I just picked up my new GFC Max launch edition (2023 Tacoma Long bed). System installed by PAD Overland and the mountain standard. This Forum has been great for ideas and I have incorporated some of them already and working on the next set. Basically I picked up my Max last Friday and stayed in it that night in what couldn’t have been a more beautiful spot to wake up in. The next night was in the Cascades and it was frigid. I learned a few things if I’m going to do this regularly. Proper thought into the design and storage of systems is critical to make the experience pleasurable as digging through bags and totes at night in the cold is not fun. However, I did not buy or build any organization yet as I wanted to see what the build really looked like before I tried to stuff say, a kitchen in there. I still haven’t found the perfect kitchen setup and I’m past wanting to DIY something like that. So looking for ideas still.
Here is what I did so far with thoughts on each.
Postive pressure and Dog airflow. (thanks @PDX_Keith) I put one passenger side front and one driver side rear. My thinking is, I wanted cross flow when bringing my dog not just positive air pressure. When I need positive pressure I close the one in back. If you don’t you’re not creating positive pressue where its needed which is all the little cracks and whatnot to keep the dust out. When it rains you can close them, as you shouldn’t need them as there should be no dust. Or with the dog you can reverse their direction (the ones installed are reversable).
Ladder and mount: I chose to spend the extra on the alu-cab telescoping ladder as it has better and wider steps useful for older feet. This required some adjustments of the ladder to make the GFC Mantis claws work but, it works great. The strength of the ladder also allows me to have it at more comfortable angle. I chose to install on the right side as I chose the awning install on the left side. Having the awning on the left side just felt more natural.
Locking the camper: Why? because otherwise someone can open it remove your camper floor and get into the bed. The perfect lock IMO is the one @kevine001 posted and can be purchased on Amazon here. You can then cut off the excess locking bar. Note: in the new campers coming out the hole is already there and no more drilling is required.
Lighting: I have the built in lighting for the tent and the truck bed that was part of the build. They plug into the Jackery (more on that later) and provide ample lighting. For outdoor lighting, I have the lighting kit for the awning from OVS and Rigid lights attached to the back of the tent mount. These are wired to my backup system so they automatically come on when backing up, in this situation they run off of truck battery. There is also a switch mounted on the back driver side of the truck so I can turn them on running on the Jackery. They do fit below the awning so they light up underneath it. For Trail lighting I installed the Rigid Industries 930314 SR-Series Pro Combo Light Bar on a Trailrax Modular roof rack, I chose this lighting setup as I didn’t want a bunch of individual lights but still achieved the same distance, side and up front lighting. It works brilliantly (no pun intended by then again why not).
Solar Battery: I bought the Jackery Explorer 2000 on Amazon (currently on sale for $749). I wanted plenty of juice. And I needed to run my Ignik heated pads (more on this later). At 20F both my wife and I ran the Igniks at 70% and 50% respectively and only drained 25% of the Jackery. I have a couple issues with the Jackery. 1. it takes up space and I’d like to mount it up but don’t know where yet, looking for ideas. Currently my wiring runs to the back driverside of the bed. It is quite heavy so any mounting will need to consider that. 2. There is only one 12v connector port and with a splitter I can only operate either the lights or the Igniks but not both. (there are a total of 4 12v adapters that I need to plug in) Looking for ideas here as well. As you probably already know I do not yet have the GFC solar panels installed but, they were part of my build and should be here in the next couple of months.
Heated pads. I bought the Ignik Flipside Heated Bed Cover Double. That worked well for providing heat from the bottom up. So far we have only used them when it was 20 F and with high quality low temp sleeping bags. They worked great, as I turned them on 15 min before we got in and that created a great starting place with the heat. Both of us thought we probably didn’t even need beyond that as the bags were doing their job. The downside, is that they only heat the surface you are laying on and so the rest of the tent is cold unlike if you had a diesel heater. Other issue, because of the mattress cover dual design you cannot put the Igniks under the cover and must lay on them directly. The pictures on Igniks site make your think that the power port and controller for each pad are on opposite sides, they are not. The dual system is basically just two single systems which you can button together. That causes one of the power cables/controllers to be in the middle of the pads, this is not ideal. Also if the cables are not run carefully they can easily become unplugged while you are sleeping at the connector. The provided cables are barely able to reach the Jackery even though we positioned them just over it. I will be waiting on the GFC diesel system, hopefully its not going to be crazy priced like I suspect it will be. Note if its over $1500 that’s alreayd too much.
Recovery: I have your basic 48” 5000 lb trail jack and the Scar winch hidden behind the Hiline front winch bumber and also the Flipster V3 | Winch License Plate Mounting System
Things I would like ideas for:
Kitchen: I would like a slide out kitchen with steel sink hot/cold water, slide outs for work space and of course storage. Ideally there would be two slideouts with the other side being working area and storage. Fridge would go up top. This should create a flat top in the bed that allows for open storage or additional sleeping area. There have been many really great ideas in the forums, most of them DIY, which I am trying to avoid and some of the non-DIY are no longer making the kitchens (old posts). Right now my favorite is the Nomad and the Bitch’n Kitchen. However the bitche’n kitchen doesn’t create a flat surface up top. Would love your ideas. I also really like Mike’s water system, I spoke with him and he said he makes them for Tacos as well and is moving the placement around to make it more usable.
Toilet: Haven’t really thought about this one yet but, I can tell you with everything I want/have already I’m quickly running out of room.
Shower: I’d like one of those heated ones, open to how its heated. We have the side enclosures for our awning so, thought I would use that for the private shower area.
Mounting of anything and everything. Ideas on where to place stuff i.e. place the fire extinguisher where you can easily get to it.