GoFastCamper GFC Mods, Tips, and Tricks thread.

Oh. Got ya. Sorry I had a retard moment there. For some reason I was thinking you meant help you pull the tent down or the weight would help it close. Haha.

Yeah I see what you’re saying. I have 2” mattress pads and a ton of space between.

 

This is what I’ve been planning all along.
Only I’m not going to put the plate on the outside only the inside.
I don’t want to have to seal the extra plate and have more leak potential than what is necessary. However this might need to be done with the 3” bedding and old tent material to help with clearance.

I’m going to nyloc the bolts on the inside. Plate on the inside will be 1/2” thick to make up for our loss on the what we thought was a 1” roof.

As far as poking the bed cover, I think the shroud will cover the nuts on the inside.

I’m just not a crazy about the idea of running a screw into that thin of material on the top and bottom because in the center it doesn’t have anything to grab ahold of.

Side note: I’m stoked on how much headway we’re making here on this project. Before we know it we’ll all have nice vent fans.

 

Here is how I installed the fan today.
1. Mark the hole.


2. Cut hole.


3. Be surprised because you expected 1" thick, not 1/2" thick.


4. Test fit.


5. Mark holes for bolts (I marked the fan so the tee nuts would be covered up on the inside by the trim peice).


6. Drill holes in fan and roof.


7. Test fit fan and tee nuts.




8. Remove everything and clean the surface for install.


9. Install sticky stuff. I used double sided tape and silicone.



10. Place fan in the hole, put tee nuts in through the bottom of the holes, and then install the bolts through the top of the fan and tighten. (no pics of this, had my hands full)

11. Clean up silicone mess.

12. Install trim following the directions that come with the fan.

13. Wire the fan however you want.

14. Enjoy fan.




I also made a wind deflector that I'll install and post pictures of tomorrow.

 

Holy shite - is that how little material there is with the tent closed? The new tent material must be 1/3 of the rubberized stuff on my '1st gen'. Wow - that really is a game changer. I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing to make sure I can get mine shut. No way there's a spare inch inside there (3" cushions).

 

Pretty much. Except for in the rear. I reached into the slot I cut in the two smaller panels and just pulled it back towards the rear a bit.

 

Seems like with the new fabric/panels you can just stack the rear panels to the middle and move the middle mattress to the front of cab area so you can leave the entire fan area open for ventilation while closed.

 

I don’t think that will work. Lol
The smaller panels are actually around 3” thick I believe. 2” of foam and 1” of honeycombed plastic.
If you think about it most of the fabric actually stacks towards the rear since that’s where the highest peak is and most material.

There is only about 2” in the middle section between mattress and panel. Smashing it down another inch with fabric would be too hard. I will be able to run it closed if I ever need to since I cut 2” of each smaller panel.

 

Maybe you misunderstood. Take the 2" mattress on the middle panel and should be ~4 or so inches of room and place the squares on top of the black rectangle panel. Then put the rectangle mattress on the cab over portion. Pretty sure that works if that measuring tape is right?

 

It might fit but then you’d have nothing to keep the tent fabric from dangling down in the bed.

 

Oh I got ya. That might work. I can try later tonight if you’d like.

 

Won't matter for me lol. I have the og fabric and 3" mattress. Tent fabric looks on it's way out though and then will hopefully will get an upgrade; closing it is a royal pita currently. I have about 15-20 nights slept in it so far this summer. Mixed with the rusty tubes I'm using a mallet to close up the shop.

 

I don't see the issue #nowindows

 

Rusty tubes was actually a pretty easy fix for me. Disassembly and reassembly took about 10 minutes at most, the longest part was simply removing the rust via solvents and scraping/sanding. Although we shouldn't have to deal with that and I feel like they should have been aluminum from the beginning.

 

How did you remove the tubes? I unbolted the front tube sides and it didn't seem to budge at all. Looked like I was going to have to disassemble the entire corner. I just fluid filmed them for now and seems to be working. The rear pin clearance is so tight it just shoots it back out at me. And agreed on the aluminum, was a massive oversight on their part.

 

I unbolted all four bolts (if I recall the number correctly) in each corner, then took a mallet and knocked each corner outward with a piece of cardboard protecting the corner. I never completely removed the corner pieces, but simply knocked it out enough for the pressure fit tube to pop lose. Mine was relatively easy and didn't take more than a few hits with minimal force to pop the tube loose. Be careful when knocking it loose. I wasn't expected it to break free so easily so my tube fell and put a gash in my tailgate. The cab side tube was a different story. I gave up and left it as is.

Also, you mentioned tent upgrade. Are you planning to buy the new one or get a replacement?

 

Are they going to offer the new tent material for sale as a replacement to the old material? It seems it has a lot of benefits over the old material. Depending on cost of course.

 

Waiting for mine to fully break. My zipper handle for the bug screen broke off and literally no string fits inside, need to try a zip tie. When I was sitting out in 80-85° the outside main zipper was starting to unglue itself. Whatever glue they use doesn't like heat, and is more of a rubber cement than an epoxy. That and yanking down on the tent I'm sure will eventually rip LOL. Also am not pleased at all with the lack of seal between the tent and frame for the canvas. Bugs just get in between the buttons. If I have to take it off I'll be adding some foam to seal it. Loving that fan install, really want to do that, but doesn't looks very feasible with older fabric.

 

They already "offer" the tent upgrade. It's not on the website but you can contact them to place an order via invoice....I've been waiting for mine for a few weeks.

 

Not at all, literally glued on. See this guy's instagram as it's about the same as mine will turn in to: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqbQisgK9E/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link