RSI Smart Cap

Ah, right you are. People have reported freezing, people (myself included) are concerned about rusting.

 

I did read through everything, I was just looking for more info and wanting to find out how it holds up long term. I appreciate your response. It seems that any canopy is not going to be perfect, I just have to decide which is worth spending money on.

 

I did see this about the locks, which solves one issue. Will the replacements also open and close from the inside?

 

From what we understand, yes.

 

Anybody have an iKamper 2.0/2x on a DCSB? Any foreseeable issues with the RSI load bars?

 

Mine were definitely starting to rust in the locks after the first snowstorm of road salt. So quickly did they start to corrode in fact, that I thought I was going to break off a key trying to unlock them. I only had the cap through 1 snowstorm but the locks are definitely garbage. I’ve kept them oiled since which seemed to be a temporary fix through what was left of winter.

 

wanted to provide another update to the thread about how my cap is performing.

It is now leaking through the third brake light and also another spot on the roof. The window gaskets seem to be working. But man is it frustrating getting leak after leak after leak. I plan to use my pulley system today and seal the truck bed and rest of the cap up over the next few days.
I hope I can actually seal things up. I just got back from a camping trip and of course it snowed and rained on our trip to the desert....so my pillow got soaked and so did some bags and other things. Extremely frustrating to me. We had to get a hotel to let things dry out and not freeze inside of our tent at night.

 

Any way you can mount maxtrax or anything to the inside roof of the cap?

 

How far apart are the mounting holes for the max track?

Running two pieces of 1/2" a 1" rectangle aluminum down the caps of the mounting holes. It would bolt to the underside of the cap, then you had two additional holes for the mounting pegs.

https://maxtraxus.com/product/maxtrax-mkii-mounting-pins/

 

You would have to fab something up but could do it easily.

 

Do you still have the FR load bar kit in stock? I'd like to order one.

 

PM Sent

 

Any tips on the bed cap removal? Do they just pop off when pulled?
I plan to use some sealant to prevent leaks and a bit as bedding compound... Did you do the same with the tailgate plastic cap?

 

It just takes a pull to get them off. Start at the rear and work each clip out going forward.

 

I keep going back and forth between getting the EVO Sport or a new Leer cap that's around $800 CAD (~$640 USD) cheaper. I understand that both could have faults, but if both are gonna have faults, maybe the one that's a couple hundred cheaper sounds like the better idea. Does anyone regret getting the SmartCap or even with it's faults, still prefer it over a cheaper fiberglass cap?

 

I had fiberglass before on my F-250. It cracked in certain places and weighed a ton.

I wouldn't go back to fiberglass especially now that I have a vehicle that I plan to take into the back country to places I couldn't fit my F-250 in. I don't want the flex of the fiberglass and the cracking that ensues.

The gullwing side windows are the best thing about the RSi. I camped this last weekend and being able to access the entire bed without climbing in and out of the bed is awesome. I know you can get a fiberglass shell with the side windows but the options are more limited, the side windows are usually much smaller and I never liked the look of them as much.

I've only had mine on for a month and a half and it's a relatively new product so I may have a completely different take on it after a year and I get a chance to see how it really holds up.

 

Yes, i just started putting from the rear and work my way forward. Came out super easy.

I used high density weather striping under the bed caps and ran a bead of chauking where the composite bed meets the bed cap (had to remove the rails to do this). I also removed the header rail and ran wearher stripping un that as well. I used butyl tape to fill in the gaps between the header rail and front besides.

I used a tailgate seal to seal the sides of the tailgate and had enough left over that i ran it across the bottom of the tailgate also. I still need to run some butyl tape on the lower edges by the tailgate where my bedside supports are.

I realize it will never be totally water tight but hoping to keep most of the wayer and dust out.

 

One thing to consider is the freezing issues people have talked about. I see you're talking about (CAD) so I'm assuming you live up north. I haven't had the issue of freezing since I left Edmonton and now live in San Diego. The new latches that RSi is potentially changing them to may not have this issue.

 

Oh that's a good thing to consider, thanks! I live in BC so I'll definitely be seeing a lot of rain and snow. I did hear about the new latches that RSI was coming up with! That would've been something I would need to get because I plan to camp out of the truck bed, and I'm hearing that you're unable to lock/unlock the latches from the inside. If I do get the EVO Sport, hopefully by the time the temperatures drop below freezing the new latches would be here.

 

I've never had a fiberglass cap, just this, though I did get quotes from the main manufacturers. What I found was in order to get similarly spec'd caps from fiberglass manufacturers, I would have saved around $200-600 (pre taxes), but waited 8-12 weeks (quoted, so it would have likely been longer). With an RSI, I would have paid slightly more, but gotten it in a week or two shipped straight to my door rather than waiting 3 months and saving a few bucks. As they say, time is money, and I loathe having money tied up for a product I don't yet possess. Granted, this isn't really the case anymore as SmartCaps are back ordered until I think I saw August?

All that said, the only real annoyance I have is increased road noise - I think the positive pressure vent is whistling. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this. I may be unique in experiencing this as a "problem" because I do not have any roof racks, either on the cap or roof itself.

I am concerned about the latches rusting as I mentioned in a previous post. I would suggest that if the latches freezing/rusting or being accessible from the inside are a priority to you, either wait until they release the new latches to purchase your cap, or accept that you may have to purchase them separately and feel comfortable replacing them yourself. Having worked in product development, the marketing timeline is rarely the engineering/manufacturing timeline so if they are estimating end of year, it could very realistically end up being this time next year before they become available. I say this based on my experience, not a statement of RSI. They may be more on the ball than companies I've worked for.