How To Install A High Top On A Van

Emily hanging out in our fiberglass hightop van in Yosemite National Park

This post details the pros and cons of fiberglass hightop vans. This category includes a broad variety of vans, like handicap accessible vans, ambulances, conversion vans, or whatever other van with an aftermarket fiberglass high-top. In the US, this is most often found on the common "piece of work" vans, like Ford E-series, Chevy Express, GMC Savana, and the Dodge Ram Van. But these automakers only produce these vehicles with low-roofs, so someone has to modify the vehicle after to add an aftermarket fiberglass hightop.

Without a dubiousness, the primary do good of these vans is that they can offer a "standing-elevation" van that'south more affordable than euro-style vans like the Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, and Ram Promaster. This makes using a fiberglass high-top van for a campervan conversion specially attractive to those on a upkeep. It's specifically how Emily and I ended up buying ane for our start van conversion.

But it'southward non perfect in every manner. Here's a breakdown of the things we appreciate about fiberglass high-tiptop vans, and also the negatives.

Pros

Affordable
Standing Height*
Easy to Service
Reliable

Cons

Minimal Headroom*
Short Doors
Extra Curves
Narrower Roof
Roof Mounting Challenges
Rare

Pros Of A Fiberglass Hightop Van

Affordable

Since the Ford, Chevy, GMC, and Dodge work vans are so common in the U.s.a., these vans are quite affordable. Peculiarly when compared to the more expensive 'high-roof' Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, and Ram Promaster. Mercedes is just an expensive brand in general, and the Transit and Promaster simply haven't been around long enough to drop in price.

Then aftermarket hightop vans are usually substantially cheaper than "sprinter-style" vans.

Continuing Height

An aftermarket loftier-meridian van tin can sometimes provide enough room to stand up inside the van. Obviously, not everyone is the aforementioned tiptop, and, not all aftermarket fiberglass hightops are the same. They are fabricated by lots of different companies and come in many different shapes and sizes. And so the interior top of a van with an aftermarket fiberglass loftier-meridian may vary significantly.

For instance, once our van was converted, the interior standing meridian is only 5'9". I am five'8" and so this is really the bare minimum to qualify every bit standing acme. But continuing vs not-standing actually makes all the difference for my comfort in Vanlife.

Easy To Service

American made vans are very mutual in the The states, and they share many similarities with their selection-upward truck counterparts. Then most mechanics are very comfortable working on them, and parts are easy to get.

These van lineups too take been in product largely unchanged for decades, so sourcing parts yourself is sometimes an choice. Emily and I went to a junkyard to find new dominicus visors for our van. Nosotros started checking every Ford van that we saw and eventually found practiced sunday visors on a 2002 Econoline that fit perfectly on our 2022 Ford E-350. Only this strategy can sometimes be used on something a piddling more substantial than sun visors, haha.

Reliable

And similarly, these work vans accept been carrying the load of so many Us businesses for decades. When treated well, they can easily concluding to 300k miles or more.

Cons Of A Fiberglass Hightop Van

Minimal Headroom

Again, not all fiberglass high-tops are the aforementioned. But generally, a "High Roof" version of the Sprinter, Transit, or Promaster will be significantly taller than an aftermarket fiberglass hightop van. If you lot are taller than half dozen feet, then you may have trouble finding a fiberglass hightop van that is tall enough for you. This means that many tall people end upwards buying "sprinter-way" vans in the end.

And speaking from experience, our campervan barely gives me any head clearance. So even just wearing shoes is enough to brand me hit my head sometimes. But Emily is five'3" and information technology'south plenty alpine for her. Then it really depends on your height and the superlative of the loftier-acme.

Short Doors

Most (only not all) aftermarket fiberglass high-tops don't make any alterations to the doors. So while y'all gain extra internal height, you're however stuck with the curt doors. This means that yous may accept to duck when inbound and exiting your campervan.

And from a photography perspective (something that I call up about), information technology means that it's much harder for us to take those classic #vanlife photos. Sitting on our bed and looking out the back looks more like a little slot than a great large window to the globe.

It's honestly a pretty big bummer sometimes, and next fourth dimension I volition exist on the lookout for vans that take modified doors as well.

Extra Curves

This is 1 of the biggest challenges of converting a van with an aftermarket fiberglass hightop. The walls of a van are already curved, just calculation in an aftermarket summit ways twice the curves. Information technology can exist a real headache.

They basically cut out the original metal roof and then attach the hightop over that. Only what's left behind is a very awkward transition section that can take asymmetrical lines, sharp edges, and cutting into your living space.

So instead of accounting for simply i slight curve from floor to ceiling (like with "sprinter-manner" vans), y'all have to account for fifty-fifty more curves. This is what shape our closet had to be (annoying).

We did however find some ways to piece of work with the shape that we had. Don't endeavor to force a certain layout to fit into these vans. You take to piece of work with what the van gives yous. For case, we used the "ledge" created by the old roof as a platform to support our overhead cabinets.

Narrower Roof

When compared to the "boxy" shape of Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, and Ram Promaster, a fiberglass high-top van will probably have a much narrower and rounder roof. The difference may seem subtle, but I promise you, it'southward not. Information technology means that whatsoever overhead cabinets or seating areas are afflicted by the walls "closing in".

When we realized this, we had to decide whether nosotros wanted to make really small overhead cabinets that were at least out of the style. Or we could brand bigger cabinets that obstruct the view of the kitchen counter. We ended up opting for more storage, and dealing with cabinets that stick out pretty far.

This problem is also apparent when sitting on our bed or bench. It requires decent pillows or cushions to extend your body away from the wall curving in.

Roof Mounting Challenges

This aspect is actually quite a pain. When it comes to attaching things on top of your van and to the ceiling on the inside, it can be challenging. It's hard to figure out how to brand things sturdy plenty for life on the route, without just drilling directly through the roof. And again, they tend to be very curvy.

Fiberglass is commonly just about ⅛" thick. And so that doesn't give you lot anything to attach screws to without going through the other side. Some aftermarket fiberglass hightop vans will accept wooden supports that are built into the fiberglass. This is the best-case scenario because then y'all accept something solid to drill into. Our van had four big wooden ribs that ran the length of our topper. We used these to attach horizontal "ribs" that were key to how nosotros fastened our DIY Ceder plank ceiling. And also for anchoring our overhead cabinets.

Then on the outside of the van is another story. How are you gonna mount something apartment to a rounded piece of fiberglass? And how much weight can your specific aftermarket fiberglass hightop support? There'due south not going to be annihilation in your vehicle's manual about it, so unless you can runway down the specific maker of that topper, then you lot are left to guessing.

This basically results in some seriously custom DIY roof mountings. We attached a Yakima cargo box to the roof of our van basically just hoping that information technology could support the weight. I custom aptitude some "T" braces in order to mountain a roof rack. And our solar console mounts were leveled with custom wooden blocks that were tediously cut and sanded to the perfect shape. After about i.five years on the route, nothing has come crashing down yet!

Rare

Choosing a fiberglass hightop van first means that you need to find i. They can be pretty rare and hard to search for because in that location isn't one official proper noun for these types of vans. And then if you are trying to buy a used 1 it takes some crafty use of keywords to find them. Just finding a skilful one can be a existent jackpot.

The best things to search for, are Conversion van, Handicapped, Shuttle, Ambulance, fiberglass hightop. I take had decent luck locating these types of vans by using these keywords.

Or you lot can have a visitor like Fiberine in CA , add an aftermarket fiberglass hightop for you.

Determination | Why Cull A Fiberglass Higtop Van for A Campervan Conversion

While there are definitely some challenges if y'all cull a fiberglass hightop van for your van conversion, the benefits can be massive. They are sometimes the most affordable option that fits people's budget and allows them enough room to stand, which is a existent game-changer for Vanlife.

In our case, we got a "continuing-meridian" van for thousands cheaper than we would accept been able to become whatever "sprinter-style" van with comparable mileage. So, for united states, any minor negatives are outweighed by the price.

But yous volition have to decide for yourself if a fiberglass hightop van is a good choice for your campervan.

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