 | Home > Camping, Caravanning and Holidays > roof tent (pop top) vs second row seats |
 
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2069   
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Hi Bruno, welcome to the forum !
A picture would be very helpful and also the make of pop top system that you have may help us know how to help you. We have a slatted bed that sits a little higher in the roof that other makes and gives about the same height as the standard roof when sitting in the back. you may be able to remove the bed boards and stack them over the rear of the vehicle when carrying passengers, or even replace the boards with removable slats like an Ikea bed, similar to ours, but as above, I’m not sure of your system and make  Click image to enlarge The ‘ikea’ style bed frame fitted to our 110 (x-vision-x) Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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17th Sep 2019 9:24am |
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| macfrank Member Since: 05 Nov 2015 Location: somewhere in the north Posts: 988  
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Same roof, same bed here
Best solution IMHO. Easier to setup and gives more head room. |
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17th Sep 2019 11:14am |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2069
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MacFrank - ''Same roof, same bed here
Best solution IMHO. Easier to setup and gives more head room.’' Yep !  Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html
Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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17th Sep 2019 11:33am |
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| BrunoJ Member Since: 14 Sep 2019 Location: Stavanger Posts: 58 
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Thanks for responses. In my (future) LRD, the floor is made of two solid boards covered with typical vehicle textil. They can be moved a little bit front/back and stacked, however doesn't change much for passengers - they will have the edge in front of the head or just behind. Both not acceptable.
As far as I checked there is no way to lift it during driving (not sure if your picture is showing open tent, which is also not how you are driving I believe). I'm reviewing pictures and trying to find the solution which will not require to rebuild it completely. However looks like I'll need to replace the tent floor anyway. The roof was installed in Germany, looks exactly like the one from Hesch, below the link to tent as well as floor solution (second item). No intention to advertise it here. I didn't find too many pictures with this specific one, seems to be not the most popular installation. I'm about contacting the company if they potentially can craft some modified version (e.g. split floor for more pieces?). https://www.offroad-hesch.at/produkt-kateg...ender-110/ Current owner use that mostly with 2 pax, so never really bother to improve that. As mentioned earlier - the interior of the car was never modified to be real camper, so it is a combination of regular 5-seat station wagon with a tent as a bonus feature. Howevr - furnitures can be added easier than tent I believe, so the most difficult part is already done (I hope) |
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17th Sep 2019 11:50am |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2069
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Hi Bruno
yes my photo is of the bed and roof raised to give an impression of the bed type.. The roof, like most pop tops, will have been raised in the construction, as has Hesch version shown on your link. This is often by about 4-8 cm, so by having the bed board removed from the front part of the vehicle will normally give you some extra roof height in the cabin. If you compare the standard vehicle door top to roof top height to that of the vehicle you are interested in you will see the height difference and can make your assessment from there. Hope that helps Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html
Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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17th Sep 2019 12:30pm |
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| BrunoJ Member Since: 14 Sep 2019 Location: Stavanger Posts: 58
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If recall correctly, the difference in my case is around more than 10cm, quite a bit. Plus still the luggage rack on the top (factory one). All together high enough to eliminate most of underground parkings in the area (typically 2.1m).
I would assume it is definitely space to move boards (or alternate bed system) higher, closer to the roof. That could solve the issue while driving, then keep normal/lower position for overnight (or other in-bed activities 
About removing/stacking boards, I have to check if there is any fixing mechanism (but quite sure it is not), otherwise they can move during some emergency breaking, especially if stacked at the back side of the car. Still my impression was that stacked and moved to far back will end up just behind passengers heads, too risky in my eyes. But didn't have chance to play around. Any hint for specific 'ikea' bed construction/producer? Or just made it somewhere to fit the size? And one more - maybe stupid question but... Currently the regular bed boards position is both moved to front of the car, so there is an entry space at the back. At the back of tent there is nice "entrance" as well (zipped window/door). How it can be used effectively, if there is visible gap between bed and "entrance"? I saw some pictures,movies with added floor elements, which completely close access from the cabin. Is it how it should work? In case of your 'ikea' bed - you have full board and coming from outside to the tent (ladder?) or still keep some gap to access it from the inside of the car? (Hope I wrote it clear enough, I'm not a native so not always getting to the point the same way...) |
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17th Sep 2019 1:56pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2069
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Hi Bruno
Our ‘ikea’ bed stops about half a metre or so from the end of the back of the vehicle allowing us an area to get up into bed from inside the vehicle. We can park up, put the top up, cook dinner and go to bed with out actually getting out of the vehicle at all - very useful in the pouring rain. Some pop tops have a ‘cat trap’ door at the back end of the vehicle so as you can enter the sleeping area from inside the vehicle and then close it to give you a bigger bed area ... one drawback is getting out of bed while your partner is sleeping ... All the pop tops I know of are entered from inside the vehicle and not from the outside ... all roof top tents are entered this way. The big ‘door’ is actually a window and had mosquito netting and a waterproof flap that can be used as required. With your boards folded at the back of the vehicle, you could put a strap around them and maybe to something like a tie down ring to secure them to the back so as they do not move forward under breaking. Other options are to have the boards on the roof or in the back of the vehicle if they can’t fit in the roof area. The bed we have looks like an Ikea bed, so I would imagine that it could be made from an original Ikea bed frame (double) and modified to fit in the vehicle with a few tweaks by some one who has some wood work skills (...which is definitely not me!!) \ The pop top came with the bed from the makers of the roof ... it'is lighter and more comfortable than the solid board, and as its slated it has no condensation issues under the bed, and allows the heat from the heater to warm the bed easier. Click image to enlarge Another view of the bed up and you can see the space to stand at the highest point of the roof Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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17th Sep 2019 4:53pm |
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| BrunoJ Member Since: 14 Sep 2019 Location: Stavanger Posts: 58
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Thanks, very informative. I see one more feature which you have in your tent - you don't have any additional bar over the back door. Great usage of space. I have regular frame around, so really have to use the door to get inside the car.
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17th Sep 2019 7:59pm |
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| wyvern Member Since: 14 Dec 2009 Location: Cornwall Posts: 2069
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We do have a bar accross the back door .. its just the colouring in the photo makes it look like its missing ..... the camera never lies !!
It may be better for you to go and look at the vehicle again to see how its set up and how to use the bed system, getting in and out, how the bed is fixed and how the top goes up and down. from there you can make a plan on how to use it and how to modify it. I do suggest living with it first before you do any modifications to see if the issues are there in real life or just over thinking. Click image to enlarge Poppy - TDCI (Puma) 110XS 2.2 - Camper conversion - see the build here - https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic56530.html
Elgar -TDCI(Puma) 110XS Dormobile - now sold Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response - DC126 |
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17th Sep 2019 8:21pm |
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| BrunoJ Member Since: 14 Sep 2019 Location: Stavanger Posts: 58
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haha, I really didn't see it on previous photo. Was a little bit surprised how body keeps stability, but who knows.
Don't worry, I don't plan to make changes next day after taking the car. The second row of seats is real issue, that's concerning me. But at the begin I also don't expect to have many passengers too often. I'll think how to solve it, with minimum changes. I'm quite lucky, I'll get the car for few weeks for testing, before buying, so will really have time to familiarize with all stuff. I checked already opening and closing the tent, and how to get inside, but of course need some practicing to find the optimum. |
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17th Sep 2019 9:57pm |
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| BrunoJ Member Since: 14 Sep 2019 Location: Stavanger Posts: 58
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No progress from my side, I verified sliding the floor panels can eventually help with the space for second row passengers. I'll probably investigate that more when I finally own the vehicle. And I'll use it for a while before run any modifications.
In the meantime I tested the tent in practice, visiting some nice fiords last weekend. And staying overnight at the camping field. Sample photo below, early morning (means: 8am ).
Click image to enlarge |
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24th Oct 2019 5:34pm |
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