Hondo Garage's New Thing

Good to see opinions about multiple campers side by side. Your info would be a good addition to this thread too: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wedge-life.603869/

 

Well said. The warranty issue doesn't give people the warm-and-fuzzies. They should have been much more clear up front about what the terms actually were/are.

The potential deal-breaker for me is the blaming customers for the hinges failing. The gfc team was either in too much denial, or didn't bother to investigate the issue far enough (not sure which is worse), when the issue is obviously a design problem. Which they've now come clean to. Fuck ups happen, that's part of this process of design-build-refine, and totally understandable. And with such small numbers of campers built, it was inevitable that something they didn't think of or test thoroughly would show up. But, they should be bending over backwards to make it right, and should take the money/time/social media hit to do so. The impression I get (and I admit, I could be wrong) is that cranking out more campers is the priority instead.

 

Quantity has always been their biggest advertisement, and it’s worked. That’s what is most quoted and pointed out by the base as to why they’re better than Brand X, Y, and/or Z.

 

Measuring the success of the various camper companies against each other is pointless.

Is it the company with the lowest cost? Most features? Most units sold? Shortest lead time? Stays in business the longest? Lowest failure rate? Fastest setup time? Fastest take down time? Most jobs created? Highest paid workers? Most satisfied customers? Highest percentage of satisfied customers? Best brand recognition? Most profitable company?

It is completely valid to debate which product is best for each use case where livability, cost, weight, reliability, customer support, features, etc matter. Each company offers a different take on design to fit different use cases, price points or market niches.

If any of the companies go out of business, it is understandable that warranty support goes away. When they are in business and selling new units, it is not unreasonable to expect that they stand behind their product and honor the warranty that was expressed at the time of purchase.

Changing the terms post sale leaves us hanging in the wind like a panel dangling on a gas strut.

I don’t believe most of us are asking for anything excessive from GFC. We just want the defective portions made right in a way that doesn’t penalize us further.

I agree. Although it doesn’t take a highly experienced engineer to see that a continuous hinge on a non planar surface and subjected to uneven forces might fail.

For GFC, they are happy to pickup and drop off warranty work at THEIR convenience and OUR cost. This is despite the defective product delivered that is not the fault of the customer. This is not bending over backwards for customers, this is bending the customer over. This is in effect punishing us for receiving a defective unit. It is double jeopardy.

 

They have known about this issue since before August according to posts here and on their forum. It is disappointing they have not proactively contacted those with potentially problematic builds after all these months. GFC still had time to brag about how awesome the campers are on social media while cranking out builds.

Instead we are in a reactionary situation with failures popping up sporadically that potentially could have been addressed proactively.

 

GFC will do a Product Improvement Tour (PIT) according to their announcement. It will involve hinge replacement and sealing. All the right comments are being made, let’s hope it works out.

 

Another “as long as we’re still in business” quote from GFC. Reassuring as usual. Also, they say 5-6 hrs to do the repair in the shop, how is a mobile setup only going to need 3 hrs for the same work in less ideal conditions?

 

I agree there are many details that make me nervous. Beside what you mention, tube replacements only available if there is enough stock to not disrupt manufacturing new units.

To me, this is their last chance to get it right. The problem is it may take a year or two to know if fixes work. The first hinge failures were reported after about a year.

 

Also curious how “grinding down the space frame to remove imperfections..” is going to get refinished in the field, since the frame is steel and there are custom powder coating colors around.

How do those spots get touched up, and with what?

 

The pictures I've seen that show the weld beads intruding on the seals look fairly easy to grind down. It looks like those areas would be covered with the new sealant and not visible so a simple primer/paint combo would probably work.

 

But 3 hrs? Seems like you’d get wet paint under fresh sealant and then keep the doors shut for a week.

 

Anyone experience leaking through the space frame/tent attachment bolts? It’s only on the driver rear right.it rained for two days straight in TN so that obviously didn’t help but just curious if anyone has experienced this. It’s camper #409

 

Yeah I noticed how off it was compared to the others, currently have an email out to warranty and see if they’ve experienced it. Will definitely be getting some water displacement spray in there

 

You don’t happen to know the torque specs for those bolts do you?

 

Are those bolts epoxied in place? If those are welds, I'd be ashamed to ship those as a finished product...

 

To me the first pic looks like water all along the space frame so could just be water dripping off bolt head as they are the low point. I'd do what ace7196 mentioned and loosen a bolt and see if water comes out.

 

I don’t know if leaking is normal, but many have had enough water intrusion there for the bolts to corrode. I have this issue. One of my bolts is off center as well.

I would have hoped by build 400 some of these issues were no longer occurring.

 

Quantity over quality
-GFC

 

That’s a damn shame because with their wait time, I don’t think they’ve mastered the quantity part either.

 

Since first delivery their average is at about one camper completed every two days which is a pretty good pace.