I just recently saw a customer who added these to his camper side panels for his dog, and it is working great:
Take a look. And just so you know the specs on our metal, it is .080 5052 aluminum, so it’s pretty darn stout.
Let me know if that helps, and good luck in the search. I am obviously biased about both quality and value of our product in the marketplace, but it is nice that there are so many options for the consumer.
And to anyone reading this if you haven’t seen our most recent Instagram stories, here are some of the values we hold as a company: Instagram
Do you have any ideas or now of any small solar or 12V roof fans that work with the roof panels in a V1? I see some people of used fantastic fans but they seem to be made for a thicker roof panel and I also want a lower profile fan.
I’m in portland, so the SP was appealing to me. In the end I ordered a GFC instead. My thinking. I’m a weekend to 2 week warrior, I’m use to doing this in a tent or on a bicycle, thus the GFC will be all I NEED. The cost was a factor as well. The SP is about 3k more. I’d rather get the GFC and a Kinsman 270 and a Lolo Rack and swing out for that price… I don’t find much value in the extra engineering of the SP, I don’t want wire chases etc. My truck gets run and put up wet often - spends all winter full of trail building tools and shutting crews to builds etc, so the more rough and ready the solution the better for me - THUS GFC. That is how I made my decision. If the wait for a SP was 2 months… well, then I probably would have done that but at ~6mo vs 10mo then the 3k looked good
I have been using a bluetooth remote thermometer to keep track of the temp in the back of the truck under my GFC this summer I have two dogs that I want to keep happy and healthy.
My current solution is that I have been closing the latches on the rear side panel and then closing the panel and latching the front latch which leaves a ventilation gap. With running that set-up what I have found is that when driving around at 45+ MPH the temperature has rarely been more than +5 degrees F compared to what the ambient outside temperature has been. This is almost identical to what I saw with my leer topper that had sliding windows on the sides.
With being in Northern California and occasional triple digit temps what I have gone with is getting my dogs the Ruffwear Swamp Cooler jacket to help with those really hot days. Swamp Cooler™ Dog Cooling Vest | Ruffwear
It is simple. open both your panel latches then push the back latch to the locked position while holding the panel side open and then close the panel and latch the front panel like you normally would. the back stays open because the latch won’t let it shut…you have a nice gap at the back of the panel.
@Sunsetsearider is correct. @GFC made two iterations of the living hinge (the difference was there was a foam gasket in the first that was then removed in the second). The Embassy hinge (3rd generation) is the current one and I haven’t heard of any failures.
FYI - If I recall correctly this is not endorsed by GFC and any issues that may occur with the hinge would not covered by the warrantee. So you may want to keep this trick to yourself if you know what I mean…
Well with that being said I believe there are four versions of the hinge then. Two living hinge style and two varies of the ambassador hinge. The video for the V2 panel removal shows the difference in the hinge from the V1 but with the same eternal cog.
I can attest to the stout-ness of the panels, and the roof for that matter. We were unfortunately hit by baseball-softball sized hail earlier this year and the GFC panels, and roof barely had a hint of damage, nearly imperceptible. My truck, my wife’s car, my house, and pretty much anything outside was extremely damaged or completely demolished. (Windshield was replaced next day)
My V1 GFC was relatively unscathed. But if you’re like me, it really doesn’t matter because the GFC is meant to be beat and can definitely take it.
That issue was solved before V2. One of the main purposes for going away from the steel frame was to meet one of gfci’s long-term goals, mass production.
I think the aluminum frame would be good for weight reduction but it sure does not hold a candle to the V1 for aesthetics. Of course we all have different tastes.
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