Swap your Pop Top for my Tin Top

[ghop99]

Our new addition to family is making the missus think twice about, in her words ''all this camper van stuff'' and she is wanting me to sell the Early Bay as it doesnt have the space for our growing family. As I don't want to leave the scene and don't have heaps of spare cash laying around either (the frost killed the money tree) I am thinking of a swap for a pop top bus with little or no work needed, I could probably stretch a grand for the right one. RHD preferd.

As you cab see we have a RHD 1971 1600 tintop with a full camper conversion in the back. It was restored a couple of years back and has had all its nasty bits done so I would say its 99% solid. As you can see its been lowerd and sits on Merc rims and low profile tyres. Everything works, no work needed, DVD head unit in front, It now has a JK 3 bow roof rack on top, 43,000 on the clock, professionally waxoyld. Bad bits are very slight bubbles on rear arch since respray (originially Canary yelllow), Monza exhaust is looking ratty but cool, minor rust spotting in footwell but certainly nothing to worry about just yet, no rear bumper. Valued by insurance company at 7500 GBP. Never let me down, pulls well on hills, located North Devon.


What have you? Any ideas?

No Bus to swap? PM with your interest and I may sell........gulp!

 

[Araon]

Why not get a qoute off someone like scott wilson or MEB to let in a pop top?

 

[ghop99]

Any quotes I have had have been 2.5k plus vat from people down this way. Whats a reasonable price to pay if I go down this route? Anyone done this?

 

[morecambeandwize]

Doormobile will fit one between £700 - £1k apparently.

If you find the fibrglass top off Ebay or the like for a few hundred, you'd be quids in? Try Nosvw.co.uk for the roof ( his website isnt updated enough! )

 

[bananacustard]

Keep the bus and get an awning. Tintops look better ( imo ) and you'll at least double your camping space.

 

[ghop99]

Keep the bus and get an awning. Tintops look better ( imo ) and you'll at least double your camping space.

Yeah I did that. The awning is great on a three night plus trip, but we often just do a one nighter as we live near the coast so looking to pull up, pop up and sleep.

 

[Araon]

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=20087" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and have a chat with the guys if your not keen to chop it yourself, either entire roof or just the pop top and pass on the roof you'll get a reasonable bit back on the tin work

 

[Lee C]

Extra space

 

[Graham L]

Hi, I know you dropped me a email but I thought I'd respond on here.

Couple of questions:
- How many kids?
- How old are they?

The reason I ask is I'm not sure what you will gain by adding something like a westy poptop, the only thing is gives you is extra headroom and a single bunk in standard configuration or a double bed if you use the later conti bed.

Do you have a cab bunk at present as thats the easiest way for at least one of the kids to sleep on without adding a poptop, hence the questions about how many kids, ages etc, put all of your bags etc onto the front seats/cab floor and then put the cab bunk in and away you go.

Adding a poptop means undoing quite a lot of what you have already done and means cutting a hole into a perfectly good tintop which I think is a shame, you need to factor in that all of the interior will need to come out, headlining will need to come out and then do you go with a westy wooden roof or make a frame to take your existing headlining with something to fasten to around the opening?. its all down to personal choice but all of this has an effect on cost, its not as straightforward as cutting a whole and placing a poptop on, theres quite a few things to take into account.

I'm sorry if this sounds a bit negative I'm just posing the questions which I'm sure you may have already thought about :?:

 

[ghop99]

Thanks Graham, not negative at all, just realistic and valuable input.

In answer to your question, one child 4 months old our first. Wife says he will roll off a cab bunk for the next couple of years till he is older. I do think for 50 squid its worth a go though. Anyone else use these with very young kids?

I don't want to have to chop, hence the swap question but I know its a long shot. Guess I was appealing to someone with a dormy/westy that wanted a change or a sleeker look, on the basis of if you dont ask, you dont know. After all I came by this bus by a T4 swap!

Think we are going to have to re think about how we camp so its worth putting up the awning for more than one night and see how we go this summer.

Thanks for you input fellas, its all good.

Will still consider swap/sale

Regarding the gypsy wagon, too cool!

Cheers

 

[Tezzah]

You could fit some sort of mess across the cab area to stop the little 'un rolling out if you're on about the hammock in the front. Our boy is 4 years old, we worried about him rolling out and he didn't, they sink a little bit into the beds you see, a bit like a hammock. He would really have had to struggle to roll out. Maybe some sort of temporary fitting across the cab, they should fall out the window or door sides, there's not that much room?

 

[aogrady]

Thanks Graham, not negative at all, just realistic and valuable input.

In answer to your question, one child 4 months old our first. Wife says he will roll off a cab bunk for the next couple of years till he is older. I do think for 50 squid its worth a go though. Anyone else use these with very young kids?

I don't want to have to chop, hence the swap question but I know its a long shot. Guess I was appealing to someone with a dormy/westy that wanted a change or a sleeker look, on the basis of if you dont ask, you dont know. After all I came by this bus by a T4 swap!

Think we are going to have to re think about how we camp so its worth putting up the awning for more than one night and see how we go this summer.

Thanks for you input fellas, its all good.

Will still consider swap/sale

Regarding the gypsy wagon, too cool!

Cheers

Hi!

Your more than welcome to have a mooch around our Westy to give you a idea of space and bunks etc. I'm in Instow if you remember - our little 'un is due in about 7 weeks! :shock: Time flys - didn't think yours was 4 months already!
Or we could come over for a natter one day at the weekend sometime?

Cheers!

Alistair

 

[ghop99]

Thanks Graham, not negative at all, just realistic and valuable input.

In answer to your question, one child 4 months old our first. Wife says he will roll off a cab bunk for the next couple of years till he is older. I do think for 50 squid its worth a go though. Anyone else use these with very young kids?

I don't want to have to chop, hence the swap question but I know its a long shot. Guess I was appealing to someone with a dormy/westy that wanted a change or a sleeker look, on the basis of if you dont ask, you dont know. After all I came by this bus by a T4 swap!

Think we are going to have to re think about how we camp so its worth putting up the awning for more than one night and see how we go this summer.

Thanks for you input fellas, its all good.

Will still consider swap/sale

Regarding the gypsy wagon, too cool!

Cheers

Hi!

Your more than welcome to have a mooch around our Westy to give you a idea of space and bunks etc. I'm in Instow if you remember - our little 'un is due in about 7 weeks! :shock: Time flys - didn't think yours was 4 months already!
Or we could come over for a natter one day at the weekend sometime?

Cheers!

Alistair

Sounds like a plan, ideal even as they say around here. I will speak the missus and PM you, the weekend would be good. I took the bus out down woolly today, the surf was pumping. Some poor fella had to get rescued by the chopper :shock:

Cheers

 

[Araon]

Do you have a cab bunk at present as thats the easiest way for at least one of the kids to sleep on without adding a poptop, hence the questions about how many kids, ages etc, put all of your bags etc onto the front seats/cab floor and then put the cab bunk in and away you go.

the bunks are ideal for young uns and as said are quite deep your kids gonna have to be a mountaineer to get out from the valley they form :lol: bolsters head and foot I saw a pic where someone had fitted a fine mesh screen that ran along the bars too just as an in case of....looked quite good....I'll see if I can find it....

someones got the westy cups as a set in the for sale at a damned good price as well believe me there not the easiest thing to get as a set I hunted for some for a year and thanks to steve (68 bay) finally got them, then there was a short influx of them....

 

[Lee C]

Seriously how about a cheap little caravan or trailer tent , one light enough for your bus to tow ?
We picked this up for £600 but I've seen em for as little as £300.

LOADS of interior space , light to tow n folds down tiny !

Not sure why my wife's doin the robot dance , like !!!

 

[Lucky boy]

Thanks Graham, not negative at all, just realistic and valuable input.

In answer to your question, one child 4 months old our first. Wife says he will roll off a cab bunk for the next couple of years till he is older. I do think for 50 squid its worth a go though. Anyone else use these with very young kids?

I don't want to have to chop, hence the swap question but I know its a long shot. Guess I was appealing to someone with a dormy/westy that wanted a change or a sleeker look, on the basis of if you dont ask, you dont know. After all I came by this bus by a T4 swap!

Think we are going to have to re think about how we camp so its worth putting up the awning for more than one night and see how we go this summer.

Thanks for you input fellas, its all good.

Will still consider swap/sale

Regarding the gypsy wagon, too cool!

Cheers

My wife thought my daughter would fall out. (They roll to the centre) We have used it since she was 12 months old with no problems at all. Now she is 5 she will have to use the top bunk

 

[AxlFoley]

I'm in the same situation, this was my solution.

It worked well, problem is now, i Have two kids lol, looks like I'll be in the awning

 

[chippi]

I think a lot of peeps with small kids have been in this situation, me also. I started with a tintop which was great but not ideal ( i have two kids 8 and 10 ) so we went down the awning route but like you i just want to pull up and relax.
After a while i decided to convert my tintop to a westy top, which was great to sleep them both in as i also had a cab bunk but it was so cramped for us and we still needed the awning for stuff.
I now have a Dormy and a quecha pop up tent for stuff and have to say its like a tardis compared to the Westy roof and works really well with kids. I think with one little-un you can get away with a cab bunk and a westy top.
Good luck on what ever you do, you may find you go through a bit of trial and ever before you settle on a set up that suits you best, just make sure it contains an early bay .

 

[Araon]

Factory high top or please forgive me for suggesting this but a Viking :shock: