00:00:01
I think it's pretty safe to say winter
00:00:03
has finally hit I drove Sandy 2 days ago
00:00:06
and I've just come out here to drive her
00:00:07
again today this is the road chose me
00:00:10
welcome back my name is Dan and on
00:00:11
today's episode I'm going to talk all
00:00:13
about the design of the popup roof on
00:00:15
the new Jeep camper and I'm out here
00:00:17
because I was going to pop the roof of
00:00:19
Sandy and climb around inside and show
00:00:21
you what I meant and show you where the
00:00:22
bed platform is and all of that kind of
00:00:24
stuff I don't think I'm going to do that
00:00:27
because it's snowing so much I think I'm
00:00:28
going to do this one inside
00:00:30
but today we're going to go over all the
00:00:31
different options that people are asking
00:00:33
about first of all where am I going to
00:00:34
sleep what about hard sides will canvas
00:00:37
be insulated enough is it a vertical
00:00:39
popup will it be a wedge popup how is
00:00:42
all of that stuff going to work let's go
00:00:45
through all of that right now the design
00:00:47
of the popup roof in the meantime I've
00:00:49
got a little bit of snow removal to
00:00:58
do from the very beginning this camper
00:01:00
was designed as a pop top and it was
00:01:03
designed to have canvas sides not hard
00:01:06
sides and I know hard sides are really
00:01:08
popular these days and lots of people
00:01:10
are asking me why didn't I go with hard
00:01:12
sides and there's a couple of reasons
00:01:14
for that first of all we have to
00:01:16
remember this is just a Jeep Wrangler it
00:01:18
has quite a modest payload and
00:01:20
everything we're doing weight has to be
00:01:22
our foremost consideration in terms of
00:01:25
keeping it as light as possible canvas
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is obviously going to be lighter than a
00:01:29
hardside so that's a win right there the
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other one is that Michael didn't design
00:01:34
this to be a hard-sided camper from the
00:01:36
very beginning the way that the canvas
00:01:38
mounts was designed in but there was no
00:01:40
consideration for hard sides so it
00:01:43
wouldn't really work to retrofit it
00:01:44
right now and the third reason and
00:01:46
actually the main one as far as I'm
00:01:48
concerned is that I really enjoy
00:01:50
sleeping under canvas uh I did it for 2
00:01:53
years on the Pan-American Highway for 3
00:01:55
years around Africa for a year around
00:01:57
Australia I sleep really well when I'm
00:02:00
sleeping under canvas I love being able
00:02:02
to open up the windows and just have bug
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screen I love the fresh air I love the
00:02:07
view and even the canvas flapping in the
00:02:09
breeze it's actually quite familiar to
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me now and I quite like it once I dealt
00:02:14
with the zip rattle on the Ursa Miner
00:02:16
popup it didn't bother me at all and I
00:02:18
slept like a rock so this popup with
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100% certainty will have canvas sides
00:02:24
the next thing people ask about is where
00:02:26
am I going to sleep obviously I'm not
00:02:28
going to sleep on the floor like this
00:02:30
and so the whole idea from the very
00:02:32
beginning is that my camper would have a
00:02:34
bed platform that'll be up the top
00:02:37
approximately where the roof sits when
00:02:39
the roof is closed so basically it'll be
00:02:41
a two-level camper much like my Ura
00:02:44
Miner that I took around Africa and
00:02:46
people then ask what about the ability
00:02:48
to sleep downstairs you know if you
00:02:50
don't feel safe or if the weather's
00:02:52
really bad it might be nice to be able
00:02:54
to have a bed downstairs that you can
00:02:56
use sometimes and I thought exactly the
00:02:59
same thing when I was setting out for
00:03:00
Africa and I actually designed that jeep
00:03:03
that interior so that it can be
00:03:05
converted into a huge big flat sleeping
00:03:07
platform and all the mattress sections
00:03:09
from upstairs they come down and it does
00:03:11
make one ginormous bed and I did
00:03:14
actually use it before I even had the
00:03:16
popup roof on my way down to San Diego
00:03:18
to get it and I used it exactly once in
00:03:21
about the 5 years that I lived fulltime
00:03:23
in that thing and that was only because
00:03:25
the Zips were rattling in the wind in
00:03:27
Morocco that was before I figured out to
00:03:29
replace the metal pool tabs with small
00:03:32
nylon tabs to reduce that wind noise
00:03:35
ever since then I have never once
00:03:36
converted it into a flat sleeping
00:03:38
platform so it's just simply not
00:03:40
something that I need or something that
00:03:43
I think is worth the compromise because
00:03:45
if you do that you have to have your
00:03:47
interior design have that ability and
00:03:49
then that compromises what I would like
00:03:51
to do is have the most functional
00:03:53
downstairs living space possible and
00:03:56
then have a completely separate bed that
00:03:58
is also the best bed bed that it can be
00:04:00
so it will be really comfortable it'll
00:04:02
be quite big and it'll always be there
00:04:05
it'll always be set up so when I say a
00:04:08
bed platform up the top what I mean is
00:04:10
something like this and this bed you can
00:04:13
see is right around a queen-sized bed in
00:04:16
size and the most important feature of
00:04:18
it as far as I'm concerned is that it is
00:04:21
always set up so I don't have to fold
00:04:23
away roll away or put away any part of
00:04:27
the platform any part of the mattress
00:04:29
any part of the sheets or the duvet or
00:04:31
the pillows all of that stays exactly
00:04:35
where it is as a bed and I'll just push
00:04:37
the platform out of the way as one unit
00:04:40
and this is something that I learned
00:04:42
after my 2 years on the paname I had to
00:04:44
make my ground tent and my whole bed set
00:04:47
up every single night and then every
00:04:49
single morning pack it all away again
00:04:51
and doing that day after day for years
00:04:53
on end it gets really old it gets really
00:04:55
tiring and it starts to be one of the
00:04:58
reasons that you want to give up on the
00:04:59
trip and you want to say I've had enough
00:05:01
of this now I don't want to live like
00:05:03
this anymore I want to go and live in a
00:05:04
real house with a real bed so then when
00:05:07
I designed the Africa Jeep one of the
00:05:10
huge benefits was that that bed platform
00:05:13
it's always there it's always made
00:05:15
whether it's been a really long driving
00:05:17
day or whether I just am feeling lazy
00:05:20
all I need to do is pop up the roof and
00:05:22
the bed is ready to go just like that
00:05:24
all my pillows are up there the mattress
00:05:27
sections all the bedding it's all
00:05:28
sitting there I literally push the roof
00:05:31
up unzip the canvas climb inside and
00:05:34
that's it I'm going to bed and there's a
00:05:36
few huge winds here the first one is the
00:05:38
amount of effort and energy and time you
00:05:39
save from having to set it up and tear
00:05:41
it down every day but the other one that
00:05:43
I think a lot of people Overlook is you
00:05:45
don't ever have to move your bedding
00:05:47
anywhere and you don't have to store it
00:05:49
anywhere and so it's kind of surprising
00:05:51
how much space a duvet and a couple of
00:05:53
pillows take up if you need to store
00:05:56
those down below Somewhere In The
00:05:58
Limited storage space that something
00:06:00
like a jeeper angler provides as well as
00:06:02
that you might have to carry them
00:06:03
outside while you're doing that
00:06:05
obviously they're going to get rained on
00:06:07
they're going to get dust and mud and
00:06:08
all that kind of stuff so for me a
00:06:11
design criteria from the very beginning
00:06:13
is a permanent bed solution that is
00:06:15
ready to go as quickly and as painlessly
00:06:18
as it can possibly be and so you can see
00:06:20
the big platform basically obscures
00:06:23
almost all of downstairs the entire box
00:06:26
is 7 1/2 ft long so even if I make the
00:06:29
bed 5T wide which is the width of a
00:06:31
queen-sized bed then I still have 2 and
00:06:34
1/2 ft to climb up into it from below I
00:06:36
think that'll work really well on that
00:06:39
same topic a couple of people have asked
00:06:41
why don't I make it in two halves so
00:06:43
that you could have half of the bed
00:06:45
lowered and someone lying on it or
00:06:47
reading a book or watching a movie or
00:06:49
something and the other half is still
00:06:50
pushed up out of the way so that someone
00:06:52
else could be you know doing something e
00:06:54
the kitchen bench or working on a laptop
00:06:56
or something like that I think it's an
00:06:58
interesting idea the challenge there is
00:07:01
getting enough strength in that middle
00:07:03
section the middle part of the bed will
00:07:05
just be floating in space and I don't
00:07:08
know that there's an easy way to make it
00:07:10
strong enough without having to have
00:07:12
kind of a vertical leg that goes all the
00:07:14
way down to the floor of the camper and
00:07:16
something like that I personally just
00:07:18
completely am not interested in having a
00:07:21
leg like that just gets in the way and
00:07:23
it's annoying so while the two halves
00:07:25
option I think is interesting it's not
00:07:28
something I'm looking at right now it's
00:07:30
not something I've ever considered so
00:07:32
before we really get into the popup
00:07:34
discussion it's important to note my
00:07:36
camper will have this fixed bed platform
00:07:39
that sits where the roof is when it's
00:07:40
closed then once you've opened the roof
00:07:42
you can push the platform up to meet the
00:07:45
inside of the roof and that's how we get
00:07:47
our standup living space on the inside
00:07:49
of the camper I need to also mention too
00:07:52
about the insulation or the heat
00:07:54
properties of the canvas roof and
00:07:57
obviously if I just have a single layer
00:07:58
of canvas
00:07:59
it's not going to be the greatest for
00:08:01
insulation and I do plan on taking this
00:08:03
thing to cold parts of the world and so
00:08:06
you know that would be a downside for
00:08:08
sure I am building in a diesel heater
00:08:10
into this camper and everyone's told me
00:08:12
if I run it for even 10 minutes it's
00:08:14
going to be sweltering hot on the inside
00:08:16
anyway so to some degree it doesn't
00:08:19
really matter if the canvas isn't
00:08:21
incredibly well insulated certainly it
00:08:24
won't be as good as a hard-sided camper
00:08:26
but by the same token I don't want to
00:08:28
run the diesel on and off constantly it
00:08:31
would be nice if it just ran for say 5
00:08:33
minutes then it could stay off for an
00:08:34
hour and the heat inside the camper was
00:08:36
still comfortable so what I'm planning
00:08:39
is to use insulated canvas and there's a
00:08:41
bunch of different ways you can do this
00:08:43
you can just have two layers of fabric
00:08:46
or canvas kind of like I had on the uro
00:08:48
miner that stuff's called Sunbrella
00:08:51
really really excellent waterproof
00:08:52
durable canvas and then on the inside
00:08:55
you can put some sort of insulating
00:08:57
material like 3M insulate is a popular
00:09:00
one or some variation of that and you
00:09:03
basically make a big sandwich of all of
00:09:05
these layers which makes it thicker no
00:09:07
doubt and increases the insulation value
00:09:10
and so that's what I'm looking at right
00:09:12
now some way to get some insulation
00:09:14
value and I know at Overland have really
00:09:17
great insulated canvas popups on their
00:09:20
truck bed campers that they offer and so
00:09:22
actually I'm talking to Mario right now
00:09:24
about what he uses and how he does that
00:09:27
and I'm getting lots of ideas for how I
00:09:29
can have canvas that I don't want it to
00:09:31
be super bulky and heavy and thick and
00:09:34
difficult to fold away but I do want it
00:09:36
to be a little more insulating than just
00:09:38
a single layer of canvas so with all of
00:09:40
those design ideas out of the way we can
00:09:43
talk about the actual pop-up type and I
00:09:46
think there are two main types here that
00:09:48
are worth considering and that I've
00:09:50
really been weighing up the pros and
00:09:51
cons the first one being a wedge I think
00:09:54
wedges are really common for a lot of
00:09:56
reasons they're really really simple you
00:09:59
basically just have a big piano hinge
00:10:00
across the front you only need a couple
00:10:02
of latches at the back a couple of gas
00:10:04
struts and you can push it up and then
00:10:07
you've got interior living space it
00:10:09
means you wind up using less canvas than
00:10:12
some other types of popups it means you
00:10:14
can angle your solar panels to the Sun
00:10:16
so lots of benefits there the other big
00:10:18
one for me is that it means my bed
00:10:20
platform gets really simple because it
00:10:23
basically just hinges at the same place
00:10:25
that the popup would and so after I've
00:10:27
pushed the roof up then I could just
00:10:29
push the bed platform up it would
00:10:31
basically be on the same angle it would
00:10:33
meet the roof on the inside somehow I
00:10:36
secure it to the underside of the roof
00:10:38
and it's as simple as that when it's
00:10:39
time to go to sleep I unlatch the bed
00:10:42
bring it down rest it in its position
00:10:44
and it's time to go to bed so I think
00:10:46
the wedge is really simple probably the
00:10:49
most straightforward and certainly
00:10:51
because of my bed platform will be the
00:10:53
easiest to build and as you can see in
00:10:55
my photoshops here I had actually
00:10:57
decided that I would do a reverse wedge
00:11:00
so instead of it opening at the back it
00:11:02
would actually open at the front of the
00:11:03
vehicle and that's a consequence of my
00:11:05
interior layout I think it will be nicer
00:11:07
to climb up into the bed if I can stand
00:11:10
on these cabinets here at the front and
00:11:12
someone else too if you're downstairs
00:11:14
would be able to be using the sink or a
00:11:16
little bit of the kitchen even while the
00:11:18
bed platform is down the real downside
00:11:20
though I think of a wedge is that you
00:11:22
wind up with less standing space I am
00:11:25
6'2 and it would be really nice to be
00:11:27
able to stand up everywhere on the floor
00:11:30
plan of the camper or at least as much
00:11:33
as possible so while the wedge I've been
00:11:35
showing looks kind of cool I think it
00:11:37
would make a lot more sense to really
00:11:40
increase the angle of that wedge and
00:11:42
make it as steep as it possibly can be
00:11:44
more like this obviously now you have
00:11:47
way more canvas but because the angle is
00:11:49
so much steeper I'll be able to stand up
00:11:52
much closer to the back of the vehicle
00:11:55
before I bump my head on the underside
00:11:57
of the roof so if I was going to to do a
00:11:59
wedge that I think is what I would do
00:12:02
let's put that aside for a second though
00:12:04
similar to The Wedge there's the side
00:12:07
pop this is what Dave Haron used on the
00:12:09
AEV Outpost 2 this is what lots of Land
00:12:12
Rover door mobiles use and no doubt
00:12:14
about it looks really cool it's iconic
00:12:17
the number one reason I ruled it out is
00:12:20
because to get enough interior Standing
00:12:22
Room it will have to open up a really
00:12:24
long way and that's going to expose
00:12:26
quite a bit of the canvas to vertic cool
00:12:29
weather and so if it's thumping rain
00:12:31
which from experience is going to happen
00:12:33
when you're on a trip like this if it's
00:12:35
snowing anything like that I would
00:12:38
prefer to have the hard part of the roof
00:12:41
be at the top and the canvas simply be
00:12:43
the sides I don't want the canvas
00:12:46
directly vertically exposed to rain and
00:12:48
snow so for me the side pop never really
00:12:52
made a lot of sense again it looks
00:12:54
really cool but I Ruled that one out
00:12:56
pretty early on so that brings us to the
00:12:58
final final option which is a vertical
00:13:00
pop top and from the very beginning my
00:13:03
idea or my goal for this was to
00:13:06
genuinely have interior living space in
00:13:08
this vehicle that I can drive anywhere
00:13:10
on the planet when the weather's really
00:13:12
bad when the mosquitoes are horrible
00:13:14
simply when I'm tired and exhausted I
00:13:16
would really like to be able to have a
00:13:18
space inside I can read a book I can
00:13:20
make food I can work on my laptop that's
00:13:23
what I'm really going for with this and
00:13:25
Katie and I together will be inside of
00:13:28
this thing so right off the bat the
00:13:30
vertical pop top wins out because it
00:13:32
just gives the most interior space once
00:13:35
it pops up I'm thinking roughly 3 ft
00:13:38
I'll be able to stand up and walk around
00:13:40
the entire floor plan without even
00:13:42
worrying about bumping my head at all
00:13:45
that just won't even be something I
00:13:46
think about while you're sitting inside
00:13:49
too I think it's just going to make the
00:13:50
whole camper feel bigger probably even
00:13:53
feel bigger than it is simply because
00:13:55
there's no slope or there's no angles
00:13:58
kind of converging or coming in on your
00:14:00
field of view and as I walk towards the
00:14:02
back of the vehicle to go out the door I
00:14:05
won't have to slowly cramp down to avoid
00:14:08
hitting my head on the sloping pop-up
00:14:10
roof cuz it'll just be so high
00:14:12
everywhere so for a long time now I've
00:14:15
been trying to figure out how to make a
00:14:17
vertical popup work and in terms of the
00:14:19
popup itself I think it's really simple
00:14:22
on each of the long sides I'll have a
00:14:24
couple of gas struts on a big steep
00:14:26
angle that way when the roof is closed
00:14:28
or just open a fraction the gas struts
00:14:31
aren't actually providing much lift but
00:14:34
then as you start lifting it the struts
00:14:36
get closer and closer to vertical and
00:14:38
more of their force will be pushing the
00:14:40
roof upwards and they'll push it up and
00:14:43
hold it up it means the canvas that we
00:14:45
have to sew is basically just a strip of
00:14:48
fabric all the way around probably with
00:14:50
a window on all four sides that way
00:14:53
wherever the rain's coming from wherever
00:14:55
the sun is coming from I'll hopefully be
00:14:57
able to figure out you know some of the
00:14:59
windows open and some of the windows
00:15:00
closed maybe even get a cross Breeze
00:15:02
will be nice in that regard the
00:15:06
mechanism and the canvas are actually
00:15:08
fairly simple the complicated part
00:15:10
becomes my bed platform so if it sits
00:15:14
down where the roof does when it's
00:15:16
closed the challenge becomes where is
00:15:19
the canvas going and I think the only
00:15:22
way to do this is the canvas has to go
00:15:24
between the bed and the roof as the roof
00:15:27
is coming down that means the bed has to
00:15:29
be down before the roof comes down
00:15:32
because if the roof if the bed was up
00:15:34
against the roof and they both came down
00:15:36
together the canvas is going to wind up
00:15:38
getting squished under the bed and the
00:15:40
bed is probably going to be resting on
00:15:42
the steel frame of the camper the canvas
00:15:44
will get crushed between the bed
00:15:46
platform and the steel frame won't be
00:15:48
long at all until there's a hole in the
00:15:49
canvas that doesn't work at all so we
00:15:51
have to lower the bed down into sleeping
00:15:53
position then lower the roof down and
00:15:56
all of the canvas will Bunch up and sit
00:15:58
basically on top of all of our bedding
00:16:00
before I go outside and do up the
00:16:02
latches to keep the roof down that's
00:16:04
interesting in theory the challenge
00:16:07
becomes the reality of that I won't be
00:16:09
able to reach up inside in various
00:16:12
places because the bed will be in the
00:16:14
way and so I've been struggling with
00:16:16
this for a long time now I thought about
00:16:18
putting the bed itself on gas struts
00:16:21
that are either pushing it off the roof
00:16:23
and pulling it towards the roof or the
00:16:25
gas struts could be pushing and pulling
00:16:27
it off the frame of the camper I think
00:16:30
that would work but it's a little
00:16:31
complicated the other one is that the
00:16:33
bed frame more or less just kind of
00:16:35
floats in space and isn't hard mounted
00:16:38
anywhere it just sits physically on the
00:16:41
frame of the camper but whenever I want
00:16:43
to I can just from underneath push up
00:16:45
against it and nothing holds it there
00:16:47
it's more or less just sitting there
00:16:49
push it up and then find a way to secure
00:16:51
it to the roof then when it's time to
00:16:53
pack up lower it down and then I have to
00:16:55
think about how do I close the roof
00:16:58
because the bed is in the way at the
00:17:00
back of the camper I won't be able to
00:17:02
reach up and grab the roof from the
00:17:03
inside I'll have to go around outside
00:17:06
and close the roof that gets hard too
00:17:09
though I'm only 6'2 the roof is going to
00:17:11
be popped up well over 8 ft high so I
00:17:14
won't be able to just reach up and grab
00:17:16
the roof and pull on it I think I'll
00:17:18
have to have a strap on the outside
00:17:20
there's some complications going on
00:17:22
there that make it quite tricky but I do
00:17:25
feel like I want to work hard to make
00:17:27
the vertical pop work work because of
00:17:29
the advantages that it gives and because
00:17:31
it is after all the whole point of the
00:17:33
camper to have this interior living
00:17:35
space so these are all the things I'm
00:17:37
working on right now and I'd love to get
00:17:39
your ideas and your input have you seen
00:17:41
a camper out there that has solved this
00:17:43
in a really great way have you seen a
00:17:45
floating bed platform have you seen a
00:17:48
company that makes Custom Canvas for
00:17:50
popups like this I'm currently talking
00:17:52
to Colorado Camper vans I'm talking to
00:17:54
at Overland about who makes their canvas
00:17:57
I've been talking to John at Ura Miner
00:17:59
about how he makes his canvas I'm trying
00:18:02
to get as much input as I can about if I
00:18:06
should make it myself or if I should
00:18:07
just pay a company to make it for me and
00:18:10
what company that should be who does a
00:18:12
good job who makes the best canvas
00:18:14
that's the kind of stuff I'm interested
00:18:15
in so please do leave a comment down
00:18:17
below let me know your thoughts is it
00:18:20
worth the added complexity of the
00:18:21
vertical popup or should I just stick to
00:18:23
the wedge and keep it simple leave a
00:18:25
comment down below let me know and as
00:18:28
always too I've been having this
00:18:29
discussion on patreon with my supporters
00:18:31
over there for a good long while now
00:18:34
we've been going through a lot of
00:18:35
different design iterations and a lot of
00:18:37
different ideas so if you'd like to get
00:18:39
behind the scenes access Early Access
00:18:41
considerations about other projects I'm
00:18:44
working on like my next book where I'm
00:18:46
actually shipping this camper later this
00:18:48
summer jump on over to patreon you can
00:18:51
see all the benefits available over
00:18:52
there so until next time I have a
00:18:55
massive to-do list on the camper it all
00:18:58
has to get done in the next coming
00:19:00
months so I'm about to get extremely
00:19:02
busy there are about to be a lot more
00:19:04
videos on the channel thanks for
00:19:06
watching have fun out there and maybe
00:19:08
I'll bump into you on the road
