holy crap --- Sarah is bad ass ... that was way too much work.. I would have buried it upside down, filled it with water and thrown in some ducks.... you guys really took on a huge project and kudos for not giving up.
It definitely would have been worth driving farther or paying more to get a crackless one. But what fun would that be? You are now experts on fiberglass repair!!! Subscribing for this craziness!
If it were me, and I have been looking around for a junkyard high top for a while now, I would have at least wanted one I could have stood up in after doing all that work. Great video though, I enjoyed watching.
@@ADDvanced I watched a video recently where a guy made his own for his Astro. It turned out nice and he could stand but, I get your point, there would be none in the salvage yards. You guys probably did about as much work as building your own would be, ha ha. That was a lot more work than I thought it would be.
I was thinking something when I was watching this episode when you found the high top at the 'salvage' yard, (don't you dare call it junk cuz they get mad,) you could flip it over and use it as a hull for a ghetto poor man's boat!!! LMFAO you could even reinforce it underneath some more and add some seats!!! 😂😭😆
I would have sanded the entire roof with DA sanders to scuff the gelcoat. Then I would have laid over it a layer of 6oz fiberglass cloth. After that, wet it all out with epoxy, such as West System, NOT polyester. The epoxy would be way stronger (stiffer LOL) and I doubt that you would ever have an structural probs again. Also, I believe the epoxy would have flowed into all the cracks and this could have saved you tons of time because you would not have had to grind them all out.
I was informed the extra strong glue gm used makes it extremely difficult to remove the high top w/ out cracking it. do you think all the cracks where caused when they rermoved the top? next I wants see you slide a new complete subframe w/ a v8.
@@steveleston6147 Windshield removal wire, it's like that piano wire with two handles people use to strangle each other with, you get one person inside the van and one outside and just saw back and forth with it.
Judging from that gel-coat...Just sand the whole thing down and redo it... As Fiberglass hoods and High tops are notorious for clear coat coming off from Sun expose straight down on them...I had to do mine. Four coat sof paint and 4 coats of clear coat... As I do not want to do that again...
How is this saving $150?! You need to put a price for your time. If both of you worked 100hrs each on this repair project, that's 200 labor hours. At $20/hr, that top costs you $4,000 in labor. Add material costs, and was it really worth it? Not criticizing your commitment, but time is money.
The only place that makes tops for Astros is located in Cali and they are $4-6000, plus shipping to the midwest. So for $150 and a few days I think we did alright.
@ADDvanced I think the place is called Fiberine near Long Beach CA. Pls if you can share, how much $ was all the materials to do yours (great job)? I'm just trying to understand the total out-of-pocket cost, not just the price of the salvaged top. Ty
@@beniceeveryone-i6s About $70 in polyester fill primer, and $30 on paint. The top was $150 from a junkyard. Most of them will not be as screwed up as this one was, but this was the only one I could find within 10 hours of driving.
![[How to] Expandable / Pull-out Bed for your Camper Van | Van Life & Conversions | Chevy Astro](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/88Rsh5guOdw/mqdefault.jpg)
holy crap --- Sarah is bad ass ... that was way too much work.. I would have buried it upside down, filled it with water and thrown in some ducks.... you guys really took on a huge project and kudos for not giving up.
Yeah she is! Click the next episode to see what it looks like after it was coated with polyester primer and painted! Turned out awesome! :)
It definitely would have been worth driving farther or paying more to get a crackless one. But what fun would that be? You are now experts on fiberglass repair!!!
Subscribing for this craziness!
If it were me, and I have been looking around for a junkyard high top for a while now, I would have at least wanted one I could have stood up in after doing all that work. Great video though, I enjoyed watching.
Standing room in an Astro would be like a 3-4’ high top, which doesn’t really exist. It would be like double the height of the van.
@@ADDvanced I watched a video recently where a guy made his own for his Astro. It turned out nice and he could stand but, I get your point, there would be none in the salvage yards. You guys probably did about as much work as building your own would be, ha ha. That was a lot more work than I thought it would be.
Thanks for another video!
Nice way to start a Saturday evening here in the Netherlands... ;)
Wow, that's an insane amount of repair time!
Glad you dig it, this was a horrible decision but I'm making it work. Part 2 comes out tomorrow!
Horrible decisions sometimes lead great experiences
@@nwmod39Nope, they don’t.
Awsome work and video guys! You deserve a lot more subscribers. Cheers from Canada (It's -14°C here right now.)
Sounds cold, how's the snow? BRAAAAP
You guys simply amaze me. Awesome!
Credit goes to Sarah in this one, I didn't do much :D
Very cool mate, looking forward to the next installation.
Tune in tomorrow morning :)
I was thinking something when I was watching this episode when you found the high top at the 'salvage' yard, (don't you dare call it junk cuz they get mad,) you could flip it over and use it as a hull for a ghetto poor man's boat!!! LMFAO you could even reinforce it underneath some more and add some seats!!! 😂😭😆
I've thought about that before too, it could be really cool. I think some camper in the 50s did that!
16:03-04,…best part of yer video!
INSPIRING VIDEO thanks for Sharing !!! by the way mine s a1997 high top van Conversion ,you can CAMP, LIVE have alot of Fun!!
Glad you enjoyed it! There are two other videos dealing with this high top, the next one is finishing it, and the last one is installing it.
@@ADDvanced awsome!!
"maybe someone else will learn from my poor decisions" haha that's funny :)
We used featherfill primer for years on corvets, then later in life Epoxy primer was widely used, I found it did a nicer job and rarely cracked.
You can use a catalyzed primer sealer that will be water proof just like the paint cost.
I would have sanded the entire roof with DA sanders to scuff the gelcoat. Then I would have laid over it a layer of 6oz fiberglass cloth. After that, wet it all out with epoxy, such as West System, NOT polyester. The epoxy would be way stronger (stiffer LOL) and I doubt that you would ever have an structural probs again. Also, I believe the epoxy would have flowed into all the cracks and this could have saved you tons of time because you would not have had to grind them all out.
Wouldn’t get a nice finish tho. But yeah it would be strong and not crack
You can just use it as a mold. Fiberglass a new one.
I was informed the extra strong glue gm used makes it extremely difficult to remove the high top w/ out cracking it.
do you think all the cracks where caused when they rermoved the top? next I wants see you slide a new complete subframe w/ a v8.
No, it was from weight on top of it.
@@ADDvanced if you where to remove a top from a junked van how would you separate from glue? I was thinking heat gun, or oscolating tool.
@@steveleston6147 Windshield removal wire, it's like that piano wire with two handles people use to strangle each other with, you get one person inside the van and one outside and just saw back and forth with it.
Are you planning on doing something about the tongue weight?
Yup, below floor battery box behind the axle, and weight distributing hitch
Body filler for cracks,then gel coat
I read gelcoat, not bodyfiller.
we use a paint roller it fills and faster next time lol
Hey good idea! Hopefully no next time tho :D
haha you said "backside" and "stiffer" !
Judging from that gel-coat...Just sand the whole thing down and redo it... As Fiberglass hoods and High tops are notorious for clear coat coming off from Sun expose straight down on them...I had to do mine. Four coat sof paint and 4 coats of clear coat... As I do not want to do that again...
I think that would have been more work and hard to get a nice smooth surface...
How to get the cheapest van around
This is good...would be great IF there was a boat involved also, just say'in.............;}.
I mean you could technically use the high top as a jon boat if you flipped it upside down :D
@@ADDvanced Yea, that sounds like a great video...put the Hurricane on it. we'll wait for it....
How is this saving $150?! You need to put a price for your time. If both of you worked 100hrs each on this repair project, that's 200 labor hours. At $20/hr, that top costs you $4,000 in labor. Add material costs, and was it really worth it?
Not criticizing your commitment, but time is money.
The only place that makes tops for Astros is located in Cali and they are $4-6000, plus shipping to the midwest. So for $150 and a few days I think we did alright.
@ADDvanced I think the place is called Fiberine near Long Beach CA.
Pls if you can share, how much $ was all the materials to do yours (great job)?
I'm just trying to understand the total out-of-pocket cost, not just the price of the salvaged top. Ty
@@beniceeveryone-i6s About $70 in polyester fill primer, and $30 on paint. The top was $150 from a junkyard. Most of them will not be as screwed up as this one was, but this was the only one I could find within 10 hours of driving.
@@ADDvanced thanks for replying. I hope you get years of enjoyment with your custom build. I owned two Astros, so I appreciate how fun they are.
Not worth it
What about just an marine epoxy overcoat or 3? _ is that a functional option? _ You both are Awesome!🏞🚐😶🇺🇸👍
I was using marine gelcoat but gelcoat is really just polyester resin w some solids mixed in to make it white.