Opening pop tops

It doesn't matter which end you do first (unless the manufacturer specifies it). Just make sure you have the door or a window open to allow the air to come into the van as the roof goes up.

Same for when you put the roof down.

My experience in opening pop tops.
Always open by pulling the tab toward you otherwise you may spill your beer down your trousers.
You don't want that to happen, apart from the embarrassment of having wet trousers it wastes perfectly good beer.

Just remember it's Friday

Disco.

I was taught to close it in the reverse order to which you opened it, in other words if you open it from the rear first, then drop the front first & then the rear.

Some pop-tops have 'scissor lifts' at the SIDES as well as at the ENDS. Pretty much all will have them at the ends for stability, but some manufacturers put them on the sides as well - maybe for extra lift, or for extra stability.

BUT, if yours has scissor lifts on the sides as well, you MUST lift the roof horizontally - ie, both ends at the same time. It all has to do with the geometry of the scissor lifts - the top and bottom rails must stay parallel (ie roof horizontal) or they will be over-stressed and something will fail.

Our van has 3 solar panels on the roof, so the manufacturer put scissor lifts all round, plus 2 gas struts each side. It was a PITA to lift the roof from both ends, so I re-engineered the gas struts and removed the side scissor lifts.

If you don't have scissor lifts on the sides, I don't think it makes any difference which end you lift first, although I have heard it said before that the roof settles more squarely if you are consistent with first lowering the end that was last raised. I don't bother with that and have never had any problem.

cheers,
glids

We have a rear shower/toilet and I lift the rear first only because that's the most convenient being adjacent the entry door.

If you have an awning you can significantly reduce the lifting load by rolling it out a meter or so before lifting the roof.

Definitely need to ensure the door is open for air pressure balance, and hooked back not to foul the partially extended awning.

It's never been a problem either end on my Avan.
As a suggestion though, when I have flicked the annex roll to open I unwind the annex by hand a few turns.
This then creates a 300 mm of slack on the annex and you are getting a head start on the annex unrolling.
Works for me anyway.

The 16" Jayco pop top I use to have had handles on the ceiling at the half way point and about 1.2 mts apart so when you pushed up the whole ceiling raised up fairly level and the same when you pulled down on the handles to lower it came down level. I would check what the manufacturer recommends in case there is a possibility of causing any damage.