Thank you.

I plan to sew soft sides for the JK Safari Cab, but I haven't made a final decision on which style I'll do - just the side panels or sides and rear (see post 393 from last week). As it's been raining a lot in the last week, I'm really enjoying the soft-sides only option I've currently got installed on my LJ Safari Cab because I still have access to the rear cargo area using the barn door - no need to unzip/roll up a rear soft panel in the rain. Here's a photo taken in the rain the other day:



As much as I do like the soft sides with the rear barn door, I'd like to remove the upper half of the barn door on nice days too, so tomorrow I'm beginning work on a soft barn door for the LJ Safari Cab - it'll replace the fiberglass upper barn door and it'll be easy to remove/install.

Here's what a JK Safari Cab might look like with soft sides and a soft barn door - the rear panel stays in place and provides a door jamb for the soft barn door, and a place for the back edge of the soft sides to attach to.



One other reason for doing a soft barn door... since the Safari Cab roof is higher than the factory hardtop roof, in the LJ Safari I store the half door uppers up "in the attic" above the roll bar, which solves the problem of how to carry the upper doors along with you without sacrificing all the storage space in the Jeep for them. There's enough room to store the soft barn door as well, so I can carry everything with me to be weathertight if needed at no cost in cargo space.

This next photo shows the uppers with sliders stowed above the roll bars, there's really no reduction in headroom in the back seat compared to the factory hardtop:



The roll bar configuration of the JK makes it slightly more difficult to store the uppers up there, but I still think it'll work out.

One other detail on the JK Safari Cab soft sides design - I've worked out the design so the same soft side panels work with either the soft rear panel or the hard rear panel + soft barn door, so it could be possible that if the JK Safari ever gets to production, both styles of soft sides could be offered if there was enough demand.

 

I've put 3 coats of polyurethane varnish on the roof mold master, now I'll let the polyurethane harden up for a few days before giving it a light sanding. After that it goes up in the garage to begin the automotive-style paint process, starting with a foundation of epoxy primer.

 

Today I sewed something for the LJ Safari Cab that I also plan to implement for the JK Safari Cab - a soft barn door. It uses the same mounting hardware as the fiberglass hard barn door, but it's held on with 4 wing nuts for quick removal and installation. It's very light, and easy to store up above the roll bars in the extra height of the Safari Cab roof, so when removed it doesn't take up any storage space inside the Jeep.







I'm planning a trip to Colorado in September to do some trail time, and this is the configuration I'll run. The Jeep can be enclosed for the interstate run, and each day I'll roll up the sides and store all three uppers above the roll bars for an open air trail experience.

I don't want to get the thread too much off track with TJ/LJ stuff, but since this will also be a feature of the JK Safari Cab I thought I'd show it here.

 

I know it has to be done, but it's a shame to have to paint the wooden top mold, it is beautiful as is.

 

. If you don't like the thought of painting it, here's a thought you may like even less: once I make the mold from a wooden master like this, I have no further use for the master. Since these things take up a lot of space, usually I'll cut the master into pieces small enough to put out with the trash and toss it.

Sometimes I'll keep a master around for a while because if the part is to go into production a company can use the master to make their production mold, but if the master doesn't end up in the hands of some company it'll get cut up and tossed.

 

Ignorance WAS bliss ; Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and WoodWork Heaven de-bunked. Dammit.

 

The polyurethane I applied to the wooden master roof has dried enough that tomorrow it'll be sandable so I'll do that and shoot it with epoxy primer. Photos of it all one color tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've been playing with my paper dolls again, this time dressing one up for expedition travel .

On the left below it's still got the factory flat-top roof but I added side-mount jerry cans because extra fuel is a must for any overlanding expedition. On the right it's got a Safari Cab roof:



The side mount jerry cans on an actual Jeep:



Then I installed a rain-gutter-mount roof rack basket and some off-road lights on the rack. A roof-top-tent and a 37" spare are carried on the rack:



About the roof rack, even though I'm designing the Safari Cab roof panel to support a ZJ Cherokee roof rack, it'll also be possible to install a drip rail mounted rack like the one on the Africa concept Jeep revealed at EJS/Moab this year.

 

You have some amazing skills! I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product on a JKU. Keep up the great work.

 

How are the Side Mounted Jerry can Carriers coming for the JK ? Any word on availability ?

 

Thank you very much.

The company called me this morning but I wasn't able to take the call because I was spraying epoxy on the roof master at the time. I've called back and left a message, hopefully phone tag won't go too long and I'll get an answer on that shortly.

Photos of the painted roof master to come soon.