Jocklandjohn

See if you can pick up a bit of 6mm or 8mm perspex, cut to suit with a jigsaw and bolt over the outside with a tap washer spacer, with the wire on the inside, and all held together with four smooth headed bolts nipped up on the inside. Visual deterrent from the wire, unbreakable on the outside, and you can still get a thin thing/hose in to clean the glass (or stick a bit of foam around the edge to keep the mank out.)

Aye 'management' is back on my case! Qwakers - thanks, will give the white spirits a go. There was some puzzlement over how water will be kept out - so here's a close up of the front detail where the hinge is, and where the fabric side will terminate at the sharp end of the wedge. I've made these first two pix larger files than usual - 2400px or so, so if you click through them you can magnify and see the detail a bit better. As you can see I've fabricated the lower section so there is an upstand that goes completely around the lower frame to prevent water ingress, it's 30mm high on the back and both sides and slightly higher at the front. At the front the hinge is screwed through the 3mm alloy into a treated timber subframe. You can see the various seals in this shot - from the bottom there is the black rubber gasket between the metal frame and the lower hinge leaf, then the hinge leaf (silver), the closed-cell foam gasket that fits between the hinge leaves, then the top hinge leaf (slightly open) and then the black rubber gasket between the top leaf and the metal frame of the lifting lid. The side fabric will be bolted along this 30mm upstand at bottom and terminate in under the edge you can see here, screwed to the timber batten that is located above the top hinge with the knots in it. (What looks like white mastic running down the upstand is actually weld.) The exposed wood you can see will be partly covered in fabric eventually. This second shot is taken slightly higher so you can see the upstand from the inside and the lid's lip P/tadpole section seals, and a 6mm foam lining above the seal to prevent condensation. The wavy metal end will also be covered but I can fit some closed cell foam in behind it so when the lid is closed it is pinched between the metal upstand and the wood on the lid. Existing LR roof is in lower part of pic with bolt through to secure the lower frame. At the top the fabric will be screwed to the wooden plate above and sealed on a bed of mastic. Its located almost 3 inches up above the lid's lip seal so I figure that's far enough up to prevent water blowing in. Managed to get another leap forwards today. Fitted the gas struts but could not get the lid to move - the struts seemed quite stiff and resistant to pressure but I leaned on the lid and it gently whuffled down. I guess the pistons were simply sticky because they are new. The lid came back up just as nicely, several up/downs later it all seemed hunky dory. I did a wee bit of pottering around preparing to put some timber inside when I noticed that the lower strut bracket was bending out, and doing it on both sides. (The piece of alloy behind is a shim to substitute for the fabric pocket and ally flat bar that will be fitted when the sides go on behind the bracket.) A hasty lashing and propping up followed, and then I had a look at the brackets and pulled one off. Definitely bent. Now I've followed the fitting instructions to the letter, and double checked my measurements, and it's all spot on. The strut/bracket info on the web shows the bracket in the orientation I've fitted them, however it does seem from a basic physics POV that having the bracket the other way round would be stronger as the force would be applied to the bottom, forcing the bracket tightly against the vertical alloy face its bolted to, rather than away from it as it is at present. I've emailed the tech fellow at the strut supplier for a definitive answer. Still - at least it works!

Stress not too bad for me - I've been shot at, avalanched (small one!), attacked with a knife (I won), kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser (close shave that one), caught in a tornado and hit by lightning, so all things considered this was relatively straighforwards! There was nowt to do but keep the show on the road - we have a 5 year old so he needed it all running smoothly, and I'm not given to flapping. But I'll be the first to admit it was emotionally fraught and once things started to look up and I was able to relax a bit I certainly felt drained. First Aid works. Thats the bottom line. My partner is hacked off because she cant drive for six months! But she's basically fine and the implant will save her if her heart stops again, and she's not unduly fussed - more concerned that she's given everyone a load of hassle! Aye the rugged guide one is rather interesting! My rationale was to be able to do this without taking the vehicle off the road, hence the gutter build so I could lift it on and off as I needed. It worked for me. Others with workshops and more flexibility may choose another approach. My other main concern was - would it work! And doing it this way I had the safety net of not having messed up my roof until I knew it was actually going to be a 'success'. Anyone want a set of alpine lights (free)? I took one pane out today, the other will come out tomorrow. Amazing how wobbly the roof becomes without them. TBH I wish I'd never fitted them in the first place because all they've done is leak!

Hi EJ - thanks for asking. She's making great progress. She actually returned to work on a phased return to be able to take it easy. She has a slight left-side tic which results in her left arm/leg 'wandering' and this has been a bit perplexing, but we've been told it should improve with time. The hand is not so bad, but the leg going off by itself has meant she's taken a few tumbles. A couple were 'soft' - out in the woods walking the dog, but one fall on the 1st January was face-down on tarmac and resulted in a badly bashed face, nose, lips and two black/yellow eyes, blood everywhere. I'd been knocking the LandRover about and had skint knuckles on my right hand and when I took her to the doc for an emergency appointment he looked at her face, then at my knuckles, then back at her face and looked very sceptical......but when he read her notes he went "oh my!" She cant drive for 6 months, and is still getting used to wearing the implant under her shoulder blade- it's a portable defib unit the size of a zippo lighter with a wire into her heart. We have a base station in the house connected to the phone line and when she's in range of the base unit her implant transmits a data log of her heart rhythm and if there is any cause for concern the hospital will call her and ask her to come in. If they cannot get her on her phone they send the alert message to the base unit and when she is back in range of it the unit transmits to her implant and the implant buzzes (like a phone) and alerts her to go to hospital! All very clever. If her heart goes into arhythmia the device can 'ping' her little shocks to keep the rhythm steady and if her heart stops it will give her a significant shock (and tingle the fingers of anyone holding her!). She's been very lucky - 80% of out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest end up dead. Her colleagues who gave her CPR saved her life. She's looking forwards to enjoying the lifting roof for a weekend away!

No! But I can imagine! One of the cornerstones of fine engineering is adapting something to do something else entirely unrelated!

Yes wax might do - I did think of that, but was concerned that if it didn't work I'd have a bugger getting it off again in order to paint it! Might be worth a go. I'll try the isopropyl and see if it works - thanks. The welds? Ha! I love the fact that you can do magic with metal and 'burn' it together. The bare welds are pretty neat and I like the fact that you can see that its been worked by hand and is actually 'constructed' out of metal. It's the signature of Steve the welder who was really helpful and accommodating (and particularly so when my partner 'died' just before Christmas) so I thought it wholly appropriate to leave them as his mark. I took off the little snaggy jaggy bits but am happy to leave the rest. I'm not a huge fan of hand-working something to the point where it looks machine-made. Its a 25 year old land Rover with a lid on it, simple as that. Like me its got lines and wear marks and scars and lumps of metal where bits are joined (my legs) and I'm comfortable with that.

Cheers Mike - aye all the tech in the world and at the end of the day a long plank is just what's needed!

Well yesterday (Saturday) was a surprise. I wanted to try to fit the lifting lid, but it was dependent on the availability of a couple of other lads to help me lift it, and if it didn't work and we'd to come back to it later it'd be the next Saturday before I'd get another chance. But it all came together and we kicked off at about 3.30 and by 6.30 we'd got it on and to my surprise and delight it fitted (more or less)! We'd to put a small scaffold in front of the LR and balance the (awkward & heavy) lid on it. That was a big and difficult lift. Then pull the lid forwards onto a wooden T piece that supported it over the bonnet, with its other end resting on the scaffold. Then we realized that the rubber seal that curls around the hinge was preventing the hinge leaf from going onto the lower lid. So we'd to duct tape it up out of the way - which was a fiddly wrestling match but worked fine. I managed to get two screws into the guide holes I'd drilled when I did a dry run during a test last year when it was still a bare frame and manageable to lift on my own, and then slipped a length of thin rubber tape under the hinge leaf to pack it up and seal it when screwed down. Those two screws were all it needed to hold it firmly so we could then lift up to vertical and tip it over to try it down onto the lower frame and see if it fitted. Getting it up and over was a horribly precarious and slightly unnerving experience - a couple of straps over the roof joist made it a bit easier, but it was still pretty fraught - one careless slip and someone would at the least lose some fingers, at worst be killed, and either way the whole thing would be trashed, falling from that height. But we took it slowly, always two of us holding it, and up it went, and down it came and although it was rather tight on the passenger side - about 1mm out and hitting the edge of a clip - it fitted. I shoved a piece of wood across inside the lower frame to push the sides out (widen it) and the lid popped down. I'm going to have to either slightly bend a clip or two out by 1mm or file a bit off the edge of the lid at the clip area (or both) to 'sweeten' it a bit. Front with duct tape holding rubber seal up out of the way. Tape removed and seal rolled over and curled around the hinge ball nicely. It looks like all my calculations and guesses about the seals thickness and accompanying rubber packers under and above the hinge were reasonably accurate - I'll test it with a hose soon. My one fear was that the clip adjustment (the clasp part is on a screw) would not be sufficient to reach the now further away J hook on the lifting section, but I'd left enough play and the clips caught just fine. So here's what it looks like - front, rear quarters, back. Unfortunately the duct tape was damp and the silver stuff came off when I removed it from the hinge area but left the glue behind so a bit of cleaning to do there. Can anyone suggest a cleaner for the glue that wont remove the paint as well? What hasn't helped is that the paint on the roof is not entirely smooth but has a slightly rough texture (probably not enough of it on there) - and when it was outside and it snowed onto it the snow really gripped it and was hard to wipe off - so any suggestions for a decent brush/roller applied gloss enamel that I can put on the roof to both seal it further but make it more durable and 'slippy'? Ignore the paint runs in the lower picture - these will be covered over with some vinyl transfers I'm putting on to break up the white slabby sides. And that's the tail of the thin rubber seal under the lower hinge leaf that's hanging out - seals need some trimming and mastic to finish here and there. Despite what it looks like - rather tall - its ended up only about 5 inches higher than the original roof. The line at the bottom of the clip in the pic above is the height of the original roof inside so overall it's ended up less than the height of a roof rack on top, never mind adding a roof tent on top of the rack. Will need to measure it from the ground and see what it is overall. This was a significant step forwards - the van can (hopefully) be driven now and not turn into a swimming pool. I'm so grateful to my friends for the use of their barn - could we have done this outside? Maybe - by going under a tree or by rigging up some wooden or metal support structure, or with a forklift - none of which I have handy! But with any of those one gust of wind would likely end in disaster. Anyone having a go at this make sure you have a good think about process, make sure your companions fully understand what might be clear to you but may not be so obvious to them, and take more precautions than you need, backups for your backups are always worth putting in place. Big thank you to Steve and Richard for the muscle, ingenuity and encouragement! Next step is the gas struts so it will stay up and I can then get accurate dimensions for the fabric sides.

Well its slowwwwwllllly ongoing. I'm at the stage where a lot of effort results in (apparently) little progress. I've cleaned the old mastic out of the gutters of the old roof on both sides in preparation for sticking the new top on (and can now see where leaks originate) and have drilled the holes for the bolts through the lower section brackets/old roof, and stuck the lower section down with PU sealant. I'm not fully bolting it up tight until I fit the lifting top as I may have to tweak the alignment of the sides to suit the top alignment - there's a few mm play because I've drilled the roof holes slightly oversize to allow the roof to flex (the whole van flexes quite a bit when on rough ground). I've managed to get the brackets aligned with the rigid strengthening channel above the windscreen - pics below show the area above above the rear view mirror, through the two main ribs in the roof on either side near the middle of the van, and above the drivers side windscreen, which means the new roof has got a good 'grip' of the old roof. I'm fitting a pressure-treated timber batten under the lower hinge fixing point which will a) strengthen the hinge fastening area, b) provide a firmer attachment point for the self-tapping stainless screws, c) help seal the lower hinge area from water ingress. The angle alloy I've used for the sides and which has dictated the size of the front area will take a 25mm thick insulation sheet under it and give a flush finish - you can see the insulation in the shot below. It'll be tacked on with mastic then builders foam will be skooshed all around it to fully grip it and the new sides and fasten the whole plot to the old roof - basically I''ll fill the recess down the curve into the old gutter with foam and it will insulate, seal and glue the new roof to the old. The rubber seal on the hinge is fitted - the roof is standing on edge against the wall so the pics are 'vertical'. Basically the pre-curved rubber is fitted so the flange is trapped between the lid and the top hinge leaf. The curve then wraps around the ball and presents a nice curved barrier to weather and allows any drips running down when the lid is lifted to run right off. I know there's been some wondering about whether I remove the old roof or whats going on - so here's a rough idea for you - I'm keeping the front area of the roof intact above the front seats, and cutting it across the width just behind the big strengthening rib that is immediately behind the lap joint where the roof goes from flat to slope. And at the back I'm cutting it a few inches in from the back door (to allow for some bracing of some kind to be fitted) and along the sides it will be cut just where the flat of the roof starts to curve down into the gutter. It is in effect a giant sunroof - keeping the front area makes it strong above the front seats and means the front part of the bed which is bolted through into the remaining roof becomes a structural component, and leaves a void that can hold stuff - radios, flip down tv, an inverter, whatever. The sides will be braced with some angle alloy and will provide a storage area for the flapping fabric that will eventually fall inside when the roof is closed and the fabric sides need somewhere to go. Keeping the sides wont impede the interior in any way because there will be a cooker unit on one side and sink on the other, both of which are about 300mm deep so will stick out into the van. The void I've created can hold wiring, lights, ducting for a cooker smells extractor or whatever else I fancy. Next job is the rubber Tadpole/P-section seals glued onto the lid perimeter. I'm still working alone so some tasks take ages as they're so fiddly and an extra hand would be useful - these bolts through the roof are a good example - pita to both hold them below and stick nuts on above - 9 foot arms would be handy (three of them)! Next day I got the seals fitted. Some sort of special two-part contact adhesive was suggested by the seal supplier, but I'm not impressed by its 'workability' - seemed to go off very fast, although to be fair I may have used too much catalyst as there was no instructions so I assumed equal measures of the two components. Anyway the seals went on but I had to give two coats of glue and work fast. Seems to have stuck ok though. I then added some closed-cell foam above the seals simply to prevent condensation on the bare alloy (which will obviously form behind the seal and be trapped otherwise). This part is all hidden when the roof is up/down so I'm not too fussed about how pretty it looks. I'm intending putting a length of self-adhesive closed-cell foam draught strip between the hinge leaves, stuck to the lower hinge face which will also help seal the c/sunk screw heads. You can see it here below - I had this laying about so thought it might do, although it looks a bit on the fat side I think it will compress when under pressure of the closed roof. Up front above the windscreen I've installed another wooden batten which will strengthen the hinge area on the frame for the bottom hinge leaf, help seal it, and give more grip to the self tappers which are 25mm long and will come pretty far through the 3mm alloy and get a good bite into the timber. It's just stuck on with silicone mastic at the moment and will be properly held by the hinge screws when they go in. Which I hope will be a 'dry run' of the lid fairly soon - need a few people to help me lift it so it needs some planning.

Well, after a lot of deliberation, faffing about with a micrometer, a sharp pencil, and a load of catalogue browsing, I've made a decision about the seals - they've got to be easy to fit. On the three (non-hinged) sides: they have to deform sufficiently to accommodate the slight 'banana' shape of one of the sides (taking up about 3mm gap). They need to (preferably) not protrude beyond the outer face of the lifting roof section when NOT under pressure otherwise the seal will hit the surface-mounted clip body on the way down. And at the front they need to cover and protect the ball of the hinge from blowing water, grit and muck, also flex when open, and seal the interface between top leaf of hinge and metal top, and between bottom leaf of hinge and metal bottom. Crucially - did I say - they have to be easy to fit! I found the following rubber profile which ironically is a part for a LandRover door but is available off-the-roll from seal suppliers (Seal Direct). Its a simple flap with a pre-formed curl. Wall thickness is around 2mm. The idea is that I can use this above the top leaf of the hinge. The long flange (25mm) will both seal the hinge/roof join and the pre-formed 'curl' is perfect to go down and around the hinge ball, effectively sealing it from blowing water coming in. It is supple enough that when the lid is opened it will bend and flex with the hinge and still maintain a reasonable seal sufficient to shed water and stop blowing sand from clagging the hinge. On the lower hinge/body interface I can put a simple strip of 25mm x 1.5mm rubber tape that will extend out to just butt up against the curled over section to provide a reasonable join. It wont be utterly watertight but it doesn't have to be because the only 'leak' prone holes will be the screw fixing holes for the hinge and they'll be both mastic sealed and approx 10mm back in the hinge body totally surrounded by the rubber seal tightly pinched under screw pressure. A 5mm thick neoprene strip inserted in between the hinge (ie over the top of the screws) will seal it when closed, as it will be also be 'pinched' and under pressure from the closed hinge. With the 40mm upstand I've got behind the hinge It'll need some serious water pressure to get past the seals. All of the seals are easily obtained and replaced. I did consider a simple 70mm flap of rubber that would 'wrap' right around the hinge but after deliberation (and watching the ice build-up over the last week on it) I reckon it will be both awkward to fit and be a water trap that can freeze and then impede the hinge. The open flap method I've described above removes both those problems (I hope!). As you can see above there's plenty distance between the outer edge (outside) of the rubber/hinge and the hinge screw hole so should provide a good seal when under pressure after being screwed down. Now of course this sealing method has raised the lid - but it has done so by roughly 2mm (the thickness of the curl section), plus 1.5mm (the flap on the lower hinge), so that's a total of 3.5mm to 4mm. This has meant that I need a slightly thicker seal on the other three edges around the roof than the P profile I mentioned in a previous post. So after some searching I found an 8mm 'tadpole' section that is perfect. It's actually got a manufacturing defect and this has resulted in the flange being off-centre so that the gap on one side is 2.5mm and on the other is 3.5mm instead of being central. This has meant I can use it for my 3mm section and it wont protrude beyond the face of the top section when not under pressure, and will therefore be clear of the clips when it comes down. (To understand what I mean there: I've kept the clips slightly above the surface of the lower lip of the roof to use as stops/guides for the raising/lowering section as you can see here in a previous post.) I estimate when its under pressure the tadpole will deform to 'lose' most of its hollow in the middle part of the roof (but only half deform at each end of the roof given the 'banana' shape I'm working to alleviate/seal) and so will end up raising the lifting lid by twice its own wall thickness of approx 2mm = so around 4mm total. Which is pretty much what the hinge rubbers at the front raise the lid by given their thicknesses. Of course the only way to find out for sure if all this works in practice is to do it! Does all that make sense? Basically I'm having to take into account the deformation of the main seals around the three sides, and estimate what thickness they end up when under pressure, and then that precise amount will be the gap at the hinge that needs sealing, but split into two separate seals, one for above and one for below the hinge leafs. Clear? Van is now temporarily in a friend's dry barn/workshop with masses of overhead space - I need 16 feet to raise my roof to up to and over vertical to fasten the hinge so its a perfect space. They don't need a Land Rover sized chunk of space for a few weeks so that will give me time to get it dried and sealed properly. Hopefully will have the roof fastened down, sealed, lid and hinges fixed and rubber seals on, gas struts fitted in the next few weeks if it all goes to plan. (fingers crossed!)) Now that's what I call a workshop! Its way longer than you can see here - there's another 75 feet behind me!

Not removing all the old roof. There's a previous (short) post about it if you go back. But basically I'm leaving intact the whole area above the front seats right back to the big structural piece that marks the joint of the flat section of the existing roof, with the slope down to the windscreen. I'll remove only the flat portion of the old roof, to within a few inches of the back door (to allow a metal brace to run across). And at the sides will cut the roof at the point where it starts to curve down. That leaves plenty of the old roof to retain some integrity and to allow me to fasten strengthening members to. At the front I'm making the sleeping platform in two sections each about 3' 3'' long. One will be permanently fixed above the driving area, well bolted down and through into the old roof and with a strong metal brace across where it was cut. During the day the second loose portion of the bed will nest on top of the fixed one. I'll see how it's looking but have not ruled out a clip-in metal brace that goes across at the 6' 6" bed length mark, which will provide strength and rigidity, allow the bed to have a good strong support across the width and this can be clipped in in some way that allows it to be whipped out if I need the space clear. In effect I'm making a giant sunroof about 4' wide by 6' long, strengthened all round.

Well it's painted and on the LR roof! Not sealed and bolted, simply sat there. Paintwork is not perfection - I reckon another ten tins would achieve that! Its white, its on, Its a Land Rover with a hat. My neighbour and I managed to lift it on on Sunday morning. Bit of a pain because it snowed, then rained then froze just before we got it on the roof so there was a good coat of ice on the roof when it went on. Then it snowed again pretty quickly, then froze again so there was snow & ice on the new roof as well! Ah the joys of winter driveway DIY! One problem I knew I'd have to overcome is that because I've had to split the welds on the drivers side lifting section the additional heating when it was rewelded has caused a slight 'banana' in the long inverted L section that forms the sides. You can see it at the left and right ends of the join. It looks worse than it is - it's about 2mm of a gap. I was a bit concerned about this so figured I could ameliorate this when I fit the seals. I say 'fit the seals' as if I knew what I was going to use, but I didn't and am deciding now! What I reckon might work is a length of P (or Tadpole) section rubber fitted into the join. You can see it in the cross-section model I've been using, below: It can be glued onto the back of the alloy sides of the lifting lid, and the thickness of the 'bulb' that protrudes outwards is just shy of 3mm so wont extend much beyond the face of the alloy so should not interfere with the clips that pull/hold the lid down. The bulb seal is about 6mm overall diameter and will deform to about 3mm under pressure which should be more than enough to accommodate the slight joint gap difference at each end of the side. Now of course fitting this P section on the two sides and rear will raise the roof by a few mm which I'll have to take into account in the front at the hinge area. But that's an advantage because it now gives me a few mm gap I need to fill and can use a rubber strip which will make a very good seal when squished and bolted down under both the lower hinge leaf, and above the upper hinge leaf. I'm considering using either an L section with the flap of the L hanging out and down to cover the hinge ball to stop water and dust from getting blown in. I can of course also use a simple flap of rubber that goes under both hinge leaf and forms a U around the hinge ball. Will need to do some testing on the actual roof and see how much the P section deforms and what the actual height it raises the roof is (as defined by width of the gap at the hinge). My other, completely different option, is a composite of two neoprene rubbers - one is a 1mm thick section of solid neoprene and the other an expanded neoprene about 4-5mm thick. These will be bonded together by the manufacturer, and have an adhesive backing with peel-off tape. The idea is that this will be 30mm wide and stuck down to the lower (horizontal) section of the fixed portion of the new roof (so nothing required on the edge of the lifting section). The solid neoprene gives robustness, and will withstand the wear and pressure of the roof coming down onto it, whilst the expanded stuff deforms underneath and allows it to accommodate the slight 'banana' shape in the section. It's substantially cheaper than the P section too, as well as easier to fit. This will also act as an insulator and prevent condensation, which as I've watched over the last few days will freeze solid. Thinking! Thinking! Meanwhile I've been offered the use of a some covered space in a barn and an adjoining workshop used by a campervan repairer/servicer whose wee boy goes to school with my wee lad. That'll give me a bit of breathing space to lift off the new roof, hopefully able to suspend it above from the joists, clean the roof off, dry it, drop and seal the lower section, drill and fasten it, then get the hinge and gas struts attached. The major problem with the hinge fixing is that in order to access it one needs to flip the entire lifting roof up and over beyond vertical to get into the hinge with a screwdriver. Solution - and I suggest this for anyone having a go in my wake - get the hinge made as a loose-pin type. Then you can simply remove the pin, separate the hinge leafs, attach upper to top, lower to bottom, then drop back together and shove the pin through to fasten. That would save so much grief. As it is I reckon I'll need a least three people to hold it in order to fasten the hinge!

Today I was able to paint the lifting section. My neighbour has allowed me to use his wider garage to do it in which was a relief as the weather's been a bit damp. We had to get it from my house to his so I made a small trolley with castors on it and we lifted it on and rolled it down the street last night in the dark - made a hell of a noise and got the street wondering what was afoot. The last bit is his gravel drive over which the trolley would not roll so we had to lift, and realised that it was not actually so heavy as we thought and was an easy carry. Anyway - peeling off the plastic protective sheet from the alloy. Roughing the surface up with wire wool. First coat of Acid Etch primer - 1.5 large cans. Then top coat - 10 cans of white. Me - mask, goggles, gloves, hood, and although I could not smell the heavy vapours in the mask (proper 3M jobbie) I could still feel the effect. So every new tin was taken outside to shake for two minutes, and it was mask off, deep breaths and then back in properly oxygenated. Its really nasty nasty stuff that tinned paint and I dont enjoy doing it at all. Its now drying and I may be able to lift it onto my LR roof in the next couple of days, depending on the number of neighbours I can draft in to help lift it.

I went to Aldi today and got my taps this morning - they look ok, and at that price worth a punt. I also bought bananas. I'll report back on their effect later.

Still waiting to try to get the lifting top painted. Been a bit rainy so not much joy. But I ordered the gas struts yesterday and they arrived today. Fantastic service from the suppliers Struts Direct (I have no connection with them otherwise). They have an online calculator and lots of helpful descriptions of how the struts work and how to establish what you need. I used their free design service - enter the length, width, depth of the base and lid, and the location of hinge, and weight to be lifted, and they work out the correct dimensions and fitting location and send you the following very helpful diagram. My requirement is for a flat-surface-fixing for the top (tube end) and a vertical-side-fixing for the lower (rod) end. Each strut end can accept a variety of fittings and there is a good range so you can pick the appropriate fixing for individual need (or have one made to suit for special requirements). I've got the steel eye at top, with a bolt-through fitting to the flat plate (which is then screwed up into the wood on my roof). The bottom is a ball joint and my choice of side-fixing, which is so that I don't have to make any holes in the horizontal surface of the alloy lip which might be a leak point. This is the top fitting (tube end) with the fixing plate attached. And this is the rod end (bottom) which will be bolted onto the side of the upstand. Here's the diagram showing how they will fit. Strut diameter (tube) is 18mm (and I have 25mm space). This is the SD02 type, 345mm long tube (giving a 'stroke' of 300mm) so the overall length open is 645mm. The struts will support up to 35kg each so plenty strong enough for my roof. The strut will only actuate beyond 12 degrees so it'll need a good push for that initial movement. The red bit is the lower fixing plate (as shown in pic above) located on the side of the upstand (or 'verge' or whatever else you want to call it!), which will hopefully be a location that will prevent water entry. The canvas side fabric will of course be located behind this fixing plate - in other words the fabric sides will be fitted first and then the strut fixing plate bolted through the fabric and the alloy. I may need a small spacer between the fabric and plate to prevent chafing, but will have to see it operate to establish exactly how it will be finished.

Thanks chaps. Filling and rubbing down the lifting bit at the moment - inside the garage, with it on its edge. But I've bought four industrial castors and bolted them to a plank so I can stick the lid onto it and wheel it outside. It is liftable between two of us, but I don't want to drop it, which is highly likely, or even more likely is to do our backs in. If I get a dry, windless day in the next couple of days its getting sprayed in the drive so I don't gas everyone in the house (integral garage) and so that I can actually see what I'm doing!

Managed to get the lower section primed and painted in my neighbour's garage over the last week. One can of 500ml Etch Primer (Acid8) and 6 cans 300ml white auto paint did the job. Fumes were diabolical. I bought a proper 3M mask and goggles and could not smell anything whilst doing it, but when I took the mask off outside the smell was grim. I 'scrubbed' all the surfaces first with the angle grinder using an alloy cleaning disc/pad, then towelled it down and ensured it was clean and dust free. The acid etch primer dries really quickly, in less than half an hour, but I left it for a few days until we had the forecasted mild day, then did the white topcoat. No idea whether it's right or not but I was advised to do it in a single session, light coats, 15 to 20 minutes between each and continue until complete. Didn't take too long. Left it three days to cure and today carted it out and took it back into my own garden. There are a couple of slight runs but nothing too terrible - not any worse than the cra*p 'professional' paint job that I had done several years ago that's on the rest of the van. What did I learn doing this? You need a lot of light to see what you're actually doing, and the light needs to be properly angled and able to reveal the texture of the paint (*I did not have one and resorted to a super bright mountaineering LED headtorch). I also chose not to overprime the slightly grey etch primer with a white primer so that I could see where I was painting with the white topcoat - not sure I'd do that again when doing the lifting bit. I think I'll white prime it over the grey etch and make sure I have a load of light to see what I'm doing and where I need to spray. PS - it is actually white, I've slightly underexposed the images so the paint texture can be seen - if I make the exposure so the paint is 'white' you can't see the detail. And the surface is also speckled with a light shower of rain so those are not bubbles you're seeing! (at least not yet!) The pairs of small holes visible in various shots in the perimeter raised frame are for the 'ironmongery' - the clips that hold the lifting top down tight to the lower frame, you can see them in the previous posts. I removed them so they didn't get stuffed full of paint. This is the front end (slope above windscreen). This is the rear end, with cut-out for the back door. Small hole in the lower corner is for the bolt that fixes it to the original roof - will bore it out to a slightly larger diameter for the final fixings which are all stainless steel.

Had a dry morning (sleet and hailstones forecast for the pm though) so I thought I'd rebate the pine that runs along the side with a groove to accept the ply. Doing the short (end) piece first. Worked ok so onto the longer pieces for the sides, you can see the idea below. These allow the fabric to be securely fixed on either side, whilst also spreading the load of the gas struts. Nice neat groove for the ply. A quick slit in the insulation and the wires for the roof lights were in and taped over too. Last thing was to paint the whole lot with varnish to seal it all. Next day it was dry and I got it all assembled. The strip of pine nearest this end is there for three reasons: there's a joint in the ply sheet (the roof is 9' long, and sheets are only 8'), and as this is where we'll climb up to get onto the sleeping platform it will provide a firm fixing point for a couple of handles or a bar that can be used to pull up on, and which will also be useful for physically pushing the lifting roof up, and pulling it down again. Because of the length/angle of the gas struts and the fact they have to lie horizontal when closed they will only operate when they reach 12 degrees so that first push up is important and a good firm fixing point is essential. The metal strengthening plates will be countersunk and can be filled or veneered over. And then yesterday because there was snow forecast I decided to take the lower frame back off the roof and put it in a neighbour's garage where I hope to rub down and etch prime it asap. Also as you can see the roof was filling up with leaves, crisp packets and sundry junk so needed a good clean out!

I've been cutting box and tube on a small circular saw with a metal blade with a very good degree of accuracy. If you get it well clamped and levelled its possible to do pretty good job.

I'd an X-brake too and had the juddering and overheating problem which melted bits of the pads and despite numerous attempts to fix it, including trying a second x-brake, I had to revert to the drum. However I'm going to defend the x-brake which I think is a really good piece of kit which I would have liked to keep. The 'problem' as far as I could establish was not the fault of the x-brake but excessive play in the output shaft of my 110. Seems it only needs to be able to float out a couple of mm and its beyond the tolerance of the x-brake's disc/pad set up. That was the case on mine, and the excessive play caused friction, the pads & disc then heated up, expanded and 'grabbed' and started to judder. I reckon something in the transfer box set up on some vehicles just doesn't work with the x-brake. My transfer and gearbox were both 'new' Ashcrofts boxes fitted just a matter of months before I tried the x-brake so worn out and rattly definitely didn't apply to them. And to add, Si at x-eng was way more than helpful, happy to work with me to try to resolve the problem, and was very dismayed that we could not make it work. Stuff can go wrong - its how the vendor deals with such issues that's important. So, if you fancy one, buy with confidence. Edit: just clean up your drum, grease the bits that need it, wrestle the expandy bits back in and bobs your uncle.

Well - new rivets are on their way. The closed end ones. It's been pointed out to me that the ones I used - the open ended ones, leak - I checked today as I drilled and countersunk the stainless steel clips (It was tipping it down - proper winter rain so a good chance to check for leaks) and it leaks! Not too much of a hardship to swap the rivets - it'll be an hour well spent. The stainless clips have three holes but only one is in the correct location so I needed to drill another one beside it. Luckily the steel is not too hard so it was fairly easy. Countersinker made a nice enough job. Not perfect but enough to recess the screw head so it wont take slices off my fingers when I close the clip. Note for anyone following me and having a go at this: fix the clips first and use them to hold the lifting lid in the correct location for welding up, THEN fit the 19mm box section and pop-rivet it in place. That way you are guaranteed that the top and bottom match. I'm nearly there with mine but it would have been a lot easier to do had I thought to do that first time round.

Aye EJ I think you're right. There's a few differing dimensions involved in this, only a few mm difference between each but those will 'accumulate' and make their presence felt at some point if I dont consider them. The box section subframe is 19mm sq. the thickness of the surrounding (perimeter) frame is 3mm thick so I've got the 3mm gap due to the box being located underneath the perimeter for welding. Then the kingspan structural insulation sheet is fitted into the spaces between the box and its 25mm thick so I'm needing to 'find' 6mm - the difference between the box section (19mm) and the kingspan (25mm). So 3mm packer on the top of the box and a few 3mm strips on the bottom to screw through should mean its flat on the top and not 'pulling' the interior ply sheet up when its screwed on (which can cause the screws to 'pop' through the ply). I'm using stainless cs self-tappers with a cup to hold the ply on inside. It's always useful to be able to get it off easily if something goes pear-shaped (but there will be a fabric lining of some sort on the ply - maybe thin automotive carpet).

Things are improving slowly with Melanie, still no idea what caused it but she makes good progress daily. Going to be a long road to recovery though as there is some brain damage. But I decided to press on and today was able to get the top roof sheet fixed on. I had been offered a neighbour's garage but the weather was fair so I decided to go for it on the drive again, which saved me a load of hassle shifting it all across the road, and carting all the tools over too. Started by drying it all off - lots of condensation everywhere, but a good soft towel and blast from the mapp gas soon had it dry. I then started to cut some packing pieces to fill the difference between the top of the box sections alloy and the outer rim, 3mm caused by running the box under the rim alloy. I then decided this was a waste of time and would add a considerable hassle factor I could not be bothered with so instead decided to just glue and rivet all around the edge. So I laid the sheet onto the frame, got it as a accurately aligned as a I could and drilled a couple of holes in two corners and stuck a rivet in to hold it secure and then marked it up and worked out distances between rivets to keep it neat. Then drilled all the holes. The top sheet has a plastic protective sheet on it so I cut a narrow piece of the edge of the sheet only, to retain the covering over the majority of it so when I get round to etch-priming it I can pull it off and have minimal cleaning to do. Once the holes were all drilled I brushed off all the loose shavings and put masking tape all along the edge of the top sheet, stuck to the perimeter frame. The tape will give me an accurate line within which to stick the sealant, and when the sheet goes down on the sticky stuff any residue pressed out will be caught on the tape and then easily removed so I don't mess up the alloy and have to spend ages cleaning it. Drilled all the holes and then pulled the sheet off to clean all the burrs off the back and give both it and the frame it one final clean, dry and heat with the mapp gas torch. Then it was on with the sealant (a PU flexy adhesive sealant) and a final blow with the mapp before the top sheet was lifted into place and dropped down using the masking tape as a guide, then pulling it into position with a rivet in a hole in one corner and then getting one in the other three. I had a neighbour help with this bit as I didn't want to make a pigs ear of it and have mastic all over the place, or drop it and bash the corner. My neighbour shoved rivets in all the holes and I went round behind him with the riveter and whacked them in. Three hours and it was done and lifted back onto the roof. I'm not entirely sure if I need to put 3mm packing pieces between the box sections and the underside of the sheet as I can stick the rigid structural insulation to the back of the sheet and that will keep it from lifting and rattling and will save me putting more rivets across the width. I may even just glue a 3mm packer in from below if I need it. I dont want to have a 'dish' on the roof that will gather water and be all slimy and horrible. Tomorrow when the sealant has cured I'll pull the masking tape off and will hopefully be left with a clean edge.

Thanks lads, appreciate your thoughts. She's awake and smiling, trying to speak, moving all the bits that need to move. Slow though. Last night forecast was snow. I've got a potential swimming pool sitting on the 110 roof - the whole lower frame, plus the lifting lid on top, BUT....no top alloy sheet to seal it. Aargh! SO last night between hospital visits as the first snow shower came over the mountains I made a mad dash outside and wheeched the sheet onto the roof, stuck a few battens across and a set of tiedowns. Just in case. Its white this morning! I had visions of it filling with snow and freezing inside and getting heavier and heavier so I'd be lurching about like some road-going Titanic but carrying my own iceberg. But, crisis averted for the time being! Phew.

Bit of a hiatus recently, sorry folks. When you start doing something like this you accept that there will be interruptions. All sorts of stuff will intrude and keep the balloon on the ground. I accepted that reality, happy to work around those little problems. However did not expect what happened this week. It's a long story, but it has resulted in my partner ending up on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit of our local hospital with a degree of brain damage. To save me load of writing you can read some of whats gone on here. And there are other update posts since then if you want some more info., all on the same blog. But I need to keep my head in the real world, think ahead and plan for the time that all will be well and we can go off and use the new lifting roof.........so the work continues, and I arranged to go to the welders on Saturday for an hour to get the re-aligned roof section rewelded where I'd cut the joints. It worked just fine. Bit of a bow in the alloy (upwards at each end) where the heat has slightly dipped it but nothing that wont pull out when clipped down. And I still have an inverted L section to bolt longitudinally on each side to act as the support for the roof bars. This will be substantial alloy section and should help to 'flatten' the roof and also provide considerable rigidity. The lifting roof section is so light I can lift it on and off on my own, move it about and generally manipulate it with ease (despite a bad back!). Cut joint ready for reweld. This is the front end of the lifting portion. Stevie the welder does the job on Saturday. Realigned box bracing attached with pop rivet so the roof stays correctly aligned until welded. Drilled them out later. You can see where the old weld was and get an idea of how far out of alignment I managed to get it. Lesson learned! What I should have done was to pop rivet the box sections at each end in the first instance and add the bracing bars across each corner so that it was exactly the shape of the lower section, then when lifted off for welding it would not have 'shifted'. Cut joint ready for reweld on the rear section of the lifting bit. Today I got the grinder out and smoothed off all the top welds ready to put the alloy roof skin on, before going back to the hospital in the evening - where there is some real progress, my partner has emerged from induced coma and after they switched off the sedative delivery and raised the temp on the 'chiller' (they dramatically lower body temperature to counteract brain swelling) and she is giving big smiles, eyes working, limb movement, comprehension and attempts at speech (but because of the tracheostomy for the ventilator she cant talk). But it is all happening in slow motion for her. But we did not expect this a few days ago. We have been told by doctors to expect ups and downs, they are concerned about fits. But at the moment although starting to 'emerge' she is very very tired - experiencing lots of sadness and elation and confusion as she struggles to understand what happened. One moment she was walking along, and she woke up in ICU three days later connected to a vast array of machinery. Strange days. When you've parked up your adventure wagon tonight, here's what I suggest. Hug your partner, and tell them you love them. Then go out and plan your next excursion together. And do it. Just go and do it.