Excellent question Martha about painting the pop top and interesting
suggestion to have it gelcoated. 

For painting the pop top the manual seems to say that: 

1. No boding agent is required to paint this.
2. Prime with filler/primer
3. No elastic additive is required to make the paint flexible.

OK. not too helpful. The section on the primer says:

Prime with filler ALN 786 001 13 plus 4:1 of hardener ALZ 009 001 06 or ALZ
002 06. Adjust viscocity to 17 sec. with ALV 002 000 06. Apply 2-3 coats
(approx. 40-50um). Flash off time--until matted (dull.)

The big question I have, can anybody advise????? is whether you should paint
the roof with the same paint that you paint the side of the van with--in my
case a two part metallic/clearcoat acrylic laquer paint. All the manual says
about paint is "no additive required. Follow recomended mixing and spraying
instructions printed on cans."

But this doesn't tell us what kind of cans to use. Does anybody have an
opinion about whether the paint on the roofs of our pop tops are two part
metallic/clearcoat or whether they are painted with some secret paint used
only in europe? I have a can of the factory metallic basecoat for my van but
I cannot believe it should be applied to the poptop.

As for gelcoating, I wonder how this differs from paint. Is it harder or less
resistant to fading or more waterproof or something. What is the deal with
gelcoat. Why don't we paint our cars with it if it is so good?