Lone Peak Overland

well said. The idea I have would be more than just a tie-in. It would almost be like an internal skeleton of sorts. Mainly creating a much more solid mounting point to the truck. Since the bed and other parts are connected to the frame creating a more solid connection that runs along with it would be a lot of work but would be more bomb proof in the end.

Also agreed on how the clamps work since they pull rather than a solid direct bolt. I would expect it with anything pulling on it which is my comment that I saw it even before I had the X1.

but yah we're def pushing it beyond any of the initial design testings I'm sure..... you know race truck. shit makes noise, shit brakes, we bitch about it, we fix it, we break it we make it better we repeat, and move on. I would have to say my immediate friends with X1 not everyone has issues but the other 2 were assholes and the X1 is not.

 

Hey guys, Kyle with Lone Peak here. First off @MR E30 thank you for your feedback and concerns. I'd love to get more of your input on the final design as it'd be super helpful (I actually mean this). I don't want to come across defensive regarding some of your feedback but I think we approach engineering a little differently. I am very much an iterative practical engineer. I design what I think will work best and then put it to the test. I never expect perfection from a prototype, that's the whole reason why we build and test them. It would be very easy to not discuss the issues we ran into but it's not the way I'm running this company. There's so much experience in this industry that we can get access to if we just share where we're at. This thread is already super valuable reading your experiences with bed mounting.

Regarding the road trip we went on I can say we beat my truck to hell in Moab. Hit bump stops multiple times at 20-30mph speeds. I know my Ford isn't any Baja vehicle but I know we did more than 90% of overlanders will do and it exceeded all of our testing criteria.

Regarding the camper sliding forward, there is a lip on the extrusion near the cab that is designed to keep it from doing that. The bulb seal we used lifted the camper up high enough that it didn't engage. It's an easy fix to make that lip longer so it'll keep the camper from moving fore/aft.

Regarding the actual structure of the camper, the metal didn't deform but the frame did shift in the rear by 1mm. Honestly, I wasn't shocked by this but it was good confirmation that we need some brackets back there to stiffen it up laterally. @MR E30 I'd love your feedback on the final desing after I finish it. I'll be doing some dynamic load simulations but the more eyes on this stuff the better.

Regarding bolting the camper together; we definitley have different views on this. My goal here isn't to get into a debate so I'll just say that based on our testing I'm confident enough in it to provide a lifetime warranty on it.

Thanks all for your thoughts and feedback. I'd love to share our ideas on how we're changing our bed mounting solution when we get to that point. It'd be good to get more feedback before we do the next round of testing.

 

Always interested to see what mounting solutions golem come up with. Adapt and improve.

 

Retired mechanical engineer here, who even did motor vehicle frame engineering in a past life, not to mention a past century. There’s been some interesting comments here and many come from savvier engineers than me, and folks with more real-world experience. My perception of the new breed of pop-up campers is that some seem designed, a few may be engineered, but they need to be both. Creativity, common sense, analysis plus testing and continuous improvement are key. For example, if the small gussets around the rear opening of the GFC provide enough “shear” and moment resistance at the corners, do the side gussets really need to be that obtrusive? Maybe compensate for the longer span with a slightly stiffer cross section? I dunno, but it seems like the GFC guys got excited by the space frame look, and as the owner of an OG Ducati Monster with welded steel tubular space frame, I agree it looks great. But as a short bed owner I don’t think I could live with a GFC. And GFC have revised a lot of the the things they pitched so passionately on the V1, for the V2. So they do understand continuous improvement. As a an old and wise engineer told this new college grad back in the late seventies, “Design is an iterative process”. I’ve never forgotten that.

FWIW the premium heavy duty truck company that I worked for used only bolted frames, whether steel or aluminum. The design for a good moment connection is dependent on good design, and we used big-ass gussets. Fastening them with bolts or weld doesn’t matter, but properly designed bolts (or rivets) are not dependent on welder skill, and probably cheaper too, not to mention serviceable. All you need in production are the correct bolts/nuts and torque procedure.

 

@Lonepeakoverland, any news on overall length on the midsize trucks? Specifically wondering about the overhang on the Access Cab 6' bed tacoma. Is it still planned to be 4' ? The updated videos are great, and I'm continuously excited by the progress and detail.

 

Might get a better answer on Instagram as he is more active there. But IIRC the only dimension that is changing is the width, so it will still be a total of 10' long so yes 4' of overhang on a 6' bed

 

Any picture on how it looks on short bed?

 

Hey @Consurgo, thanks for tagging me. I didn't realize the conversation was still going over here. I'll have to comb through some posts and try to answer questions Regarding yours, all of the campers are 10' long and all have the 80" matress and ~32" passthrough space. You can measure out 10' from your tailgate to see where it'll land in relation to your windshield.

 

@sloshy New renders are still on my list but by the time I get to it we'll probably be in production. We'll be installing one on a Taco next month and can post a bunch of what it looks like.

 

Please post 'em when you can. I just measured, and on my 6' bed access cab the overhang goes almost all the way to the windshield. I know you've done the work on the overhang strength, but my concern now is how it'll handle on the highway at 80. That's a big rigid wing.

 

I wouldn't worry about the overhang. I have an AT topper and the overhang on that goes far enough towards the windshield there's no room for any type of rack- or even a fairing for that matter!

Over a year of driving 20k+(mostly highway) miles and ZERO issues. I usually keep it in the 60-70s, but that's more due to fuel economy concerns. I lost about 2-3 mpg when I added the topper. You will probably lose even more if you keep it in the 80s.

 

Hello all,

I was in the market for a camper and after trying out the GFC and Super Pacific, I had the opportunity to try the Lone Peak at an event and decided it was the best option for me. After that event, I contacted Kyle to become a brand ambassador. As such I am able to share a promo code (below).

I am going to share my impressions so far and if you have questions let me know. The below are my true impressions; if they weren’t this wouldn’t be the product I would have chosen for myself. Lastly, I am not being asked/required to publish this review.

• first of all the overall finish and quality were great and better than I expected for a prototype. I noticed a few things that could be improved, such as the tension for the top portion of the tent, but all of them were already on Kyle’s list of improvements for production. I was expecting to see low-end fabrics and materials because of the price, but that wasn’t the case. According to Kyle, he can beat competition pricing for 2 reasons. The first is because of the manufacturing process. He kept things simple and efficient when a super Pacific requires a lot more man hours to have curved panels etc. The second is because of the margin. A Super Pacific used to cost a lot less. Since they couldn’t meet demand, they raised the price multiple times because why not have higher margins if you have more buyers than you need? Kyle is going with lower margins to offer something more affordable. I don’t know how long this will last, because I expect a huge success for this camper.
• When you get inside the camper, the Major difference between a GFC and Super Pacific is the interior space. It’s huge and very livable. I absolutely love the way the tent pushes outward which gives a lot more room than a tent that inclines toward the inside of the bed. Also, the large space between the bed and the back is super nice. Lastly, the bed that moves up is a game changer for me vs the GFC concept where you always have to remove pieces of the bed.
• Speaking of interior space, as a 6’6” person I can’t fit on the bed in a GFC because my feet press against the top of the camper at the lower section. Here there is no problem because the bed can move backward
• The mattress is the most comfortable I have tried of any tent and camper, period. Also lets you store sleeping bags on top.
• The Gear Vault is a must in my opinion. It makes essentials easy to reach and it’s a very clever feature.
• The drop-down tables that act as a desk are also well-designed and really useful.
• The interior lighting system is also very well done, and you can control it with an app. Convenient when in bed.
• Having a small ladder inside to crawl into the bed is nice for people with mobility issues, but unnecessary for me, I’ll just remove it to save weight. It also nicely packs nicely below the bed if you need to use it from time to time.
• In the last few months, the camper has been improved in many ways. An example is a positive pressure vent under the camper overhang that will also serve as absorbing the extra height from your shark fin. This serves 2 purposes: eliminating dust ingress inside the camper, and lowering the overall camper height. Another example is the heating vent options.

Overall, it really is a mix of the best features from existing campers, with a few additional innovative features and more interior space. For those reasons, it would be my first pick even if all those campers were the same price.
The fact that the Lone Peak is half the price of the competition makes it a no-brainer.

For $250 off accessories, feel free to use promo code LANDSCAPTURER at checkout.

 

have any been built and delivered yet?

 

No, there is a more active thread over on ExpedPortal, linked here:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/lone-peak-overland.235081/

He is behind on delivery, having issues with refunds, and his camper structure design is even worse than I initially anticipated.

 

yeah saw that thread as well.. will be interesting to see how/if they hold up when/if they can deliver. i'm more fascinated by the crowdfunded approach that seems totally over confident in the ability to get something right the first time they build it. also surprised by the enthusiasm of people supporting this, maybe to a fault.. one level it's really cool and innovative, another it's incredible naive and hubristic.. not sure i've run across a more trusting bunch than the overland crowd tbh. i just want to see one out in the wild getting abused and see if it can handle what's it's designed for.

 

That’s a very negative view! It was confirmed that all requested refunds have been made.
Kyle mentioned recently that there will be a slight delay to allow for implementing the design changes one of which is a cool positive pressure vent that includes a dust filter.
As for the frame he is confident enough to offer a lifetime warranty on it.

 

there has to one in exisitance to offer a lifetime warranty..no?

 

it’s not totally blind trust. I have tested the camper, put my weight on it in many aspects and found it very well built. I have tested other campers like the GFC so I do have comparison elements. I also discussed with Kyle for a long time. He has been designing and building stuff for his other company for over a decade. He did thousands of miles with the camper including in Moab over rough stuff.

So I guess there is a difference between this and trusting a complete newbie. But I agree, if you want to buy something that has been tested by hundreds of people over millions of miles this is not the product. You can get a Superpacific for double the price.

 

i just want to see it with a paying customer... doesn't seem like a huge ask, idk? anyway, when is the first delivery expected?

gfc does have more reinforcement around the openings, super pacific as smaller doors and thicker structure? i can see how this design might need crossmembers eventually like gfc..

 

You bet it is.

They were all eventually refunded yes, but that doesn't mean there weren't issues at one point.

Delay or not, he overpromised and is now in the underdelivering phase.

Kyle can do what he likes with regards to the warranty. There has to be a company around for the warranty to have any weight.

The bottom line is that he is not a designer, nor an engineer, nor does he have one on staff. His moment frame, connected with bolts into the aluminum extrusion, is just about the worst way to go with a camper like this. His frame design is terrible, and I say this as a literal structural engineer, who literally designs frames just like this for my actual profession. It may feel solid when you sit in it, but that is just barely scratching the surface of the stresses and strains that the camper is going to have to face in the real world.