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Roofless Cali Topper Review

H

Hutch

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Location
Mid Glamorgan
Hi guys
Anyone thinking of purchasing a roof cover for your Cali but also need a roof rack? Then this review may be useful.
After much deliberation and reading of other member’s views on this forum, we were very tempted to buy a Pucer cover. However, when Comfortz announced they were developing a Roofless Cali Topper, I emailed Nick Wilmot at Comfortz for information. Nick rang me to tell me they were still developing the Topper but should have one ready for our Cali’s first camping trip .We were to be the first paying customers! I have to say that from the off, the service from Nick & Comfortz has been great, and true to his word we took delivery of our new Roofless Topper last Thursday, the day before setting off on our trip.
To avoid looking like too much of a plum at the camp site, I decided to try a test fit of the Topper on my drive. After a couple of minutes studying the instructions, the Topper was up in about ten minutes, very easily and single handed. The fit is excellent and the quality feels good, there’s the added bonus that it looks smart too. You have to stick a length of self- adhesive Velcro to the underside of the rear edge of the pop up roof, which some may find a little fiddly, but it really is not a problem. You need the Velcro to attach, what is effectively, the rear rain skirt. I’d wondered, before delivery, how they’d overcome the rain run off issue and the solution is quite ingenious. The removal of the Topper is probably even quicker than putting it on and it folds away easily to be put back in its bag – I thought the bag itself was a nice touch. The Topper can be put in place and removed with whatever you have on your roof rack in place - it’s one long piece of material which wraps around the roof and attaches at the back, rather than having to be thrown over the top.
When we arrived at our camp site, late, it was dark, but the Topper was still very simple to put on, even after only one test run. The next morning we were glad of the Topper as it had rained overnight and continued for several hours. There was no evidence of any rain getting onto or through the roof bellows. We also had fairly strong winds for about 24hrs but the Topper remained stable and didn’t need any adjustment. There are eyelets on the top edges of the Topper so that you can stretch two, supplied, bungees across the roof for extra stability. I put one bungee in place, mainly because the roof was already up and couldn’t reach the top eyelets without lowering. The one bungee did the job but I’ll probably do both next time for peace of mind.
All in all we are very happy with the Roofless Topper , it fits well, looks good and has the quality to hopefully make it durable. We wholeheartedly recommend mend it!
Regards Geraint
 
Great review thanks, currently looking at buying a topper that will suit my roof bars so very useful.
 
Used my roofless Cali topper this weekend, I forgot how easy it was to put on, took literally minutes without any help.
 
Still using our topper on every trip - had it over a year, so it's had lots of use - definitely recommend it!

G
 
Does anyone have a video or photos of the roofless topper being fitted? after camping with snow last weekend think we now must get a topper to keep snow out and stop condensation.
 
We have one, it is much easier to fit compared to the standard one, there should be some pics on here somewhere.
 
Thanks Martin, I have ordered one today, hopefully Comfortz will get it out before their Christmas shutdown.
 
New roofless topper arrived and test fitted to the van and looking good, now just waiting on some decent winter weather to get back into the mountains.

Fitting was straightforward per the instructions.

Since we will be using the topper during the winter I wanted to ensure the bungees were easy to fit. The bungee cord and hooks are supplied loose and have to be made off to the correct length to provide some tension once fitted.

Looking ahead to fitting the topper in practice I thought that getting the bungees over the roof may be a bit of a challenge as they would be too short to simply throw over and grab, the front one especially is at a fair height.

My solution was to drill out the blanking plug in the bungee hook to allow the bungee cord to pass through the hook, that left some bungee cord which could be walked round the back of the van / roof and allowed easy attachment of the hook.

Drilled Bungee Hook



Bungees pulled over roof and attached



Extra bungee for walking round the back of the roof



Topper fully fitted

PC200186.JPG PC200189.JPG PC200190.JPG PC200187a.jpg
 
Thanks for this review. Looking forward to the arrival of my Cali topper
 
Hi All,

Apologies if a similar enquiry has already been made, but I can't find one on the search engine.
So here goes. Has anyone purchased one of the Comfortz roofless cali toppers yet for use with roof bars etc.

If so, what are your opinions as regards ease of use, storm resistance and overall quality etc?

The roofless topper is more expensive and doesn't appear to be included in the discount package on the shop site, so I am also open to consider any alternatives that people can recommend.

Thanks in advance

ChrisB
 
I don't have the roofless topper but I recall reading some posts about issues with this type of topper, I am sure if you search you will find them.
 
Hi I use a pucer screen easy to put on ,I camp all year around and use this when it's deep winter and you can tell it's on keeps the heat in cheers
 
Roofless topper works a treat for us. Was on last night in extremely heavy rain in South Wales, no issues with water pooling or anything else.

I find it goes on and off really easily as it essentially wraps around. A little bit of method to it but it's easily learned.

Would recommend the product over alternatives simply because it 'future proof's' your Cali - at some point we'll have roof bars and a box or kayaks on the top, it'll still rain or be too bright so we'll still need the topper. I hate buying things and then finding they don't work with future setups.
 
New roofless topper arrived and test fitted to the van and looking good, now just waiting on some decent winter weather to get back into the mountains.

Fitting was straightforward per the instructions.

Since we will be using the topper during the winter I wanted to ensure the bungees were easy to fit. The bungee cord and hooks are supplied loose and have to be made off to the correct length to provide some tension once fitted.

Looking ahead to fitting the topper in practice I thought that getting the bungees over the roof may be a bit of a challenge as they would be too short to simply throw over and grab, the front one especially is at a fair height.

My solution was to drill out the blanking plug in the bungee hook to allow the bungee cord to pass through the hook, that left some bungee cord which could be walked round the back of the van / roof and allowed easy attachment of the hook.

Drilled Bungee Hook



Bungees pulled over roof and attached



Extra bungee for walking round the back of the roof



Topper fully fitted

View attachment 4050 View attachment 4051 View attachment 4052 View attachment 4053
Do the roof Bungee hooks mark the roof in windy conditions?
 
Do the roof Bungee hooks mark the roof in windy conditions?

Not as far as I have noticed, if you look above at the photos in my post of 22 Dec 14 the hooks do not sit on the roof, they are plastic so I would not expect any paint damage in any invent.
 
One minor issue with our roofless topper is rain water seeping into the seam at the rear leaving a sausage shaped seam. Resolved by cutting drainage holes into the seam.

Overall delighted with the ease of putting on and removing the roofless topper.

No marks on the roof.
 
One minor issue with our roofless topper is rain water seeping into the seam at the rear leaving a sausage shaped seam. Resolved by cutting drainage holes into the seam.

Overall delighted with the ease of putting on and removing the roofless topper.

No marks on the roof.
Do you have any pictures of the holes in the seam?
 
One minor issue with our roofless topper is rain water seeping into the seam at the rear leaving a sausage shaped seam. Resolved by cutting drainage holes into the seam.

Overall delighted with the ease of putting on and removing the roofless topper.

No marks on the roof.
I have a similar sausage issue with my non roofless topper, so I will be adding some drains!
 
I have a similar sausage issue with my non roofless topper, so I will be adding some drains!
Here is a picture of the drain holes on my roofless topper just purchased from @calikev

_20191125_200024.JPG
 
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