Installing the Cloud Cap by Super Pacific!

Hey everybody, Matt here for AVC and welcome back to the shop! Today we're going to be installing the Cloud Cap by Super Pacific. Let's get to work! 

Before we get to installing this top, let's talk about what makes the Super Pacific top better than the rest. So, this thing is first of all made in the USA by our friends at Super Pacific. They're based in Portland Oregon, and they have an excellent facility there, they make the canvas, they do the extrusions, everything there is made right in Portland and ships complete to the installer. Now this is not a DIY product unfortunately, so we're going to be doing the install here today. We made a bit of a montage for you so you can see how it goes on, but it's not really designed for a home installer, so you're going to have to find a local installer. If you need someone to install it, please call AVC we'd love to install it for you, but if you're far across the country, call Super Pacific and they can find a local installer for you. So you might be asking, why would you want a pop top like this for your van? First and foremost, it's an extra sleeping platform. It's super cool to be up here in a campground, you can see over the top of everybody, it's a pretty cool flex to pop this thing up, everybody's going to look at your van, everybody's going to be curious what you got. Second of all, I like a top that actually opens through the van and down into the inside. If my kids are up here they're not totally isolated from me, I can look up here, I can check on them, if the heater is running downstairs it's going to fill this upper space with warm air, so even though you're kind of up here and separated, you still feel like everybody's together. It's a really nice blend of you now having additional space separating some kids, stuff like that. If I wanted to put the kids to bed early, my wife and I could stay up and have a nightcap before we go to bed, and everybody's still together all in one van. So with those quick facts out of the way, let's go ahead and get this top installed, then we can take a look at some of the cool details up here. But for now, cue the montage!

So, now that this thing is installed, let's take a look at some of the details that made me want to put this on my van. First thing to mention is that the Cloud Cap actually comes with the Exped MegaMat Duo. So, this is an insulated inflatable sleeping mattress and it measures 52 wide and 80 inches long. Now although this is 80 inches long, I'm going to jump up in here for you and I'm not 80 in tall, but because it's an a-frame style top means you're not going to be able to use that last little bit at the very end. There is still plenty of room here so even though I might have to have a pillow up above I can still fit in here no problem, and you can see here even with my boots on you know if I'm all the way here my head is still on the mattress and I don't really sleep with my feet up in the air, but you know I can get a comfortable night's sleep. I can lay up here and there's plenty of room for two people to sleep comfortably on this top. Because Super Pacific is from the Northwest, they know rain, and that's one of the big things that impressed me about this tent design, is they have this passive vent system up here that actually poofs out, so it can give you extra ventilation up here without having to have these big windows open, which is going to keep you ventilated even in the rain. So on the inside here we can pull these straps, we can pop this thing open, so it's going to pop this open, there's a little fiberglass stringer that holds the top of the flap open, and then the vent has a velcro flap inside, so I can open this up, I can push it up and out of the way, and we can get some good venting right here at the top of the tent so even in the rain, we're still protected from moisture. 

Another feature I really like is their window design. All the windows around the tent have a waterproof cover as well as a bug screen. The waterproof covers; the way that they've done the zipper is really nice because it has a leading drip edge off of there, so when this is zipped shut, it's going to promote that water shedding off the top, and then inside of this there's actually a drip rail in the extrusion, so any water that comes down to the edge of the tent is going to get funneled to the corners. Then there's an opening in the corner that's going to actually allow that water to egress the tent and get away from the tent, so you're not going to get any water build up in here. Let's go ahead and seal this up. 

Now that I've got this window zipped up, you're going to notice that it actually allows some light through here. So, that's one of the things about this two-tone canvas, is that the lighter color is going to allow a lot more light to come through here, which means you're going to get woken up in the morning. Now, if you want something that's going to be a little bit darker, you might want to go for the all dark canvas like this navy, because that navy is not going to allow as much light through, so you're going to be able to sleep in later. 

So, since we're talking about sleeping in, one of the other things to note is that this top here is transparent. Now, they’ve done this on purpose, so it's kind of like a skylight; allows some light to come through here, but once you add solar panels, things like that to here, it's going to get a lot darker. So that's just something to consider, you might want to add some lights in here if you're going to be up here at night. You might want to add some more black out vinyl, something like that if you want to sleep in later in the morning. I personally like the transparent top, I want to have some light in here when I'm up here. We're going to add lights to this top, so it's not a big deal for us. We can be nice and bright during the day, but we are going to add some solar panels up here, so I'm excited to see how it performs once it's fully kitted out.

The last thing I want to talk about while we're still inside the top is this little gear loft up at the top here. It's a really nice touch because it's another spot to throw some things up here, like maybe you're wearing a sweatshirt at night before you go to bed, you can toss that up here get it up and out of the way, and it actually provides tension into the top. So as we close this top, it's going to pull everything down. One of the really cool things that I liked that they didn't even tell me about, is that you can leave the windows open when you collapse this thing down. I don't have to go through here and roll everything up to make sure it's all buttoned up before I drop the top. That means all summer long I can leave the screen doors open just like this, I can pop it up, we can use the bed, I can close it, and it's super easy to put up and take down, which means we're going to use it more. 

So that's all for this install. If you have more questions about the Cloud Cap by Super Pacific, or anything about this install, go ahead hit us up in the comments below, we'll be happy to take care of you there. We're going to be adding a lot more features to this top throughout the build process, but this was key in getting this thing installed now so we can build the rest of the van around it. We're going to be adding things like a MaxxAir fan, adding solar, and maybe some more bells and whistles I haven't thought of yet. So, go ahead, hit that subscribe button, follow along with our buildout, and we'll see you on the next video.