Hondo Garage's New Thing

The side windows are small, but this is all part of the genius air-exchange design. Surprisingly, (when in hot environments) keep the rear large panel sealed, and open just the two sides. The breeze on yo face is unbelievable! If you are rolling solo, leave a floor panel/cushion or two at home and go "cabana" mode downstairs with a lower panel or two or three wide open for the ultimate aire-libre experience.

While at a music festival this summer, daytime temps were in the 90's before 10am. I was sleeping upstairs in my GFC well past 11am in total comfort while my friends in ground tents were sweated out hours before.

The white (insulated) roof, regardless of panel color, makes a huge impact on keeping the temps down in warmer environments.

The roof insulates so well that I noticed while camping outside of Barstow CA, (it was 100+/day, 50's/night) I would close up the GFC before sunrise, and up to 10 hours later, when I opened it up, it would be noticeably colder up top. Wonder how many beers I can fit up there....

 

Anyone out there give me the exact height of the roof rack mounts? What I mean is with the rack mounted to the extrusion how far above the extrusion does it stick up? I’m trying to keep my truck BELOW 7ft for some ferry crossings but I’m getting awful close now... @macdadmorgan ? I’m looking for a pretty exact measurement. Thanks all!!!!

 

A million thanks. That is EXACTLY what I needed. Nice.

 

My wife, two kids and I had a great time in Baja last week and thoroughly loved the GFC! The versatility of the design worked great for all of us to sleep in the truck and was also light enough that we were able to get back into areas that others could not.

Here are a few pics below and a few thoughts on using the GFC

1. I've been a ground camper for many many years and one thing I didn't see coming with having a bed so high above the ground, was the view!
2. Side door on the tent does make it harder to close due to there being more material, but we loved this option and I highly recommend getting a side door! It made for easy entry and exit after kids had gone to bed and was nice for access and looking out when using the GFC during the day.
3. Side door on the tent is awesome for access, but for airflow, GFC was right that having the smaller side windows open a bit at night created good airflow.
4. We used a foam mattress for the bed down below and we just rolled it up, with bedding inside during the day. This worked great for using the vertical space and the camper during the day.
5. Changing clothes and/or putting on my wetsuit while standing up in the back of my truck was nice. My wife and kids were fans of this changing space as well.
6. Sticking magnet LEDs all over the GFC frame was easy, cheap, and worked well for all kinds of situation situations.
7. One 10'6"paddle board, 3 longboards and one short board in cool weather seemed to be the limit for hoisting the roof. It stayed up all night without an issue, but it didn't go up as high as normal, so the tent walls were a little saggy.
8. Fully loaded with four people and boards on top of the GFC my average gas milage was 15. If I pushed my speed up to 75, I would drop down to 11.5. Normally I am about 16.6. Pre-GFC I was 18.
9. This truck is stock, except for Hondo Garage radio knobs and the GFC. Truck did really well with stock suspension, but I look forward to adding a bit more support in the future.
10. Fitted sheets from GFC were very nice. The material covering the bed cushion is very durable, but not very soft, so flannel sheets were good.

Bummer on the trip was my friend broke his leg and I needed to drive him many hours to a hospital. I left my wife and kids with another family for 24hrs on a dirt point away from anyone. It felt good knowing that they were well protected from the elements with our GFC while I was gone.

If you want all the comforts of a motor home, get a FWC or something heavier, but for our purposes both camping in remote areas and using the truck throughout the year, the GFC is ideal for us.

 

For those who debated Flippac vs. GFC, what was your selling point?

I’ve debated the two forever, and put a deposit on the GFC. Found an immaculate confition Flippac and am now debating forefitting my deposit.

I would save roughly $3,000 and have double the room. Makes the choice a little hard. The only thing I like really on the GFC is the ability to have a roof rack and an awning. Flippac would be hard to do that.

Edit: This is out of curiosity, not to start an entire debate on which company is better...We all know the build quality on a GFC is light years ahead.

 

Search this thread for flippac and you'll find some good info to consider.

 

Thank you, don’t know why i didn’t do that!

 

As mentioned do your research before committing to the Flippac. More space yes... but a few other things to considered. Might be why it’s for sale at a bargain?

 

Have you already purchased the roof rack mounts? I ask because GFC has been teasing a new roof rack system they will be testing shortly. They even mentioned built in solar capability. So personally I'm waiting to see their new solution.

 

No but the two are not at all mutually exclusive to me... i am looking at a rack on the Camper section for a canoe, SUP, and fishing rods... the front roof rack won’t help me at all but I am anxious to see what they come up with.

 

Perfect condition...Don’t know how. No fiberglass cracks near the hinges, etc. pretty rare.

 

i think the design of the gfc would be more stable in nasty weather like snow and heavy winds and easier to put away.

 

Yup. I remember putting on a Flippc fly wet on my buddies and it was a pain. Didn’t leak with it on though.

Pretty sure I just caught up reading about the GFC leaking

 

This is exactly the type of review I'm looking for. We're looking to purchase an additional vehicle in the next 12-18 months and a DCLB with GFC is on top of my wish list. The only difficulty will be that we have 3 vs 2 kids, though they're all young enough that the back of the DC shouldn't be too bad and neither of us are giants, so the LB box should fit everyone. My concern is total weight of ppl + gear for a trip like this. I've thought about the cost of a small teardrop that would have another enclosed bed space and also the kitchen supplies vs a larger truck as I don't think the fuel economy once you factor in all the weight would be all that different. The main difference would be daily driver with the larger truck. The math in my head is something like this Tacoma w/GFC + teardrop ~= Tundra w/GFC XL. Storage of the teardrop won't be an issue.

The alternative is something like a sprinter/transit conversion, though my wife thinks minivan + GFC tent may be a better option. Anyone else considering this? We currently have an outback and GTI which seems to work fine, but I think the outback even with a GFC tent may get a little tight and the seats don't exactly fold down flat enough for the kids to sleep in the back.

 

I don’t really get the GFC tent personally... it’s fast yes, and low yes, but small. Unless you’re hardcore wheeling, which by reading your post I’m guessing isn’t the case (sprinters are awesome but not really off road), wouldn’t an iCamper or something much larger be better? The tent GFC seems like the worst of both worlds (small and expensive), unless you need fast and low profile, in which case it’s literally unbeatable. Just my .02 but the standing room and livable space in a camper GFC is what makes it awesome.

 

Quigley NV3500 gasser is my dream vehicle... can take a serious lift, big tires, and tow close to 9500lbs with the tow package.... what’s not to love????

 

@I_eat_tacos this GM insanity isn’t affecting you I hope???

 

I know its been asked on here before but for those who have removed roof racks, what hardware did you use to fill in the mounting holes? I'll be using a sealant as well.

 

They mount into the extrusion tracks, no holes.

 

My bad I should have clarified. I meant when removing a roof rack from the truck. I have the factory rack and it won't fit under the overhang.