High top on '15 Savana

[Whitey]

After more than a year of going back and forth about buying a van, I picked up a 2015 Savana cargo with 36,000 km (22k miles) on it.  I quickly cobbled together a primitive bed for a quick over nighter at a beautiful lake a few hours away. Here are a couple of pics from that trip a week ago (also posted on the "what's outside your back door" thread.  The trip covered about 500 miles and I averaged just over 19mpg.

 

[Whitey]

I had ordered a high top from Tufport Industries, largely based on the positive reviews by Ming regarding the camper shell she ordered from there.  My high top was installed yesterday and the experience was very positive.  Tyler the sales rep was very well informed about his products and patient with my many questions.  Greg, who did the actual installation, did an amazing job under tough conditions, and still went the extra mile with making sure that everything went on right. He worked his butt off through lunch time without a helper, and even swept out my van and loaded the wood from the makeshift bed back into the van(in the pouring rain) after the top was installed.   A big thank you to the crew at Tufport for doing such a fine job.  Here are a couple of pics of the van with the new top:



Next up is insulation.  I just watched Bob's video on YouTube and it answered a lot of my questions about how to deal with all of those curves and ribs in the Chevy vans.  I too am fortunate enough to have a friend who is a good carpenter and far more meticulous about those kind of details than I am.  If anyone is interested I'll post some interior shots tomorrow.  There is 6'3 of headroom at the rear and slightly less at the front, certainly no problem for a guy who has to sit on a stack of phone books just to see out the windshield.

 

[KatBalouE350]

Congrats...it's a beauty

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Very nice high top!! Love interior pics too!

 

[Putts]

Nice rig. Will you be installing solar?

Looking forward to following along.

 

[Whitey]

Nice rig. Will you be installing solar?

Looking forward to following along.

Hi Putts, solar will be added but I'm not sure when. House batteries and a continuous duty solenoid first though. This thread might take a while because the nice weather is finally showing up here in the Pacific Northwest and camping will take a "front seat".

 

[Putts]

Got nothing but time, mate.

 

[highdesertranger]

nice. highdesertranger

 

[masterplumber]

very nice, I'm always amazed by the decent milage those vans get.

 

[ArtW]

sweet!

 

[Queen]

Gorgeous van, love that high top!