Great input thanks guys!
I know a lot of people have already tossed their two cents in at this point, but mark me down for voting to have a top on for trips. I have taken my willys jeep on weekend trips without a soft top and it
can be fun, although I usually feel sun/windburned by the time I get home. We recently took the jeep to the San Juan Islands for a week and had a full canvas top on sans doors. My dad and I made it and you can roll up the sides and back window. This is great middle ground as you can roll up the windows when it gets hot but still enjoy a little shelter from the sun and rain. Without a top you can't "hide out" in the car when you need a break or a nap. This was the most important to me. At the end of the trip it was so nice to snuggle up in the jeep and nap through the ferry rides protected a little bit from the wind.
-Jesse
Beautiful Jeep, and a great concept to roll up all the windows! Jeff (jscherb) built a custom hard top for his LJ, and is doing the same thing for his wife's JK. Such a great way to go! :beer:
I agree scott. I love the look of the gobi on other peoples jeeps. I am putting the teraflex gobi on mine. I know its not useable with a soft top and what we are talking about etc...but its so low profile, no milage or noise hit....best setup imo.
I can't think of a better setup for the way you guys use your Jeep. :beer:
I am a fan of soft tops. I currently have a rampage frameless on my LJ. It is noisy at highway speeds, but other than that I have no complaints really. The top portion always stays on, the allure of going completely topless faded for me after too much sunburn and too many times caught in the rain, LOL. With the framelss top, as long as the weather is relatively warm I can go from full top to safari is 5 minutes or so. Windows lay flat up top. I can pull the half door tops off and stick them in the back and roll. On my former TJ, I loved the stock top. Super easy to put up and down. With the LJ, I found it to be a 2 person job or a PIA when doing it alone.
On point of the original question regarding organizing and storage, etc... I keep thingss as simple as possible inside the jeep and use cable locks when possible on items of value. Also I have several molle panel/bag set ups to take advantage of space not used. It is a constant ongoing project that never seems to be finished evolving.
The whole "simple" concept really appeals to me, along with the Molle bags to keep things organized. Great idea! :beer:
I have TJ with half doors and soft top. I this storage box/rack for the back for holding the gear in place and not just a jumbled pile in the back. Bolted it in to the factory seat bracket locations it's pretty secure. Works with top up or down. With the top up, I can use the area between the box and the side windows for storing soft things. With top down, those soft things need to be secured in one of the top boxes which are held down by straps. The original plan for the lower area was for recovery gear and tools. Not having to open the window to get that stuff seemed important. As I use the set up, I'm finding the spacing of that lower area a bit of a problem. Here's why:
When driving in dusty or wet conditions I'll have the top up and windows on. Once the top and windows are filthy, they stay on. To access my lunch, a cold drink or a snack, I need to unzip the back window and when it's filthy, that's a pain. And when it's raining, well, it's a bigger pain. I think it would be better if I could just open the tailgate to reach what I need most often. I'm thinking of raising the lower shelf up to the top of the tailgate. The recovery gear could still be down low, but I should also be able to get a cooler there too.
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Some excellent points! thank you very much for sharing this.
I like your storage box. that looks super functional.
I have the recovery gear on the floor behind the driver's seat. That's a really bad idea on my part. On WF forums JC Driller (Bruzer build thread) used a mortar can mounted to his tire carrier for holding all the gear. I think that is the way I'll end up going, once the water tank is mounted under the Jeep.
Jeff (jscherb) made an awesome soft top / barn door setup for his LJ. He did a thread on the Barn Door for the JK, and has pictures of this, and the incredible top he did for both LJ and JK here. He made a metal frame that zips into where the rear window is, then made the barn door that attaches the tailgate. So all he does is open and close the tail gate for full access.
I would like to do something like this for the JK, but use a fiberglass jamb, instead of metal, then make one of his Barn Doors.
I love to have the top down on the trail. With the mesh tops and the cargo net to help protect Super Mutt (v2.0), it feels really open. But I do not like driving faster than about 50mph without being buttoned up. So leaving windows at home is a non-starter. The zip in back window (in my personal opinion) totally sucks. ROFLOL! I have a heck of a time getting the zipper to start.
Ultimately, my goal is to duplicate what Jeff has done with the barn door, and a zip in jamb. Then get an upholstery shop to make up a bag that lashes to the sport bar and would hold the barn door, door jamb, top windows, and maybe the side windows for half doors.
A picture from the trail yesterday.
