Hondo Garage's New Thing

Mine closes with all panels in with very little drama....

 

The snap is rad. I'm trying to find the sleeping footprint of it but can't find the dimensions on their website. It is pretty tall though and I have to park in a parking garage for work everyday so it would be cutting it super close. GFC definitely wins in the height department, love how low profile it is.

 

I was worried about garage height too. How much taller is the Drifter with the fan compared to a GFC? I haven’t seen either in person but I prefer the less bulky look of the GFC and it looks quite a bit thinner.

I agree with your points on the insulation and fan options with the Drifter but every time I started going down the heavier and bulkier path I kept thinking I’d rather go full size with a FWC or build out a Sprinter Van.

I think the GFC and a Tacoma is the best combination for me size and functionality wise right now. I might go with more creature comforts when I’m older though.

 

Super valid points. The GFC looks damn good.

 

Is this a common problem for anyone else? Leaking is a concern for me.

 

I was one of the early adopters and my truck sits outside (can't fit in the garage (yet) ). I've had zero issues with water intrusion. Its rained quite a bit here in the bat area and I've had it in the snow as well with no issues.

 

Full send

 

Wow that is full send! To be honest though, not a big fan of the cab rack they are testing. May go for a prinsu style rack that mounts to the cab. Need to get one short enough that it doesn’t interfere with the overhang from the GFC. May be tricky to find one of good length with a DCLB.

 

Yeah my Taco with 3” lift and 33’s with GFC is just below 7’ I have no limits on parking since I live in the Sticks and have 12ft garage doors but it’s super handy for saving money on Ferry’s and getting into tight spaces.

 

I think I had the same problem as you in the past. I used to keep mine In “bunk” mode with one square and an empty square area near the tailgate. Water would seep in and drip through the mesh tent door into the truck bed.
I hit up GFC and they told me I need to have panels in nearest the tailgate.
I did this and left one square in the middle.
Today, I went to clean it up for a trip and noticed a “wet gym bag” smell and realized the pad nearest the cab of the truck was damp and there was condensation on the inside of the roof and along the small bit of tent material located nearest the cab of the truck.
I also noticed leaking coming down from the attatched bed panel. It was a fairly constant small drip onto the wheel wells.
I wonder if this issues have to do with the unaligned gasket nearest the cab.
GFC said they will fix that for me on the next Portland run.
For now I’ll be leaving all panels in when I close the tent.
I will be hitting up the guys at GFC after the holidays to try and figure out a fix.
It doesn’t seem like this is an issue that effects everyone. Some people swear there stuff is water tight. Hopefully this is just the misaligned gasket.
The photo doesn’t really do much justice. I have video of the drip if anyone is interested.

 

I don’t think so. People swear their stuff is water tight. Northwest winters are very slow and wet though. I do have a misaligned gasket below the tent that will be fixed soon.

 

My GFC is 100% waterproof. Absolutely. What is NOT completely dry is the bed of my truck, however that doesn’t bother me a bit. The tent portion is completely dry both open and closed.

 

I didn’t have any water leaks this summer I can attribute to the GFC specifically. There’s a few areas around the bed in the front corners I need to seal up better. Now that it’s cold the gaskets along one side panel contracted enough that I can just see a little sliver of light between it and the frame. I’ll see how that works out once it’s warm enough for water to be a concern again.

My top was fairly simple to close with all the panels in place in the summer. Today it was -20° when I tried to close it and I had to leave the two small panels out because the tent material was so stiff it wouldn’t fold and collapse right. A Buddy heater putting out 9000BTU on high doesn’t do a lot for keeping it warm at that temp either.

 

Another thing I noticed using the bed panels in couch mode - the cushions were still soft even though it was extremely cold. The mattress in my ARB RTT would get rock hard when temps dropped below +20°.

 

Yeah, good luck sealing the bed of a tacoma. I’m very aware of the short comings of the truck bed. I am dealing with some issues that are camper related for sure.
You saying your camper is 100% waterproof makes me feel like there might be something off with mine. Hopefully it’s the misaligned gasket.

 

I believe that’s not the cab rack. That’s the cantilever rack (which I don’t care for either). I believe they’ll be making cab racks that mount to the roof of the cab, independent of the gfc.

 

Ha yeah.... to be honest i didn’t even bother trying. I run Decked drawers for exactly that reason. They’re 100% waterproof so all my gear stays nice and dry. Any water intrusion runs down into the bed leaving me “high and dry” so to speak.

To be honest though now, my GFC is parked inside my garage (heated) so I can’t speak to water leaks when below freezing. My truck is waiting till spring to come back out.

 

Nice, I like seeing rack set ups on these campers. But I'm wondering why you mounted them so far forward as opposed to more centered on the roof. I'm about to put on mine as soon as i pick up some new bars, so am starting to think about the positioning of them. I could be wrong but from the pics it looks like the bars are uncapped, I know I've had bars in the past that started rusting with no caps. Yakima sells pack of four for $10 but I just go to hardware store and get heavy duty crutch/cane tips for like a buck apiece and they last a long time.

 

Placing it all the way forward helps with keeping the tent open. If you had weight near the tailgate end the struts would have trouble holding it up.