Wedge Campers & Assorted Oddities

Installed.

 

You wanna see more from the shop?

 

Yaaas

 

Here’s my ‘76 FJ40
Several choice upgrades. All stock original drivetrain.

 

https://trailfort.com

 

Man, another company. I just wish they’d post real photos before trying to sell them. The concept photos don’t show much.

 

Yeah man they are popping up all over! No pun intended lol

Makes me wonder if they all these companies are just trying to gauge interest and aren’t settled on going into full production. Those lead times they advertise seem questionable for campers that don’t appear to have any real world R&D. Anyone can build a prototype to post photos of..

 

Well to be fair, GFC did the same thing and they’re a pretty successful company as far as units sold. These other companies probably figured, if GFC could do it, why can’t they?

 

Well to be more fair, GFC had multiple prototypes on their shop truck with real world R&D before they started the "pre-sale". Judging from the excitement back then, and now, I think they knew there was a market and clearly were intending to scale production based on Wiley's automation background.

I think some of the current offerings are testing the waters to understand how much the market may have grown from Covid-19, and trying to pick up customers that find the current wait times from Vagabond and GFC unacceptable. I'd be wary for sure though, as GFC clearly hadn't worked all the kinks out of their design even with a few prototypes sent out in the field, and fortunately for their customers they've been successful enough to still be around making improvements and providing support.

Thanks for the wiring info on your back-up camera BTW - I picked up the same model you are using so I could do a cleaner install without wires on the outside of my camper, and never would have guessed the pin-out!

 

I think the Super Pacific one has the most potential of all the new ones and current ones too. To me they took ideas from both GFC and Vagabound and put the good together and added some more cool stuff.


But crazy to see lots of companies popping up now to sell these things. It's like RTT companies 10 year ago.

 

“Real world R&D”? If their R&D was so in-depth hinges, water intrusion, seized locks, rusted cross members and bubbling roofs might have not consistently failed. But they’re “all about the details”.. All the new companies need to do are read all the issues GFC has had and ensure their products don’t do the same. A lot of the new companies R&D can pretty much be done listening to the customer complaints.

 

Well its good to hear that GFC is providing some kind of permanent fix for their door hinge issue, backed by a lifetime guarantee. No details on it yet though. Too bad this is happening over 2 years after they launched, but it’s still being done so good for them.

That being said I’m still glad I went with Vagabond. I believe their R&D was extensive and thorough. Both Phil and Iggy had different prototypes and ideas well documented on their build pages and IG accounts way before they launched Vagabond. I think at the time people were wondering why they were being so “secretive” about their final product (the Drifter). But I guess it all makes sense now because GFC is doing the same thing with their hinge fix. Some patent pending stuff so people don’t copy (?) - not sure.

 

Hey there. longtime forum lurker, but new member. I have a question and this seems the appropriate forum to ask this question in: The idea of a wedge camper is very alluring but as far as I can tell, falls short in 2 major ways. The first: it seems to be quite a hassle to insulate the tent portion, which sort of takes serious winter camping out of the equation, and second, they do not seem to be very conducive to stealth camping. I am wondering if anybody has seen/made a wedge camper which can also be used like a cabover camper for stealth/extreme cold situations. By this, I mean something like a GFC, but with just enough room to sleep without the top popped. Like no more than 12-18 inches (whatever the minimum amount of head clearance for sleeping is) of sleeping head room to retain the look and functionality of of a wedge/GFC type, so you could sleep without the top popped if need be, but still have the pop top feature for standing room + a more comfortable and roomy bed. I've something like this without a pop top, but only in fiberglass, where I would be looking to use aluminum. I'm just curious to see what something like that would look like and if it would even be practical in actual use. The closest thing I've found is the earthcruiser GZL, but they are pricey, fiberglass, and I don't think there's enough room to sleep with the pop top down.

 

Not the exact response you are looking for, but I've winter camped in my GFC plenty of nights below zero. It's nothing that a set of thermals and appropriately rated bag can't handle. As for stealth camping, you are right. The pop up makes it obvious. If I get desperate and have to stealth camp Ive slept in the truck bed after pulling the cushions down but that is only possible if I'm traveling with a small amount of gear.

 

Is that dometic Awning?

 

these look interesting :


https://www.howerbuilt.com

 

Way too big and bulky. If I went big and heavy like an AluCab or Hower, I'd look at the Hiatus.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CD2k1r1JYQg/

 

Yeah I almost pulled the trigger on a AluCab Canopy Camper. After I got a chance to look at one in person that thing is a huge Monster. If I ever go to the full-size truck definitely will buy one. Since I have a Tacoma I went with a GFC.