopper snaps installed.

There was an issue with the Wasserstopper that is worth mentioning.  The directions discuss installation on a later model, and a slightly different pop top.  The 84 has a metal brace along the front where the instructions state that the snaps are to reside.  I got around this by first removing the center bolt holding on the brace (as this is where the center snap needs to go).  It is larger than the screw holding the snap, so I put some glue into the hole and hammered in a dowel to fill the hole.  

While that was drying, I drilled 4 holes (2 on each side) aside the center hole and installed some stainless screws to take up any pressure that the center screw was holding.  Then I drilled the dowel for the snap screw.

Positioning the Wasserstopper, I located and marked off the remaining 4 locations for front snaps, drilled through the points with the 1/8 bit and then relieved the metal brace with a 5/32 bit so the threads would not strip out as I was screwing through the metal.

With those positioned, I worked my way along each side of the pop top adding the extension snaps, 2 per side.   Now when the top goes back up, I can adjust the Wasserstopper accordingly and all will be good for the next rainstorm!

Stripping off my top - part three

I have found it necessary to break this project up into multiple parts as it is too picture laden for a single post.

This morning I set out to finish sanding the pop top, and to finalize the luggage rack before 8am. Neighbor aside my garage is off to gym by 7, so I have no one to piss off.

I loaded the pop top upon my old garden cart for mobility last night, and dragged it onto the driveway where I finished sanding the bottom edge and made sure all the crevices got a scuff.  I know there are folks out there on the Internet that will say don't use anything more than a scuff pad - they are mistaken. 

The paint I am using is a Interlux white fiberglass paint intended for the boat industry. I am intentionally not adding any matte agent because I feel that if I am going through the effort, I don't want it to look like the old top I have now.  I am hoping that the stippled finish will also help to break up any high gloss look.

So as for prepping the surface, the paint company states they want a 220 grit finish to adhere to and you cannot get a consistent 220 with a scuff pad.

Clean, sand, clean, paint.  That's the way I am going with this project.  I don't have any cracks to be concerned with, or dings with bodywork, so no filler and no need for primer.

As of 8:30, the parts were cleaned, sanded, and rolled into the garage.  I set out to do two more cleanings with the Interlux cleaner, and another with a finish cleaner I use from DuPont. I was not going to let any sub surface impurities screw up this job.

Set out to painting, doing a 2 foot square section at a time.  At 80 degrees plus I was not worried too much about thinning, or adding retarders - should be a good day to paint.  A 2 foot section gave me the opportunity to apply with a small roller, then do another as the first one set up.  Then go back and 'stipple' the first with a paint brush end to achieve the finish I wanted. Then move on to the second.

The roller was applying the paint like this:

With all these bubbles.  The brush allowed me to create the finish and make sure the bubbles were not permanent. From the following picture, you can see the difference in the painted versus the non painted areas.

The top was finished, and the luggage rack as well in about 4 hours.  That's two coats, stippled each time to produce this:

Now to allow a set up time of about two hours and I will move it into the sun to bake on the enamel and tomorrow morning I can reinstall.

Off to work.

Stripping off my top - part two

If you have not read part one - go there first.

A few things came to mind as I was reading part one to check for iPad spelling 'corrections'.

First - after the luggage rack came off, I started to remove the cleats that come from the factory.  30 years of weather really did a number on these.

The cleats are held on by two rivets. However when I initially tried to drill out the rivet, I was not getting a straight shot through as the surrounding corroded metal was softer than the rivet!  I got around this by drilling the rivet heads with a 5/16 bit until I could see the cleat and center part of the rivet.  Then I used a 3/16 bit to carefully drill through.

There are 8 of these cleats on a Westy. Stainless ones are available from the usual suspects.

The other VERY important note is that once the tent is removed, prior to pulling the top off, you MUST compare the old tent with the one you intend on replacing it with.  I have seen too many plans go afoul when the tent sent is the wrrong one.  You put a hole in it to install and you own it regardless of wrong one sent.

I compared my tents (old vs new) very carefully for size and the new one for any defects.  It is correct, and looks to be well constructed.  As you can see, I went with a synthetic fiber tent.  Although the older one lasted 30 years and I am sure I could be quite happy with the same material for a number of reasons - the one thing that always bothered me was the stains and difficulty I experienced with cleaning. Use too little cleaner and the stain won't budge, use too much and you bleach out the color and stain it permanently.

Aside from a staple mishap (sucker went in deep!), I am in a good place with the progress.

Stripping off my top

Not too risqué of a title is it?

Started the removal of the pop top tent for a complete rehab of the pop top itself.

Planning to replace the tent

Scrub clean (for good) the inside flocking of the pop top

Rebuild the vent window

Paint the top

Stainless cleats on the luggage rack

All stainless hardware for the pop top and luggage rack

Paint the luggage rack

Reseal the pop top and the luggage rack

And have it all done in a few days.

Started this morning.

I have an early 'stapled' style of pop top tent.  Later models have a 'screwed in' style.  They are very different, both in application and in tent size.  Be sure you know what you have prior to starting, or ordering a replacement.

First thing was to arrange for a few guys to come over later and assist getting the top off the van.

Then, with a deadline in place, I needed to strip the tent out so I would have easy access to everything else and so that I will have maximum ventilation to work on this 87degree summer day.

To do this I started removing all the small screws on the bottom rails of the van.  I went all the way around, carefully marking each of the 4 aluminum retainers with their location and direction.

This allowed for an open air ventilation - much like I am expecting with the new three window tent.

Then, started on the upper staples, easing them out at first, in order to start a strip to grab on to then pulled them off.  I also needed to unattach the front torsion bar to get the strap and staples behind the screws.

I started getting a bit excited and put my foot through the canvas.  Laughed quite a bit - wife did not find it half as funny.

I then started removing the few single staples that were still holding up the canvas.

So the tent fell down, unattached anywhere, like my pants on the floor in the morning.

Now the van has had the top removed.  My friends came over and we easily removed it from the top of the van.  The way we did it was to leave one of the screws in the torsion bar to position it.  I had two guys at the rear of the roof holding it up as I removed the final bolts through the hinges.  As they held up the top, and kept it from sliding, I positioned myself to unattach the torsion bar and slide the roof from the upright position to laying down in the bottom position.  Then we slid the roof off the back of the van making sure the hinges did not scratch the flocking or roof scratching the paint. I also removed the luggage rack as well - surprised how much crap was under there considering how recently I had that part off the van.

Previous picture was just prior to removal.  I marked the position of the hinges on the inside of the pop top before removal with a sharpie.  Hopefully will ensure a good seal when the van goes back together.

So now I have the top off, and I want to do something about the black stains on the flocking.

The upper left corner has a solution of 10% bleach and 90% water.  The stains disappeared right before my eyes.

All came out well: