In December 2021, our beloved Troopy got some flash new additions! A road trip to Victoria to install the Mulgo pop top was by far the most exciting part of this.
This Mulgo pop top conversion by Expedition Centre was performed by Complete Maintenance Services in Victoria. The conversion involved removing the top section of the roof, just above the gutters. A seperate frame is then attached to the vehicle. The result? A completely new living area which you can stand up in, with a bed that sits at the same level that the old roof did. This bed sits on gas struts so it can go up during the day, and come straight back down when you're ready to pack it in for the night.
Many things pushed us to spend the money on this conversion, foremost the additional room. The biggest comfort comes from having a full width sleeping area, seperate to the dogs, and the ability to stand up and walk through the living area. The whole system works on gas struts which makes lifting the roof and the bed up a breeze. We chose this conversion over the tradition styles due to the roof being chequer plated, hinged as apposed to being full pop top which catches the weather more, ability to still mount items on the roof with rack mounting systems & being Australian made. The pop top comes with standard inclusions of 2 reading lights with USB outlets, interior light on the roof & full length fly mesh to all 3 sides for cross flow ventilation. Below we will go into some detail into the various new additions of the build.
Driver's Side Cabinet: With the extra room now available, it was time to now take advantage of it and increase our storage capabilities. Directly behind the driver's seat, we housed our battery, BCDC and control panels. The remainder of the drivers side was built as a seperate unit, similar to a kitchen island, complete with 3 distinct storage cupboards, 3 pull out drawers, a bench top and sink with tap. 17mm structural plywood was used to create this cabinet, mainly so it was sturdy, didn't require any internal framing, and could stand alone. The sink we chose was the Smev 8000 series sink. This came with a low profile tap and importantly wasn't too deep so we could conserve water & make use of our space. As we don't have hot water, we simply capped off the hot water inlet and plumbed it through the cold inlet side. The cupboards and drawers house the likes of all our electronics, dog food, gas storage, alcohol, clothes wardrobe, entertainment & cleaning supplies.
Water Storage: For water storage we decided to go with an underbody water tank. We were torn between a Long-ranger automotive 90lt S/S tank which mounts above the tail shaft, or Thorburns S/S 40.5lt tank which mounts between sub tank and tow bar package.
Long-ranger: Pros: Centre weight distribution, more water storage. Cons: Expensive, need to modify exhaust location, wait time was >12 weeks.
Thorburns: Pros: Cheaper, reputable, utilises existing bolt holes for sub tank, no modifications needed. Cons: Less water, more weight behind the rear axle.
In the end we chose Thorburns 40.5lt water tank, it was in stock, reputable amongst the community, straight forward installation, and we carry extra water in jerrys on the rear carrier for the dogs and hand washing. We paired this with Thorburns vent plate which replaces one of the rear vents on the side of the car. This gave us the ability to solve a problem I had been scratching my head at for weeks, how do we get water into the tank? This plate comes with or without fittings, we got ours without and sourced from local hardware store. One side was our inlet, the opposite the water breather. The Andersons also provided solar input and 12v output.
3 holes had to be drilled in the floors to make this happen, one for the inlet/breather, one for the delivery and one for the 12v feed to the pump. The largest hollow grommets from Clark Rubber fit perfectly, along with some automotive 227 black sealant to ensure no rust formation. While not 100% water tight, it does the job.
Slide Out Kitchen: This was one of our first modifications on our original build and we have made sure to keep it in our current build. This involved cutting out a section on the passenger side body of the car, between the passenger seat belt anchor and the rear wheel arch. Using automotive 227 sealant we inserted the Coast RV Door 6 which fit the dimensions of our gas cook top and 60lt fridge slide. A video of how this process occurred is available on our instagram here.
Shade & Protection: We opted for the 30 Second Awning as our choice. This awning will set you back about $1150 but as the name suggests, 30 seconds to put out and pack away. The awning is free standing which means you don't need any poles but they come with them - which we use when it's windy. We also bought two awning walls which zip on and create an annex style setup which gives you complete privacy and shelter from the elements. To mount any 270 awning with a pop top conversion, specialised brackets are needed. We purchased these from expedition centre and are body mounted as apposed to gutter mounted.
Lighting: Permanently fixed onto the awning is Hardkorr tri colour light bars. We then also fitted Stedi lights drilled directly into the pop top so we had access to light when the awning wasn't set up incase of adverse weather.
Additional: Also from expedition centre we have the Maxtrax fold down table. Not only is this handy for the table purpose, but also having max trax readily accessible when you need them without the need to go clambering over to get to them.
Passenger Side Cabinetry: Directly behind the passenger's seat, our slide out kitchen is positioned, with the 69L Dual zone Mycoolman mounted on top. The remaining of the passenger side cabinetry consists of a slide out (the back) pantry which molds around the wheel arch. On top of this is a series of drawers which pull out into the walkway. These drawers house our cutlery, crockery, overflow pantry & a laundry chute for dirty clothes.
A complete overview of the Troopy's additions can be found on our YouTube walkthrough video here. This 12 minute video goes into depth about all of the above features. Slight changes have been made since we have made this video, but only in the way of adding additional dividers in cupboards to make better use of the space.
If you have any questions regarding this build, feel free to hit us up at hello.osomaus@gmail.com or on instagram here.