Hondo Garage's New Thing

That makes sense. I believe at one time it was a claim made by the manufacturer. Is my perceived reduction in condensation just the placebo effect? It's quite possible. I will be the first to admit I am not smart enough to explain the science beind such claims.

 

Wow, what a small world. I will definitely check out all those places in the future. This time I’m only staying in Lewiston for a family gathering. I don’t even have my truck with me. Hopefully I can make it out here with a GFC soon! Still waiting on mine, but I’m 300 something on the leaderboard...

 

My experience matches @PNW Explorer . No leaks from the gfc into the sleeping area or truck box. Only one good downpour though, plus a pressure wash. I haven’t had to make any adjustments to get it this way.

If only I sealed the front corners of the bed rails better

 

I have family in Lewiston as well and probably visit once a year. There's a little bbq shack down by the river that's pretty great. The ladies that work there are good people too.

 

@wileydavis Any thoughts into releasing just the canopy without a tent? There aren't a lot of options outside of the standard fiberglass Leer/ARE/Snugtop offerings outside of Alucabs canopy.

 

Pt. 2 of the ultimate Mountain bike rig

 

If I shoot you a pic of my truck can you do a black and a gray on it for me? Trying to decide. And I've seen @YOTA 4X4 truck in the flesh.. The black on the MGM is boss

 

I hope they are treating the inside of the steel tubes with Boeshield, FrameSaver or similar. Possibly even ED coating them before the powdercoat. This problem has been solved with steel bicycles many decades ago.

 

GMAN! I want to make my GFC into a mountain bike rig!! With a slide out for my bike (fork mounted, lowered dropped post).

Can I come check out your set up? I’m in San Diego as well. I would love to see your rig in person.

 

Did you end up getting this sorted out? I noticed some rust after washing my camper. there was rust in the sliding latches.

 

They began treatment at the factory after the first 40 or so. Mine was number 41 and did not get any treatment at the factory so I did mine when it arrived. @wileydavis has said on here previously it’s being done during assembly but should be kept up on as required. I used fluid film

 

Fluid film adds a nice smell to the camper. I just sprayed my frame, cross members, control arms, trailer hitch and a few other things yesterday.

 

Sure thing. That tray to the left slides out about 4 feet, I have some fork mounts that I need to bolt in. It’s about 90% done

 

@slowboater I used one of these from Amazon
Cllena Dual USB Socket Charger 2.1A&2.1A + LED Voltmeter + 12V Power Outlet + ON-OFF Toggle Switch Four Functions Panel for Car Boat Marine RV Truck Camper Vehicles GPS Mobiles (Red)
just running off truck battery with an inline fuse, spliced a negative from the taillight, ran wires under the bed rail and then behind that insulation to the panel. Pos/neg starts at one end of the panel and loops down the line to tie everything in. Its been working well, that switch on the left controls the lower led strip and I have power running up to the tent area with another led on a dimmer. If thats not super clear I can grab some photos

 

Let me send you a PM tomorrow. Excited to see someone with the same intent on their build!

 

I'm in Atlanta too! And yes, it sucks here. I sold my house in Ormewood Park this year and am waiting for my GFC to then quit and go drive around for 6 months. I was just up in Asheville this long weekendand got back late last night. Was planning on 30miles of the Art Loeb trail. After my second day I came across three guys, one injured and I had to help them back down the mountain and to their car. One guy was out of water, two were low and I gave them water (even though they were initally heading into an area that i read had little to no water for a long while). one guy split open his shoe and I had to give him duct tape, and he also sprained his ankle so badly he kept falling and sliding. I had us all drop our bags and take his pack weight and I had to give him my trekking poles. It was "fun" coming down with them and at least they learned some stuff. I did end up driving up to black balsam the next day (even though I was supposed to hike there). If you have any hiking trail recs, let me know as I want to keep hiking up there! I have a cabin in North GA by Neel's Gap and am tired of those trails. Also I'm going up to Nooga on December 1st for a monthly off-road Meetup, hit me up if you are interested in joining!

 

Word! Looks like we were neighbors then, Ormewood Park is less than 1 mile from me. I live just down Flatshoals, righ before the Bouldcrest/Flatshoals split. Small world...for sure I am down to kick it at your next rally or a hike. I am headed up to NC on Wednesday, it will be snowing up there..so I got to get into some of that! You should drop by my place and check out my yota collection, or gear I have for sale. I have built a lot of Landcruisers out, my best friends have a shop intown for Offroad (ACC Garage was ACC Toyota). Also used to work as a Buyer for HighCountry so I got more gear than I know what to do with.
I will PM you with my contact info. Let’s kick up some dirt!
That’s awesome of you for helping out those hikers. That’s what it’s all’s about, I know you were a life saver to them.
JB

 

Thank you @harbs89 . Funny thing is that I bought all the pieces to do this when a local west marine went out of business. but, it seems it's less expensive to just buy a set already put together... guess I'll have some extra parts kicking around.

 

Over the weekend I had the chance to gain a little experience with two popular topics from this thread: Water intrusion and cold weather GFC camping.

I left Seattle on Friday afternoon driving into one of those west slope downpours that make is so green around here. Between North Bend and Ellensburg it was either dumping rain or snow depending on the elevation.

I was not surprised to find when i got to camp that things were damp in the back. I have a bed rug that provides some good insulation and generally makes things comfortable, but it also soaks up the water that's coming in through the topper.

I have documented the water intrusion issues i've been experiencing and Graeme reached out to me via email. The guys at GFC are working on a solution and i'm happy. During heavy rain I'm basically seeing water drip very steadily off the top of the spaceframe and onto the interior sides of the truck bed in the back four inches of the camper. This is not an issue when the tent is set up, and the mattress has never been wet as a result of this water intrusion.

We didn't see the cold temperatures i was expecting, but i think it was in the mid 20s over night. This was our first time camping with the reflectix insulation i had installed in the side panels and the little buddy heater i picked up last week. I was impressed by how warm this setup was able to make the upstairs, but clearly i need to improve air circulation to actually help the dogs out down below. I typically hang out with the dogs for a while before going to bed. Next time i may put all of the bed panels in to reduce the amount of space that the little buddy is heating.

I was also impressed by how much of a difference it made to put up the piece of reflectix i have cut for the rear door. I cut this piece to intentionally overlap on the sides and bottom by several inches. With some velcro tabs to hold it in place this felt like the most significant improvement, largely because it was stopping a lot of cold air from coming in around the various rear door and tailgate junctions.

I would have been more comfortable if the bedrug hadn't been holding as much moisture at the beginning of the trip, but we were ultimately plenty comfortable in conditions that i frankly would have avoided with my previous setup.

Here are a couple photos:

 

Fits like a glove! Should be able to fit two bikes in there. When the bikes are removed the tray can also be a big table.