Hondo Garage's New Thing

The threaded bosses go about halfway into the tube. If you use the aerosol can of Boeshield or fluid film, you can bend the straw so it points down the tube. Wouldn't need more than a spritz once or twice a year. We do recommend keeping the plug bolts in the accessory holes if you're not using them. We spray them from the factory now, along with the tube that houses the latch pins, but since that area is exposed I'd recommend hitting that with boeshield or fluid film more often depending on the conditions you use it in. A small amount of surface rust isn't much cause for concern but there is a small amount of maintenance involved. I'm working on an owner's manual that will cover maintenance, repair, and use best practices.

 

Have you done this already?

 

I fogged mine good with fluid film pushing the straw left and right, in each hole worked just fine. Like Wiley said they fog them from the factory now. Though that was the first mention of them being done again after some time.

 

Frequency depends on a lot of factors. If you live in a dry climate and never remove the accessory plugs, then you'd probably never need to re-apply. If you frequently drive through ocean water in Baja you might want to re-apply every trip

 

Longer term production option is dip tanks of degreaser, then rinse, and primer. Adds considerable investment to production costs.

 

Are the new versions coming with sealed Southco latches? I know mine are not sealed. Doesn’t bother me too much though. As I’ve said my tent portion has been 100% dry. I don’t store anything in my bed that can’t be subjected to a tiny bit of moisture. If it’s something that crucial I put it in the bed of my double cab or the drawers of my Decked with are 100% dry

 

The latches aren’t sealed? I thought it’s supposed to be rain resistant?

 

It is. I’ve had my in very very hard rain. And while it’s not 100%. It blocks 99.9% of moisture. It is still a truck bed.

 

Could the latches be sealed retroactively with fabricated rubber seals? My rig will never be in a garage so it would be nice if I didn't have to deal with persistent slow leaks all winter in the Northwest.

 

Mine haven’t leaked in rain. Pressure washing will force a small amount of water around the latch. You could run a bead of silicone sealant around the perimeter of the latch body inside the panel to seal it better.

 

We switched to sealed latches. They’re just not readily available in quantity so it took us a while to get them in. The downside to the sealed latch is that you can’t modifynit with an internal pull. But new campers going out do have sealed latches.

As noted, it’s the same style and size latch. And both are southco.

 

What build number did this start on? Im #94 on the leaderboard.

 

What’s the part number for the new latches, in case those of us with the old want to upgrade?

 

@crazysccrmd is in Alaska I think... so it might be raining sideways most of the year.... lol, seriously though for the rest of us it’s almost a none issue. It’s not like it’s a hole in the canopy. You can just see light around it, I have not noticed much water from there, it’s worse through the tailgate for sure....

I can see guys who wanna button things up as tight as possible. But this isn’t a large leak point by any means.

 

There’s a lot of latches in the C2 series on Southco’s website, looked through them but wasn’t sure which is the correct version. Leaking hasn’t been an issue for me but it wouldn’t hurt to know what the upgraded replacement is in case I need to swap one out.

 

Hmm... it’s hard to see in that photo. Look at the inside of mine. The seal defitnely looks off to me..

 

It’s glued onto that bed panel like that.

 

I don’t have the sealed latches. Not a problem in rain. My only leak after driving through rain today is the front bedside corners.

 

GFC#2 here so I don't have any upgrades. I've camped in heavy rain and experienced no leaks from the tent. I also have the now discontinued roof fan and it did not allow any water in either. I originally had a little leak from the seal at the the front overhang but after some adjustment of the seal, that has gone away.

I'm in North Carolina and we seem to have become a hurricane magnet. Earlier this week I had the misfortune of driving about 2 hours through Hurricane Michael and I estimate I had about one tablespoon of water inside the camper. A touch at the front overhang seal, a little more at the front bed gaps and mostly around my tailgate. Two out of three of these had nothing to do with the GFC. All in all, not bad!

 

Where are you at in NC? Would love to see one in person.