Floor/sleeping platform

Hello,
I’m getting my gfc in August and had a quick question. I really like the design of the super pacific camper that allows for a pretty good size opening while anyone is sleeping. Is there or will there be any platform that allows for two people and will also have a good size opening without removing all panels?

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@GFC_Support

This can only be answered by GFC.

Peace.

I agree with the above. If I had to guess there would be no plan to make that happen. If you compare the SP and the GFC you can see that it has a bigger overhang. This is what I believe to be the factor that allows for an opening at the back.

That being said though, the GFC is exceptionally mod-able so you may be able to come up with a solution. Best way to get out without disturbing your partner is to have two ladders. If you’re flexible enough and trust yourself; you can pee right out of the tent :joy:

Our camper spends 90% of its time in bunk mode because we have a lower sleeping platform as well. So this isn’t a problem.

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There was a post on this not too long ago. Someone had cut the panel into smaller sections I believe. Someone else used or recommended plywood as to not hack your panels.
I had a SP before my GFC and that extra 2 feet or so of space they called the “nightstand” was pretty useful.
I’m 5’8” and can sleep in the GFC without those end panels in if I had to but my pillow might fall into the truck bed throughout the night.

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At least in the near-term I would not expect a new GFC with such a design. The modular transform-a-floor is kind of part of the GFC “brand” and something that differentiates it from the other wedge campers. Another differentiator is the GFC being more affordable than most campers. Adding room for a nightstand or pass-through would lengthen the platform and increase material cost. Furthermore, it would require separate designs for the GFC RTT vs. the platform camper (since the RTT would likely have no need for the extra length).

Don’t get me wrong I think it could be a nice improvement and worth a slight premium. If they did add this someday I would hope they made the pass through fully close-able. I like how I can keep bugs out of the tent in cabana mode by leaving the floor panels in place.

I’ll post some pictures of the mod I did to open up a space to hop down from the top. It’s not pretty, but getting that functionally was really important. I used it a couple times this past winter and it worked quite well.

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an easy solution would be for GFC to offer an optional 30 inch full width panel. Then you would have 20 in of space to drop down and pee at night with out waking up partner. you could also rig a net to catch your pillow if sleeping head at the big end. I would love to see this option as well

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I should written this up earlier to feed back info to the community that’s been so generous and useful to me. Some people do really polished work, this is more of a function over form. I’ve had my camper since March of 2020, and have over 75 nights in it. My wife and I have used it both with ladder entry to the tent and also via the truck bed. The biggest issue is getting up to pee in the middle of the night. I’m in my late 50s, my wife in her early 60s. Have to get up every night. In ladder mode it’s no different than tent camping. PITA in the rain or snow. I first used a wedge camper in South Africa, and it had a full bed space with a gap to stand at the back. I loved that configuration, so here’s how I modded the gfc.

I removed the two half panels and replaced them with three panels. One is the width of the bed and extends the sleeping space, and the other two are shorter half panels.

Two pieces of angle iron are screwed together to make a tee beam to support the edges of the panel.

Here’s what it looks like from below when in place:

With multiple panels removed:



View from the top. I cut a small piece of foam pad to cover the long narrow board, then put two full length foam pads under the gfc upholstery. The sleeping area is now full length. Either person can pull their half panel to hop down without disturbing the other person.

A bit of a cludge, but It works great, we did a couple trips this winter camping in the parking lots of some ski areas. If gfc sold a nice version using their panel materials I’d buy it.

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By any chance do you have a write-up or additional photos of your attached panel with your electrical accessories? Also curious how you mounted that to the frame. Thanks

I think our solution will be pitching a second tent on the ground. Guess who gets to sleep there. :frowning:

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The wood panel is attached to the frame at two points. The gfc V1 frame has a bunch of 5/16-18 screws for accessories. I removed the factory screws and used bolts of proper length. Here’s a view of the battery box and panel:


On the lower right of the panel are two terminals where I have brought power from the truck’s battery in the engine compartment. This Chevy Silverado has several factory pass-throughs in the bed, so I didn’t have to worry about drilling holes in the bed.

On the lower left is the controller for the diesel heater.

Above that is a product made by West Mountain Radio called ISOpwr+ that is a switch to power a load with either a vehicle’s alternator or a auxiliary battery, while charging the auxiliary battery if needed. I don’t recommend it for this application, I’ll explain below.

Above that is the load fuse panel, West Mountain Radio’s Rigrunner.

Above that is the solar charge controller. I’m awaiting delivery of some solar panels, so it’s not electrically connected right now.

The fuse panel can be powered by one of three sources, which I do manually. Right now I just connect the battery. Once I get the solar panels, it will be powered by the solar charge controller. I’ll only use the ISOpwr+ if the batteries are run down and I have no other way to charge them.

My reservations with using the WMR ISOpwr+ are the following. Deep cycle AGM batteries have manufacturer’s specification for a charging profile, and I couldn’t guarantee that would be met. They’re expensive, so I’d like to treat them nice. I talked with an engineer at West Mountain Radio about the product, and he said that when the vehicle’s engine is running, the ISOpwr+ is passing through to the auxiliary battery whatever the alternator system is applying to the vehicle’s battery. So whatever charging algorithm the vehicle has is being applied, and I don’t know what that is. This is contrast to the solar charge controller, that is meant to be used with deep cycle batteries. The solar charge controller manual describes this, and it matches my deep cycle AGM battery’s manufacturer’s specs. All that being said, the ISOpwr+ is designed to be used in radio communications community (emercency responders, ham radio, etc), and if there were any big problems it would be known. For me, the product is a backup way to charge the batteries. I’d like to see comments from anyone whose used it.

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I have update, I’ve used the IsoPower+ extensively on a long trip and it’s worked quite well, so I’ll recant my non-recommendation. I had an issues with my solar system, and for a while the IsoPower+ was the only way to charge the batteries. It saved me. The only caveate is that I inadvertently let the batteries discharge to much (<11.8v) and the charging current was blowing 40A fuses. The fix was getting the solar system working to get the the batteries recharged. Then the IsoPower+ worked with new fuses.