Hondo Garage's New Thing

Anyone selling your place on the leaderboard? PM me!

 

I realize that this is a 1st world problem. My GFC is in assembly. But every time I enter a parking garage with less than 80" of clearance I keep thinking about what I'm going to do with my truck once I add another 6" onto the overall height (I have a BP-51 lift/suspension). Anyone else live in a city and have to deal with this problem? I don't really love the idea of having to take the canopy on and off on regular basis.

 

I think you should just sell me your spot.

 

First time post. I don't have a Tacoma, but this by far has the most info on a GFC. This is where I found out about them. Really enjoy reading along and seeing the mods you all have come up with.

Camper 203

Ordered 8/13/18

Order confirmed 8/21/18 with estimated start of build 3/18/19

In production 2/14/19

Ahead of schedule for me, sweet!

So my wife wants me to get some kind of fridge, and I'm thinking a Dometic 40. I'm trying to figure out how to power it, and don't want to set up a dual battery system. I was thinking of getting a Goal Zero power pack and a 100W solar panel to run the fridge. Get it cold at home or from the alternator on the road, then just use the power pack to keep it at temp. Do the lithium batteries play nice with those fridges? I've read some people have had issues due to the lower voltage the lithiums run at? Do I need a lead acid power pack?

 

Depending on the runtime you need, you can run it off the main battery. That’s what I do. I typically don’t need more runtime than overnight but I could go 24 hours off the stock battery, I haven’t tried yet with my new battery.

 

Agreed, I have had 3 different fridges in 3 different rigs over the years. Never had a dual battery. I do however recommend upgrading the starting battery, I’ve run Odyssey’s for years but I know there are other great options. And buy one of those little lithium jump packs just in case. Way cheaper than a dual set up an keep the weight down too.

 

Yep that’s exactly what I did. Put a 27f x2 power (North Star) main battery and have a noco jump back behind the rear seats. Running an arb elements 63

 

The Goal Zero units are nicely designed but the lithium chemistry used does put it in the low DC voltage category. 3S (Cell Chemistry: Li-ion NMC Peak Capacity: 1045Wh (10.8V, 96.8Ah)).

Changing the low voltage settings on the fridge may help?

 

I use a high quality yeti. No energy required! Lasts for days. With good ratio of food/drinks to ice it will keep everything cold for 5+ days.

 

I hear you, I work in downtown Seattle and my truck no longer fits in the parking garage at my building.

Luckily I can typically ride the bus to work and use Lyft to get to appointments during the day.

We also have a Nissan Leaf which is a much better around town vehicle. It’s not uncommon for our truck to sit in the driveway four days a week.

 

I got tired of dealing with coolers. My fridge is so much nicer to use, is the same dimensions as a similar capacity Yeti and wasn't much more money. It also holds way more food/beer because there's no need for ice.

 

Has anyone tried using their ladder system with just the rear opening and a normal tailgate? Or, does it only work with the optional side window?

 

Unless you want to leave your truck off for days at a time, you’ll be fine running it off the main battery. I can go about 3 days without running the truck before my ARB fridge low voltage shut off cuts it in.
They are also dual voltage, so I run an extension cord out to the fridge and plug it in when I’ll be parked for a while and want to keep it cold.

 

Much more to come but here is a sneak peak. Full update to come once I have the pictures uploaded.

 

Well, the official kinsmen hardware awning install was yesterday. I drove up to SC to their shop for the test fitting and overall install. I cant say enough good tings about this couple and their products. I would highly recommend you pick yours up in person if time allows, its was a great experience to see how they produce the awning from the ground up and how they're working hard to get this awning released with the highest quality they can produce. I am very impressed with the awnings quality and strength, as you can see from the photos. This should be the last awning I need to buy. The official release is soon (this spring or sooner) and he is still working on price point since they're are still nailing down some details. Much like GFCs, Kinsmen is working to continuously improve they're product and provide great customer service. I would not hesitate to buy from them again and I can not wait to really put the awning through its paces and get a long term review out.

Matthew is going to make some small tweaks but overall he has the bracket design nailed down and it is super stout, as you can tell from his hanging off of it. We made sure to hang from the bar that put the most leverage on the mounts and they held up great.

Full disclaimer: I am not sponsored in anyway, I just believe in these companies and love their products. I paid full price for what I have. I am not instafamous or a youtuber.

Awning link: https://www.kinsmenhardware.com/

 

You could add some aluminum foil tape to the backside of that cooking compartment to help with heat exposure. Standard practice for residential cooktop installation to mitigate damage to countertops, so not uncommon. Might help if you plan to use the same pan again.

 

Are there chaffing patches for where the awning/supports contact the panels?

 

-The rear panel lower rubber seal makes contact with the awning arm. You could add a patch of 3m tape or something but since its rubber on metal i didnt have him add that, although he did offer.
-The passenger side panel only makes contact with 1 bolt. He is going to have bolt thread covers (like what gfc has on their exposed mounting bolts) but he is also making some slight changes that would fix this issue. 1. Raise the awning up .5" to 1" higher. 2. Using shorter bolts so the thread isnt as exposed.

 

Awning mount looks good but I’m still a little uneasy with how much weight/stress is on the small aluminum washers held into small aluminum channels by very small bolts.

 

These awning mounts use a newly designed tnut that gfc has developed. They use a 1/4x20 bolt instead of the smaller size currently offered. Matthew at kinsmen also has a lot more bolt holes than what we are currently using. I currently have 3 mounts with 4 bolts per mount but I could use 6 bolts per side mount and 8 bolts on the rear mount (handles most of the load) if i wished.