Hondo Garage's New Thing

This.

Black + Desert = Pain

 

I need something that’ll match well with my next truck which wont be silver. Black is pretty universal, where grey isn’t. I’d want to photoshop white if anyone has a pic!

 

Looks like no completed campers this week. Mines been in progress for a few weeks now. Elise said they are waiting on mattress foam and tent material. Im sure when that gets in a bunch of campers will be complete, including mine.

 

It’s crazy how fast you can save when you really want something

 

Helped move my cousin to UC Davis from our homes in Orange County.

Fully loaded (the GFC is awesome for adding secure space, picture attached), 4 people, bike on the back on a hitch rack.

Other than little bits of traffic, cruise control whenever possible, did between 65 and 75 the whole way, including over the grapevine.

18.6 mpg calculated for the drive up. I find this more than acceptable given the load and maintaining speed up the grapevine. We never held up traffic, though we where never the fastest either.

We'll see if it's better on the way home basically empty.

Also, yes, my teenaged cousin and her parents over packed...by a lot. They actually wanted to bring more

 

That’s damn good. I can only do 50mph or so over the pass...Slow and steady wins the race up that hill!

 

Switched to S-mode on the hill and would downshift manually to 4th and 5th to keep 65mph up and over the hill .

I truly think limiting your acceleration, staying out of WOT situations is what saves gas. You don't need a lot of throttle to climb in 4th, and the instant mpg meter shows that it's not using that much more gas than when on the flat.

 

Are you running 265's? As soon as switching to 285's, my gas mileage dropped significantly to roughly 13-14mpg (which I knew was going to happen).

 

Yes. Still on stock tires.

I did the big tire thing on the Jeep I had before this.

I won't be doing it on this truck because of what you're experiencing .

At most I'll go 265/75r16 .

 

Yup. I ran 285’s for a bit and switched back to 255/75. Saves me ~2 or 3 mpg

 

I went 265/75r16 and it is a nice balance. Truck looks good and no rubbing. I would recommend that size. The most I will go is a skinny 33 but probably stick here for the next 40-45k miles at min.

 

Tall skinnies.... do it! Lol

I love my 255 85 R16’s but having just purchased a new car for the wife I inherited her old one so now the Taco doesn’t need to be daily driver practical anymore.... the skinny tires don’t seem to hurt AS bad though plus no need to cut/ weld/ and hammer your truck.

How’s the trip planning coming?

 

I am waiting to see what a few different shipping options looks like. Current plan is to do 1 of 2 options, so narrowed it down a little bit.

1. Ship GFC and do the Rimrocker trail, Moab, Lockhart basin trail, Valley of the Gods, 4 Corners Monument and come home. More days exploring, less days driving hwy.
2. Pick up GFC in person, go to Mammoth Springs campground, drive around the outside of Yellowstone, check out Grand Teton, explore Moab and/or Lockhart basin, Rimrocker trail, head home. Longer days on the hwy and about 50/50 hwy days to exploration days.

The wife doesnt mind either way so the planning is up to me.

 

My girlfriend and I decided to pick up the camper, go to Yellowstone, up to Glacier, then back home.

I like the Moab route idea though.

 

Camping in cold climates - Does the GFC have anything to help with condensation? Just thought about it this morning. Haven’t heard anything so far and it’s the #1 thing I currently struggle with in roof top tents and such.

 

Not that I see.

My Autohome Columbus with the vent at the peak of the tent seemed to be better. That tent would condense only when it was really cold .

I've noticed a bit of condensation in the GFC just hanging out at the beach once the sun went down.

 

There was some posts about this very early on. I believe it was said that there is enough airflow through the extrusions when closed that the GFC will dry out as you drive.

 

More of my worry is condensation when sleeping. In my past tents, I’ve woken up by water dripping on my face from condensation.

Maybe this will be better since I can run a Mr. Buddy heater in the truck bed and the hot air will rise.

 

Yeah, I am coming from GA so getting the GFC ans heading to Moab makes logistical sense but I dont want to get caught up driving a bunch of hwy and miss out either. I will have a plan an inevitably alter it en route.

 

Don't know where you're at with your build, but I've run Lockhart a few times, and found it to be much more difficult this spring than it has been in the past. Would recommend 33s/skids/sliders.

It is an awesome trail though!

I found this not to be the case. Camped on a rainy night in WY and drove 8 hours home. Tent was wet when I opened it up. I don't see how it can dry out when it's folded over itself several times.