Wedge Campers & Assorted Oddities

@theox26
I live in Denver, so lots of chances of tight traffic. As the propane tank and Jerry can sit pretty high the most likely part of a car that will them would be an a pillar/windshield or maybe a mirror. But at the speed they would most likely be that close I wouldn’t see enough damage happening to puncture the tank.

Like you said you also have exposure on the rear bumper, but these tanks are pretty tough.

 

I was at Mid-Atlantic Overland Fest this past week/ weekend and SNAP! was there with a Treehouse on display. Took a good while crawling around inside of it and talking to one of the owners about the camper/ design. It seemed pretty nice, to be honest the best part about it was it existed in person. I paid for my GFC in March and have still not seen it in person (or pictures for that matter) though GFC says it's complete and ready to go.

The Treehouse was "similar" to the GFC though honestly a LOT more like the Drifter from what I can tell. All aluminum with access to the truck bed without removing panels, basically there was a little ladder (maybe 3 ft) from the truck bed up into the sleeping bed so no panels to remove when you get up. It was about 100lbs heavier, and had a base price of 7K, with quite a few options for electronics, lights, side panel configurations ext available. I will say the owner was quite pleasant to deal with and I don't mind giving them a free plug on here as a company that I would consider doing business with had I not already committed to GFC.

On a final note the SNAP! did not seem as durable as the GFC, there is just no way to make an Aluminum frame as strong as steel, it simply not possible without an excess of material. The biggest advantage to the Treehouse I saw was they are on the East Coast (for those of us on this side) and they have a lead time of 6 weeks.

All this said I do not regret my GFC one bit... I just wish I actually had it to use. I'll say there was at least 100 people at Mid-Atlantic that would have REALLY liked to see my Go Fast Camper, in fact providing it arrives by ExpoEast I'll have my truck at a vendor booth with Backroadventures due to the huge interest in the GFC.

Anyway just my $.02

Oh and note the strap/ pull down rope on the Treehouse, it seems like something like this SHOULD be on the GFC, made closing the Treehouse a breeze.

 

I debated sticking my MH tent in the bed of my Tacoma so it “felt” like a GFC.... but alas another, and hopefully the LAST, week on the ground....

Had to be close to 1000 people there, not a GFC or any other wedge (besides Snap! as a vendor) to be seen.

 

I thought GFC has a loop strap to pull down the roof?

 

Pull strap is definitely a better way to close the camper - I've used both, and if you're worried about it flapping in the wind you can just tuck it in.

At least on the Vagabond the material is waterproof vinyl and gets slippery when wet and makes it difficult to pull down. Additionally, if you have over strength gas struts (for example Alu Cab or if you upgraded gas struts for stuff on the roof and it's empty) the pull strap makes it MUCH easier to collapse.

 

why do you need to pull the material when VO has a strap option to pull?

 

You just tuck it inside the camper through the zipper on the front window.

I had the first one they made (Zero) on my truck for 3 months and it didn't have strap. I gave them a lot of feedback, and one of them was to put the strap in. Not saying they did it because of me, but I'm glad they did.

 

I’m kind of tripping out that these are not done yet..... #45 here....

 

I don't understand why pulling it down via the tent is a complaint.

I haven't had any issues, including in the rain. Tucking in the wet tent material was a bit annoying when I was already cold and wet, but still better than putting away a wet ground tent.

 

Obviously it's better than putting away a wet ground tent or even RTT but ultimately it's still way easier with a chord especially in the scenarios I outlined above.

I closed my Drifter by pulling on the sides for 3 months, it works just fine. I just don't think it's the best way.

 

I’ll likely use two of the extrusion nuts to bolt a small plate with a U-Bolt on it. Or something like that. Clip a carabiner to it to pull it down and closed. Unclip for travel or sleeping during a lot of wind. I do think something to pull it down with is a better long term solution. Especially considering it would cost nearly zero

 

I really like having the strap and my wife wouldn't be able to close it at all without the strap. The Snap! has really strong hydraulic lifters that will hold up my boats on the roof so you do need something to help pull it down. I'm sure there are other methods but I haven't had any issues with this method.

 

Not a big fan of tugging on material I depend on constantly to properly function. When a strap could solve it all.

 

No matter how you grab or tug on the tent sides, I don't see how it could ever cause a problem. You're not going to rip it.

I'm not going to bother with a strap, and will be sure to report back if the material I depend on fails from me closing the tent.

 

Here are some pictures from this weekend. My wife and I stayed in the Snap! together with our dog sleeping in the truck bed below. It worked really well. It rained most of the night Friday and most of the day Saturday. Other than that the trip was a good one.

I found I need to put something between the camper and the awning to cover the few inches of gap there. I'll need to try a few things and then I'll share what seems to work best.





The pop up pod is a changing booth until I rig some velcro to attach covers on the windows in the doors below. I'll get around to that sometime.

 

Care to share how you mounted the solar panel?

 

They mounted it for me so I will need to ask Snap about the specifics but it is essentially two bars going across the width at the right spot for the panel. I did not want to mount it directly to the top in case I needed to replace the panel and they didn't want to put holes in the roof that is inside the tent since that just adds places for failure. So they used some extreme automotive adhesive to mount the beams across then put these nuts that are screwed into the beam that the panel mounts to. This allows me to replace the panel without adding any new holes into the top.

The wires are routed into the front using something like

RICH SOLAR Cable Entry Housing Mount for RV, Boats, Caravans, Marine, Motorhomes (Cable Entry Housing)

these and more 1" x 1" bars. Then I have a battery and solar controller in the front of the truck bed.

I will get some more close up shots of the panel mount and the cable entry for you.

 

Thank you.
It looks as like you used a flexible panel and greater than 100W output.

 

Yea that works, nice rig.

 

ALLPOWERS 100W 18V 12V Flexible Solar Panel Charger(with ETFE Layer, MC4 connectors) Semi Bendable Water-Resistant Solar Charger for RV, Boat, Cabin, Tent, Car, Trailer, Other Off Grid Applications

Here is the exact solar panel. It is flexible but I got it because of the special coating it has to allow more input in low light. It is just a 100W but it does great in cloudy or tree covered areas which I am in a lot.