Ragtop For Headroom & Stealth ?

[noyopacific]

I’m new to the subject of van-dwelling. Recently retired and planning on getting a van for extended road trips with my wife. (The suggestion of getting a van for traveling originated with her.) It is highly unlikely that a van would ever become our permanent home. 
We want to be able to stop for the night occasionally without having to set up a camp, check into a campground or a hotel. One issue I’ve given consideration to is achieving standing headroom for dressing without giving up stealth. A pop top roof would seem to be a way of providing headroom but it sacrifices some stealth. The cost and/or effort on installing a pop top is also beyond what I’d be willing to spend.
One solution I am considering is a sliding ragtop. I tried to post photo from a vendor but in case it doesn't work:  http://facebookgalleria.com/photo.php?id=779376708819824#.VkkEhrQ-DtQ 
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This appears to be a possible way to have a place to stand up inside of the van to get dressed without sacrificing much in the way of stealth when it is closed. Obviously this would create other challenges. When it was open, we might desire protection from weather & bugs. I think I can solve both of these without too much difficulty. I can think of numerous other challenges: insulation from cold, the area must be kept clear of roof loads such as cargo bars and solar panels; most of these things can be handled.
This brings me to the question of why haven’t I found descriptions of other stealth vans with sliding ragtops? I have arrived at a point in my life where I have learned to be cautious when blazing new trails. I don’t consider myself to be the genius I once thought I was. My assumption is that someone else has tread this path. I am wondering what experiences they might have encountered on this trail.
Any comments would be welcome. Comments from someone with experience, even second hand, would be encouraged with great enthusiasm !

Thanks

 

[BradKW]

Hi Noyo,

From reading your post, it sounds to me that you have not yet purchased a vehicle? It seems to me that the simplest answer to meet your criteria would be to purchase a conversion van that already has some headroom.

No doubt you've thought of that. But perhaps the best advice I can give would be to keep reading, keep googling, and keep an open mind. I have been amazed how many times now I've been sure I wanted to do X, changed my mind to Y, and a week later decided that Z was probably the best option. Everything about this is a trade-off, and each decision usually creates a bit of a snowball effect on previous choices.

Other than that, welcome 

 

[SoulRaven]

Just get a nice Class B and don't worry about stealth. Near as I can tell the only ones who need to worry about stealth are the people driving cargo vans. In my experience obvious campers do not get the negative response that cargo van dwellers do.

 

[noyopacific]

BradKW & OffGrid, You are correct that I have not yet purchased a van. I very much share your opinion that it would be simpler to buy a van that already had some headroom as well as other features that I might otherwise want to have. 
My wife's sister has a pop top van that her husband built from a standard cargo van. I was shocked at how much it cost to get the pop top installed but he wanted it to be low enough to park in the garage. Other things my wife likes about their van is that it has a big bed and she doesn't want to drive anything bigger than a stock van. There are additional factors. I would like an extended body, I don't want to work around the big windows in most conversion vans. My brother owns a dismantling yard and claims the major (used) parts for Ford vans are expensive. He says this is an indication of reliability and he wouldn't personally want a Ford van. If I could find something for sale that came close to meeting these requirements, I'd get it, I'd certainly consider a class b, but I haven't seen much (SF Bay area Craigslist & cars.com,) especially not at a price we are willing to pay.
I am very familiar with the X,Y & Z snowball scenario. Maybe I'm looking for excuses to scratch my goofy sliding ragtop idea off of the list. :-/

 

[SoulRaven]

I found lots of choices in all price ranges on the SF Craigslist site, try this link:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/...a=97&query=camper van&searchNearby=1&sort=rel

Good Luck!