Options for topless season

[Elsinore73]

I am on Long Island and spend a lot of time in VT, I know your pain. I run a soft top April-November and a hard top for the winter. Best of both worlds.

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[JLUCQ]

I went with the Garage Smart lift. It’s a little easier for me because my Jeep is a 2nd vehicle and it stays in the garage. My top comes off and stays off till it’s too cold.

 

[Jabarsetti]

I don't have a picture here at work, but I just have the hardtop. During the summer when the tops off, I have been using the Rampage bikini top with the cargo cover (pretty cheap!). I was stuck in a nice little rainstorm last year and it kept the interior relatively dry. It doesn't cover the doorframe are but I was impressed with how well it held the water out. This being said a @Bestop Ultra Trektop is on my short list just for the convivence of quick up and downs for the summer and pop up showers.

 

[calemasters]

We got our first Wrangler this winter (hard top Sahara). As we slowly make our way towards spring here in New England, I'm looking for options/ideas on how to maximize having the Jeep topless without going crazy on the cost front. We also have a Renegade with MySky (removable roof panels) and know how quickly and difficult it is to trust the New England weather to not have passing showers/storms based on trying to keep that topless the last 4 summers. We have a garage so it would be parked covered overnight. Poking around I see all sorts of bikini tops, would those keep things dry enough for times you get caught in rain? Most of the time the doors would be left on, I'm guessing there's no way to bring them along with you stored in the back of the JLU? What does everyone else do in a climate similar to New England (ie going more than 3-4 rain free days is fairly rare).

For us, if it looks like rain when we are going out, we only remove the two front freedom roof panels and store them in the cargo area, in case it starts to rain.

On a different note, looking forward to Spring & Summer. Today, I ordered the Harken Hoister (7803.12Jeep) for our Unlimited hardtop which will accommodate our 11 ft. ceiling in the garage. Looking forward to some nice "top off" weather.

 

[Bestop]

Hey @linuxos77
You've gotten some great advice here. I will add in that while I know you're looking to keep the spend down, the Trektop is a great inexpensive full top that doubles as a bikini when you pull the 3 rear windows out. Could be just the ticket for you! I'm originally from MA as well and I know the struggle.
Let me know if you have any questions I can help with!

Lee
- the Bestop team
www.bestop.com

 

[linuxos77]

Thanks for all the ideas and product recommendations, definitely no shortage of solutions. I think as a first step I really like the idea of a hard top hoist, solves the issue of storing the top as well. After that tough call, Sunrider vs Trektop both look awesome. As an aside, from what I've seen online is the inside likely safely survives getting wet in the event of getting caught in some weather? Might not be able to make a warranty claim on it but I've seen reports of draining inches of water and everything was fine (all electronics, seats, etc. Also going to check with the campgrounds we go to, see if they are somewhere nearby have any sort of Jeep top/door storage areas (might be wistful thinking, but it would be great to drive up to say NH White Mountains with the top on, then break it down and store it up there).

 

[Sheepjeep]

Another ma person here, i run the softtop year round no issues my biggest worry is would be with snow weight over time stretching it out than anything, but i put it in a garage at night, the biggest thing with going topless is you need to be on top of the weather forcast


as for leaving it at a camp ground, if it is a good campground they should control who has access in and out and the top is a very big bulk item so transporting it while not looking suspicious is kind of hard either you have JL with no top on or you are trowing it in the back of a pickup. If you want you could look at chaining it to a tree at the camp grounds or something. Basically put more obstacles in people way the safer it is.

If you do order bestop stuff, give Crown Automotive in Canton a call they are a dealer, Jeff or Kevin can get you a good deal.

 

[CT_LFC]

I live in CT and keep the hardtop off permanently from Apr/May to Oct/Nov and use a 2nd car when it's expected to rain or is raining already. Inevitably i have gotten stuck in the rain a couple times and once it was so bad during the drive home Uconnect went bonkers, would keep flipping through its menu and would not respond to commands and would randomly call people on my contact list. Ended up having to pull the plugs and let it sit for a few days and it was good to go.

I could have gotten the soft top but don't like that it partially blocks access to the cargo area. I like being able to open the gate and have it all available as do the kids where they can climb in through and monkey around. It just gets in the way too much when it's in the down position.

 

[Jocko]

Thanks for all the ideas and product recommendations, definitely no shortage of solutions. I think as a first step I really like the idea of a hard top hoist, solves the issue of storing the top as well. After that tough call, Sunrider vs Trektop both look awesome. As an aside, from what I've seen online is the inside likely safely survives getting wet in the event of getting caught in some weather? Might not be able to make a warranty claim on it but I've seen reports of draining inches of water and everything was fine (all electronics, seats, etc. Also going to check with the campgrounds we go to, see if they are somewhere nearby have any sort of Jeep top/door storage areas (might be wistful thinking, but it would be great to drive up to say NH White Mountains with the top on, then break it down and store it up there).

I've never been in heavy rain with the freedom panels off, so the infotainment system has never been drenched. I too read those posts of people saying it dries out after a while, but I never really wanted to test it first hand. When I do the "freedom panels only" trips, I usually just toss em in my tent if the weather looks good for the day.

I have a Slipstream on the back which doesn't keep rain out per se, but underneath I have an all weather cargo mat. That catches anything that drops down. Not perfect but it's kept the underfloor storage compartment bone dry through some interesting stuff.

 

[Black Jeep Convertible]

If you really want to be buttoned up at a moments notice... get a mytop

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