Hondo Garage's New Thing

IMO, since the roof is translucent, black vinyl on the inside would heat the roof and cause the interior to be hotter. I like the diffused quality of the light passed through the white roof especially on cloudy days.

 

The translucent roof is actually a big plus to me as well. Stays cool enough inside and the natural light is awesome. No need for a lighting kit during the day and the way light reflects from the inside a small light source can be pointed at the roof and light the whole camper at night. Personally, I love the roof.

 

Has anyone here actually purchased / traded spots with another person on the leaderboard. How did you handle that? Just send an email and have them associate an order number with different contact info? Seems like something GFC would want to discourage in the long term.

 

Like this? (Was cleaning out the interior before the next trip, don’t mind the urban sprawl)

 

I have done this twice. Once to buy a spot and then again to sell my original spot. I just emailed support and cc’d the buyer. GFC asks for confirmation from the buyer and once confirmed, the spot is transferred.

 

I'd love to see some close ups (if you have any) of the mounting points for that solar panel. I'm looking to do exactly the same thing.

 

rocket_scientist:
I like the looks of your solar panel install. Would you provide some detail on the mounting hardware you used and how you routed the cable into the camper?

 

I used some aluminum angle for both the 4 brackets (attached to the extrusion with 2 GFC nuts each) and the cross beams that the panels (50 watt Renogy panels) are bolted to with 1/4-20 bolts. The panels are wired using a 2-1 combining MC4 connectors that feed into 10gage wire. The wire is routed down the front panel of the camper then inside the frame rails to the engine compartment. The solar panel wires are connected to a CTEK 250 that feeds into my aux battery. The CTEK has a built in MPPT controller and I have had plenty of power to stay charged constantly here in the rainy winter we have had (the fridge is always connected and running). I will try to remember to grab some photos tomorrow when its not dark and drizzling...

 

Nice, thanks. So the CTEK 250 will also charge the house battery off of the alternator (when running) and automatically switch to solar when parked?

 

Do all campers have these little tabs for zip ties to hold wiring for the 3rd brake light or was that just on the older models?

 

I think its just older models. Mine is zip tied to the frame.

 

It can use either or both depending on conditions.

 

Mine doesn't have the zip tie brackets. That's a nice touch.

 

Is there a place I can pass some wires through to install a light on the lower track on the outside of the camper?

Like the one on TacoDusts truck...
If I remember right they did enternally route his wiring in the frame. I just want to know if there is an easy pass thru.

 

I believe they custom modded @Tacodust 's setup. The only standard pass through on the extrusion I'm aware of is for the third brake light. You may be able to use that. @Jim Bob added lights to his and may have better input on how to wire them through.

 

Officially in production! Two months ahead oh schedule. Home stretch now, gents!

Ordered: 8/29/18
Estimated start date: 5/20/19
Actual start date: 3/21/2019

 

Where did you mount your CTEK? Curious because it looks like the engine bay may not be the best place for it

 

I don't know if this is worth mentioning or not, but, if I've been reading the leader board right, GFC accomplished the interesting feat this week of completing -1 campers. Since they increased production dramatically the previous three weeks it's probably safe to assume they'll produce more than -4 for the coming month.

 

I believe they do not count certain statuses as completed such as “ready to ship”. Last week the -1 you mentioned was because a camper went from either “completed” or “ready for pickup” to “ready to ship”. However I am not sure why the curing process seems to have taken more than a week for ~9-10 of them.

 

I've counted "complete," "ready for pickup," "ready to ship" and "shipped" to arrive at the completed number for each week and have come up with the same numbers shown on the leader board: 164 last week and 163 this week. There's lot's of possible unknowns not reflected by the leader board: Are they keeping it up-to-date? Are they making adjustments to production, etc.? So, the leader board is fun for me since I'm getting close and I watch the numbers with some anticipation, but I assume they're not gospel. I just didn't anticipate GFC un-completing a camper for their weekly production.