Been a long time since I've had the energy to update this, but quite a bit has been accomplished!
Popped out the two piece overcab ply that was thoroughly rotted at the edges
That was replaced with some fresh wood and marine grade 4200 caulk. From there I figured it was time to see if it fits in the truck and to devise some mounting options. I originally had ordered the new mounts from FWC, but after 2 weeks with a few callbacks assuring that they would eventually ship them, I just went the DIY approach with some U ties and 3" plate steel drilled to shape. Went on a spin around the block, worked great.
After one spin around the block over some huge speed bumps, roof immediately came off and the canvas taken down to use as a rough template.
Didn't take a ton of photos of the process of making the canvas, but in a nutshell I attempted to copy their two piece design with a seam in the front and back. It ultimately was just too much for my "heavy duty" singer sewing machine to move the material forward and back, so settled on a 4 piece design. Sewed both window panels together for rigidity and uniformity, then joined the front, and left on back seam with plenty of extra fabric (or so I thought!). Opted to make the screens velcro rather than sew them in, I always feel like screens are the first thing to get damaged and I'd rather make a new one than patch.
Two full sheets of ply created a work station... my recommendation is to not use exterior splinterfest ply unless you already have it in your shed as I do.
Turns out the cats love vinyl coated polyester
Roof wiring run, decided to insulate with press fit XPS panels and run appropriate wire for 200w solar, fan, and lights.
Wanted to tuck it all underneath the roof sheet to put up canvas and such, but trying to remove the staples was quickly damaging the roof so I settled on oldschool exterior style. Here's the liner velcro strips tacked with adhesive...
Then the "canvas"...
It's a three person minimum to put these up effectively. In the future I probably would have saved a week of my time and paid ATC 1300 for a fresh "canvas". Couldn't appropriately swing a trip to Sacramento during COVID and my work and feel good about it though.
Bottom trim attached. Decided on overwindows because eventually I'll move back east. That said it has only rained once since starting this project, so much for monsoon season in the four corners.
Rear lift panels were changed to conduit to minimize condensation for winter ski camping. 2" aluminum bar welded to provide some support where late cracks were identified prior to attaching the bottom of the "canvas". Experimenting with two different types of lift mount as you can see.
Excited to get to the fun parts, structure and tent has been pretty brutal. Have quite a few things to figure out going forward, but the hard stuff is mostly done at this point!
Have to figure out the escape window still... Someone is selling a completely deconstructed granby in colorado springs, but I really don't want to bring home all of that stuff just to put it in a dumpster when what I really need is a window replacement. Thanks for reading, this forum has been pretty critical to minimizing trial and error!
Back L weld taken in 3"
Front L weld taken in 3"
