pulling down a manual poptop with mobility issues/duff knees! solutions?

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whatsisname

New Member
hi folks,

I am planning on doing a conversion on a T6.1 circa 2021 SWB. I have very dodgy knees after a rather serious injury, so I'll be looking to design the build with my knee problems in mind. I'm planning on doing a build thread when I get to it because its a bit unusual in it being on a LHD imported from the EU, and the conversion needing to be able to pass VASP homologation in france when I relocate there. thats a whole other thing.

the main thing I'm trying to plan ahead for is the roof. pretty confident pushing it up with its gas-assisted struts won't be a problem, its getting it down again. I'm visiting a local converter in the new year who has a van with an austops roof in at the moment, to try it for myself, so just thinking ahead to possible solutions. I'll have to be able to push up and pull down/tie up entirely from the driver seat and/or passenger seat. my knees won't allow me to get into the back of the van without the roof up.

I was thinking maybe a connecting cord between the 2 pull down straps, then a cord coming down centrally, then attach that to a small winch of some sort between the front seats. I'm sure it could be mounted somewhere suitable down there. the central pull down cord wouldn't need to be attached to the winch permanently, you could just hook it up when needed. any thoughts or ideas very welcome!

the alternative is the Reimo electric roof. I've been talking to reimo UK about it and it sounds like a suitable option, but it is twice the price, and any failure in the elctric mechanism obviously would be a major problem and is another thing to go wrong. if I can find a way to work a manual option it would be better.

gary.
 
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Does the Reimo electric have a manual override?
Do you intend camping on sites rather than wild camping?

If the answer to both these questions is yes, I'd go electric. If it ever fails, there should be plenty of folks around willing to lend a hand - we campers are like that. :cool:
 
Bav said:
Does the Reimo electric have a manual override?
Do you intend camping on sites rather than wild camping?

If the answer to both these questions is yes, I'd go electric. If it ever fails, there should be plenty of folks around willing to lend a hand - we campers are like that. :cool:
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yes it does have a manual override. i'll most likely be stopping and putting the roof up in all sorts of locations where there may not be help. so failure is definitely a concern. but then again if I did manage to rig a winch with a manual, there could be a failure with the winch mechanism. which would leave me in the same boat.
 
I have an austops roof and close by standing between the captains chair and pulling it down until it’s resting on my head, then check the canvas and let it drip down the final bit. So as long as you have a single passenger seat and can stand then it should be ok. I think you could just sit in the seat and pull the straps but I’ve never tried it
 
For what is worth I would think the most difficult manoeuvre in the van is getting in and out of our 113 rib bed especially as we have cupboards over the end of the bed, with limited mobility I can see this being nearly impossible
 
cgtmiles said:
I think you could just sit in the seat and pull the straps but I’ve never tried it
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would you mind trying that for me? seeing if you can pull it down with the straps whilst sitting in one of the front seats? austops is one of the ones i've been looking at.
 
cgtmiles said:
For what is worth I would think the most difficult manoeuvre in the van is getting in and out of our 113 rib bed especially as we have cupboards over the end of the bed, with limited mobility I can see this being nearly impossible
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yeah this is why I think I will have to go with an electric rocknroll.
 
whatsisname said:
yeah this is why I think I will have to go with an electric rocknroll.
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That’s not going to help getting in and out, opening the rib is pretty easy, getting in and out is more tricky. A rear kitchen layout with separate rear seats may be a better layout for you
 
whatsisname said:
because i'll be going into 2m height limit car parks all the time.
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Also be aware that most carparks are dropping to 1.9 or even as low as 1.5m to stop vans and tall cars altogether, so the hi-top may not be such a problem.
 
My solution:
Ayjay said:
For what it's worth (my roof is a Westdubs), I used to pull the bed board down followed by the roof by wrapping the cam straps around my wrists and pulling down with a bit of assistance from my body weight. It can easily be stopped in position 4" - 6" short of fully closed and I then gave the canvas sides a quick tug inwards to tidy it all up (a pop top bungee does most of that work though). Nowadays though, I have a couple of loops of 8mm rope fixed to the handles on the underside of the roof. I posted about it here with a picture shortly after doing the mod:
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Ayjay said:
Ever since we got the van in 2019, I've used the cam straps to pull down the pop top because the handles fixed to the under side are too high to reach when it's open (at least without standing on the seats). When we were away last week, I got to thinking that there must be an easier way to do it so this morning I looped a couple of lengths of rope through the handles and it's so much easier - not as much effort required to pull the roof down and the ropes can be reached whilst still sitting. They can also be pushed out of the way on to the bed board when the roof is up and are completely out of sight when the roof hatch is closed.. Can't believe it's taken me nearly 5 years to think of it.
View attachment 242689
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whatsisname said:
yeah this is why I think I will have to go with an electric rocknroll.
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Not sure which make of electric bed it was, or if there are more than one, but when shopping about so looked at a Danbury converted Transit (I can hear people spitting already, lol) which had an electricity powered folding bed. The actuator/motor had failed three times and been replaced but then ran out of warranty so the seller had disconnected it and left it as a manual.
Worth researching warranty length and any reviews when specking the bed.
 
Lubrown said:
Not sure which make of electric bed it was, or if there are more than one, but when shopping about so looked at a Danbury converted Transit (I can hear people spitting already, lol) which had an electricity powered folding bed. The actuator/motor had failed three times and been replaced but then ran out of warranty so the seller had disconnected it and left it as a manual.
Worth researching warranty length and any reviews when specking the bed.
Click to expand...
yeah failure concerns me. I have only found 2 still available on the market. one is the fabworx, the other is made by SK conversions, which is the same one that used to be sold by just kampers. there were a few others but they don't appear to be available anymore. unfortunately I have very few options. I've looked at loads of videos of both rib and rocknroll beds. opening and closing either type is going to be a problem for me so I may have no choice. still looking around for other solutions.
 
whatsisname said:
yeah failure concerns me. I have only found 2 still available on the market. one is the fabworx, the other is made by SK conversions, which is the same one that used to be sold by just kampers. there were a few others but they don't appear to be available anymore. unfortunately I have very few options. I've looked at loads of videos of both rib and rocknroll beds. opening and closing either type is going to be a problem for me so I may have no choice. still looking around for other solutions.
Click to expand...
I've got an electric RIB - had it 2 camping seasons so far and has been faultless. It was supplied/fitted by VisionTech Automotive in Colchester.
 
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