Ursa Minor Pop-Top Jeep JK

That does suck. IT just doesn't seem to me that that type of thing should cost 6500- 9000 . To me the whole overlanding thing needs to be much less expensive, o_O most of us are just working stiffs with famlies. I don't mean to single out ursa minor. i love the concept . but think about it aev stuff $$$$ to put a roof top tent on you got to have a rack $$ then your tent. then you look at the trailers around 15-20K for an off road trailer. not tomention stuff like earth roamer or any truck camper. For give the rant . I am working at my desk writing reports.
 

jadmt

ignore button user
That does suck. IT just doesn't seem to me that that type of thing should cost 6500- 9000 . To me the whole overlanding thing needs to be much less expensive, o_O most of us are just working stiffs with famlies. I don't mean to single out ursa minor. i love the concept . but think about it aev stuff $$$$ to put a roof top tent on you got to have a rack $$ then your tent. then you look at the trailers around 15-20K for an off road trailer. not tomention stuff like earth roamer or any truck camper. For give the rant . I am working at my desk writing reports.

or you can do like we did for years and just slept in a tent.
 
Thats what i do but lets just at 65 years old with a few broken bones in years past som parts just dont wake up as fast as others plus there's the issue of creepy crawly critters and bugs just sayin it woukd be nicer if it werent so expensive
 

Marine

Adventurer
It really pains me to leave a negative review, especially for a company like Ursa Minor Vehicles as I understand the difficulties of company operations. I paid approximately $8000 to Ursa Minor to order a J30 for my Jeep. After about 10-12 months I received the shipment of my unit.

The absolute first time I popped the top of the J30 in my garage after the fresh install, the canvas fabric on the tent separated from the zipper on the bottom. I contacted Ursa Minor with a picture of the hole in the tent and received an apology and was told that they "do their best to catch those issues before they leave the shop." Having confidence in Ursa Minor I expected that they would work with me to fix the canvas as now it was completely useless as water would pour into the sleeping area.

I was told by Ursa Minor on the phone to bring my Jeep to an auto upholstery shop and have them fix the issue. Although disappointed with this answer, I did bring my Jeep to an auto upholstery shop and was informed that they could stitch the hole up but stated it would never be waterproof and would likely continue to tear. The upholster walked with me around the Jeep and pointed out the shotty sew job throughout the tent, he was able to point out all the places the bobbin ran out, the stitching went off the binding etc. I paid for the shop to hand stitch the hole.

A few weeks later another hole appeared in a different area along the same line of stitching near the bottom zipper. Keep in mind that I had never even had a chance to camp in the unit at this time. (try explaining this to the significant other after you convinced her how great this investment was going to be.)

I sent numerous emails to John at Ursa Minor and after about 1 year, yes you read that correctly, he responded to my email and admitted they were having manufacturing issues with their tent maker. He gave me two options, 1) He would ship me out a new tent "not problem" right away 2) I could wait longer as he was working with another tent company and when that was finalized he would send me out a new and improved version of the tent. I informed John I would choose option 1 as I needed to get the issues fixed immediately. I sent John my shipping address and advised I would even send the original tent back to Ursa Minor.

Today is January 19, 2019, that last email took place in May 2018 where John stated he would send out a replacement tent. I still have not received a replacement tent, nor have I received any response from John or Ursa Minor even after numerous attempts at contact.

I have waited so long fighting the urge to leave a negative review as I attempt to give the benefit of the doubt as long as I can, but I do feel I was ripped off!
If anyone is interested in a copy of the complete email chain you are more than welcome to message me.

Order Number:
WEB-198 3/1/2017

Sorry to hear about what your going through. Thanks for posting it though. After reading that Ursa Minor isn't a option for me any longer.
 

jadmt

ignore button user
Thats what i do but lets just at 65 years old with a few broken bones in years past som parts just dont wake up as fast as others plus there's the issue of creepy crawly critters and bugs just sayin it woukd be nicer if it werent so expensive
I am 60 and lucky still limber enough to tent it. I have a Freespirit Journey offroad trailer/tent that I bought new for a great price as it was left over (actually bought 2) for $3500. It is possible to do it much cheaper than what some of these things are going for just have to keep an eye out for deals.
 

JDaPP

Adventurer
I hate the price as well but it is a niche market and from what I can see the mom and pop shops owners like ursa minor seem to do okay but aren't getting filthy rich either.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. John can be slow but I am surprised he screwed this one away so bad. Hopefully he sees this thread and makes it right immediately.
 

Bam2413

Observer
I hate the price as well but it is a niche market and from what I can see the mom and pop shops owners like ursa minor seem to do okay but aren't getting filthy rich either.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. John can be slow but I am surprised he screwed this one away so bad. Hopefully he sees this thread and makes it right immediately.

Thanks for the post, I will certainly update here if there is anything further.
 

Ursa Minor

Active member
Hi Brandon - OK, well I deserve that negative review - that's totally on me and I am on it. I will get a fix out to you. I will send you tracking by email rather than here on the forum.

For anyone reading along, we (I) drop the ball occasionally and deserve to get called out when it happens. Thankfully I think in these 130 pages we've only screwed up an handful of times. For current owners or the curious, here's a photo of the issue that Brandon mentioned. We've caught a couple instances of this during assembly (in the 10 years we've been building campers) and have resewn a couple in the shop, but as Brandon is in Minnesota dropping by isn't convenient.

Brandon noted his unit took 10 - 12 months to ship, this was due to the custom wide-open layout of that camper which take a lot of one-off fabrication (unrelated to the issue referenced above.) One thing we decided is that is due to the mix of current models, we're simplifying the process and are declining custom work requests in 2019.

Ok, logging off...
- Cheers, John
 

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Bam2413

Observer
Hi Brandon - OK, well I deserve that negative review - that's totally on me and I am on it. I will get a fix out to you. I will send you tracking by email rather than here on the forum.

For anyone reading along, we (I) drop the ball occasionally and deserve to get called out when it happens. Thankfully I think in these 130 pages we've only screwed up an handful of times. For current owners or the curious, here's a photo of the issue that Brandon mentioned. We've caught a couple instances of this during assembly (in the 10 years we've been building campers) and have resewn a couple in the shop, but as Brandon is in Minnesota dropping by isn't convenient.

Brandon noted his unit took 10 - 12 months to ship, this was due to the custom wide-open layout of that camper which take a lot of one-off fabrication (unrelated to the issue referenced above.) One thing we decided is that is due to the mix of current models, we're simplifying the process and are declining custom work requests in 2019.

Ok, logging off...
- Cheers, John

I appreciate you coming on here and indicating you will make it right. I will be sure to update all when it happens.

Respectfully
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
I don't have an Ursa Minor but I do use my Jeep for camping with a roof top tent. One feature of my hardtop is a rear barn door, it really simplifies access to the cargo area (a.k.a. kitchen) by turning the two-step tailgate/liftgate process into one step, and it doesn't require that I duck under the open hatch to get to the kitchen (I'm 6'6"). This photo was taken in November at the SEMA Show; MORryde borrowed my Jeep for the show to display the Trail Kitchen:

PreShow3_zpsbmlwcsij.jpg


I've always thought a barn door would be a great addition to a Jeep with an Ursa Minor so I just made a barn door for Donny's (rubicon91) Jeep. He installed an Ursa Minor earlier this year:

2ee88d9c74c5acb1f9499067b9c7b9c0.jpg


Here's the finished barn door mounted to a test tailgate in my workshop.

DonnyBarnDoorDone1_zps8riyxodo.jpg


DonnyBarnDoorDone2_zpsirqiglhb.jpg


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I'm making a trip to Florida next week so Donny and I will install the barn door on his Jeep then. Photos of the installed barn door when it happens.
 

Presto88

Adventurer
I love the barn door concept! Not only do I have an UrsaMinor J30 on my JKU, but I mounted a Terraflex Alta Rack on the back. God help me if I ever let the door shut while the window is up! It will take out the window strut for sure and most likely destroy the window too. I'm always worrying about it when I have the tailgate open.
 

jscherb

Expedition Leader
I love the barn door concept! Not only do I have an UrsaMinor J30 on my JKU, but I mounted a Terraflex Alta Rack on the back. God help me if I ever let the door shut while the window is up! It will take out the window strut for sure and most likely destroy the window too. I'm always worrying about it when I have the tailgate open.
It may sound like I'm dumb, but I admit I never thought of that - I had a barn door long before I had a rack on the tailgate so I never had that problem. If you look closely at the SEMA photo I posted yesterday you'll see my Jeep has a tailgate rack - it's a MORryde Overland Rack. With racks like the Alta and the Overland Rack plus the barn door the cargo area can be accessed with one operation - the tailgate/barn door and tailgate-mounted rack all open together. And no worrying about the liftgate glass being up when the gate is closed.
 

86scotty

Cynic
Any idea on a price point for the barn door? I have not read your thread yet, sorry. Still trying to get through this Ursa thread.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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