I picked up my V2 Platform RTT from Belgrade in late-October and immediately set off on a long 6000-mile journey through the Northwest and Southwest regions of the US. On my way home to the PNW, I noticed there was a ‘wet’ patch on the driver side tent fabric. At first, I thought it was water but then remembered it hadn’t been raining and there’s no way it’d saturate just that spot on the tent.
On closer inspection it looked like it came from the strut and sure enough, it was leaking oil. I sent an email to Support and they advised it can’t be cleaned and would need a replacement. I asked if they can ship a new tent fabric to me so I could change it myself but was informed they changed the way the fabric is held on to the frame; not held by metal button snaps like it was on the V1.
While this is disappointing and not as user-friendly as their old design, I’m glad that they are taking care of me and would recommend any owner of GFC products give them a chance to make things right because this company, people and their products are awesome. Shout out to the Service & Warranty team!
Now, I’m just waiting for them to finalize their Weatherizing Kit before I make the drive from Seattle so here’s to hoping it gets wrapped up soon!
As the tent struts break in and compress, they have the potential to disperse some oil residue. If the oil is not wiped up, then it will likely get transferred onto the tent fabric as the tent is closed. So keep an eye on this over the first couple of weeks into ownership and make sure to wipe the struts down with a towel of some sort on a regular basis. If the oil residue continues and/or is excessive, then make sure to submit a Service Request Form and we will get you taken care of like @zhupac and @MBBME!
Great service from Calder and team, new strut on its way!
12/13 update:
Replaced my strut over the weekend and it was a fairly simple process. While of course I failed to take pictures, figured I could write up a summary of the steps I took in case it helps anyone:
This could probably be done with a single person as one strut seemed to hold open the tent while the other was being replaced, but I would recommend having someone help hold open the tent from the inside to minimize stresses to other components. I’m sure you could easily prop open the tent with scrap wood as well in a pinch.
Removed safety clips from both ends of the strut. These are little wire pieces that keep the ends of the strut from slipping off the ball studs.
I decided to remove the top part of the strut first (the one attached to the upper extrusion). The struts are compressed about 2-3” (~5-7.5cm) when the tent is fully open. With the safety clips removed the struts easily pop out with a little tap from your fist, or more appropriately, a rubber mallet.
Pop off lower end of strut to completely remove.
I installed the top end first and installed the safety clip. The tough part of reinstallation came when needing to compress the strut to insert into the lower ball stud.
I used a small ratchet strap to compress the strut. In general, I looped the strap around the upper (while installed on the tent) and lower sockets on the strut and carefully compressed it while making sure the straps didn’t slip. I had seen a few videos where people also used some wire, large clamps, and hose clamps to compress struts (I.e. multiple ways to skin this cat).
Once compressed enough, slipped the lower socket into the ball stud and inserted the safety clip.
Fairly straightforward process, toughest part is compressing the strut for installation. I’m sure this process would’ve been even better with a beer or two.
Just wanted to add to the excellent instructions above.
My small ratchet strap was a bit of a pain when trying to get the heavy duty strut installed. The lower part of the strut kept slipping off the ratchet strap’s hook, right when I was close to getting it on the GFC mount thing. Luckily, I had some Kreg pocket hole clamps in my shop, see below. My smallest/cheapest one was the best for this job, no idea where I got mine, so I linked a similar one below.
I used the larger washer side of the clamp face on the backside of the strap hook (the side closest to the tent). The smaller washer on the clamp is on the side of the strut socket. You don’t want the clamp overly snug, you want to be able to slide it when you get the strut compressed enough.
Also, use some heavy duty pliers to help crank the ratchet, or a dowel (depends on your strap). Leverage makes it a lot easier to work the strap with one hand, while you use the other to keep the clamp in place.
Found this thread as I was trying to replace sheared strut mounts, and just want to mention that another option is to detach the tent from the frame (either upper or lower will work) so you can lift the tent high enough to pop in the struts without needing to compress them. I followed the instructions here on how to detach the tent. Not super easy, but not horrible either
