This is such a great thread. I am picking my camper up in January and plan on taking the family. I am slowly trying to show my wife that this set up will be super fun when we go on our adventures here in the PNW. Ill post our adventures and things we do to have a great time. Thanks again!
J
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I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread. Just returned from Belgrade today and had snack with my 3.5 year old daughter and wife in the camper while parked in our driveway! Looking forward to adventures in the camper. Definitely liking the locking carabiner idea.
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Loving these responses. Family adventure stoke is high!
Kids planning the menu is a winning idea, once mine communicate a little better that will be a go!
The locking carabiners for the mesh doors is a good idea. While mine are little, I just zip mine up to the very top.
TearingOut55, do you have any pictures of your custom venting panels? Sounds rad.
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I’ll have to get some additional pictures, but this was the start- just a simple peice of plywood cut to 1/8 of a panel size, then shifted so there’s a a 4" gap on either side. We have since added memory foam and a flannel cover to this 1/8 panel. We tried just leaving the ~4" gaps on either side as-is, but the littlest still sleeps up top and I was worried he’d get stuck in it or fall through. We have since built 4" wide wood panels with 1" holes drilled throughout to fill those gaps, so kid can’t fall down but we can talk through it and it helps a ton with ventilation for downstairs (we have a little usb powered fan if needed).
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This is the bed downstairs- it’s a 3" double size pad turned sideways. I was going to cut to size…becauee this is not tidy and makes me nuts…but the parts folded up against the walls actually cover the aluminum extrusions that stick out where the GFC secures to the bed. My kids rough house a ton and so the padding is awesome protection- my youngest already slammed down onto it and probably would have had stitches without the pad…so the untidy set up stays
Edit: if you zoom in you can see our wood “vent panel” on the right
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This is brilliant! I’ll have to investigate this move as the kids get bigger.
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Thanks for sharing TearingOut! Thats pretty cool.
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We just picked up our GFC on Sunday. We’ve got a 14mo old so we want everyone’s tips and tricks. Kid was a champion on our long weekend rally out to Montana and back!!
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Another important and easy mod is adding some rubber stripping to the edges of the modular floor panels, so when they are set aside and kids are in bed bouncing around they don’t hurt their heads (as bad). Check out this thread for details:
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I’m glad it’s not just my kids that treat the camper like a jungle gym 
Camper, tent, house, etc…it is my toddler’s domain. She’s bouncing off the walls in our normal tent most of the time, but loves camping. We definitely had the conversation with my daughter about not opening the doors on the camper since we’ll be 8’+ in the above the ground. Looking forward to our first family trip in the camper over Thanksgiving weekend.
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The camper has been such a sanity saver for us- both because we can be spontaneous again, and also that we can separate the kids (one upstairs one downstairs) when they get too crazy at bedtime. We did a ton of tent camping before the GFC and it was exhausting and stressful to find a good tent site, set-up, eat, and get them to settle down late. Hoping next year they are slightly more sane and can share the sleeping space downstairs
Next mod will be a RigD swing out kitchen and I think thats going to save even more set up time.
My other camping tip, especially for being spontaneous, is backpacking food. We keep a stash of Mountain House and kid non perishable food in the rig so we can go without having to think much about meals.
Hope I’m not over posting on this thread. I’ve been meaning to document our family build so it’s coming out here, lol. We’ve been campers together for 16 years and with kids, before the GFC, felt like we were losing the joy of our favorite activity and it was frankly pretty depressing. Getting the GFC has been a game changer in our lives and mental health. I’m stoked to share anything that will make it easier for other families to get out.
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@TearingOut55, this sounds very familiar to the situation my wife and I found ourselves in. While we only have one child, we’re really looking forward to getting out even more and enjoying the spontaneity once again in camping whenever and wherever we can.
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that never happens. I miss those days sometimes and you will too. Just enjoy them while you can because before you know it they are grown
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Thanks for sharing this - it is quite inspiring. I have come to find that my wife is the primary inhibitor to camping fun while my one year-old daughter loves it 
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Added some reflective utility cord zipper pulls to all zippers, and plan to utilize locking carabiners on the mesh doors to make it a little tougher for our toddler to open them. Thanks for the idea!
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A little off topic but when camping with kids wouldn’t a Van or tent trailer be more adequate? Seems like most people with kids camp in places a tent trailer can go so why cramp everyone in the back of a taco? Used tent trailers are more affordable too. Vans can get pretty pricey but you have way more room than the gfc.
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Took the 11 month old out and camped in lower temperatures (40-42 degrees). We were worried about his sleeping temperatures so we brought the propane heater and it ended up being about almost too hot at 70 degrees in the truck bed. The experience is slightly stressful with worrying about ventilation, temperatures, etc. my takeaway was a remote thermometer to see what the temp was in his bed for next time.
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We camp way out 4x4 roads with kids- the GFC is the only way to sleep 4 without a tent and not be limited by a trailer or van setup in regards to rough roads. Plus a van or trailer are more expensive…
Basically the gfc has allowed us to keep camping way out there, and not be limited to hard to find tent spots up in the rockies.
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