did not read every reply so - do you have a 3 way frig? if so when driving I would suggest using the DC setting, since you are moving should be no drain on battery.
raising and lowering the top. do you have an exhaust fan? on our outfitter to lower the top we would close door and all windows, turn on exhaust fan and lower top slowly. this sucks the canvas sides in. on my outfitter it took 17 turns to lower the top, so I would turn 5 times, pause, then 5 more.
was never a problem.
good luck.
also I got 15 mpg.
