In a week it will be “after Christmas” and Thanksgiving will no longer be the time point of reference.
We need more clarification. Thanksgiving of what year?
What version of Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving observed? Canadian Thanksgiving? Lunar Thanksgiving? Orthodox Thanksgiving?
Do the newest units have the adhesive only hinge? I should be receive my camper soon (recently completed in the last week).
I don’t know when I would be able to come back to Montana if the adhesive only option becomes the primary solution in the future.
I was told that it is only available on the long wheel base models
GFC offering to repair defective units at THEIR convenience and OUR cost is poor form. This is despite the defective product delivered that is not the fault of the customer. This is not bending over backwards for customers, this is bending the customer over. This is in effect punishing us for receiving a defective unit. It is double jeopardy.
GFC have known about this issue since before August according to posts here and on TW. It is disappointing they have not proactively contacted those with potentially problematic builds after all these months and offered preventive service. GFC still had time to brag about how awesome the campers are on social media while cranking out builds. The perception is that the customers with issues or who could develop an issue were ignored.
Instead we are in a reactionary situation with failures popping up sporadically that potentially should and could have been addressed proactively.
Edit: typos only
I have a long bed and that is how mine was built; not like it was an option or anything.
In Belgrade for pick-up, I was scratching my head looking around at all the other ones with a boatload of rivets. And then reading: “I was not aware we had any other campers, aside from Wiley’s in the wild without rivets”…uh…
Hey guys,
I wanted to chime in since it seems there is yet more backlash on the forum. I have been pretty much moved tot e role of just handling the service department (the support for programs such as this for warranty or other related issues) and haven’t had the ability to be very customer facing. I have been working pretty much every day from about 0500 to 1500-1700 on building the processes to remove a camper, reseal and re-install without the use of shop tools (which is a big deal).
First, I would like to point out that I came on and was handling all technical sales and support related issues, went on to manage the delivery program as well, then kind of a mixture of all (small company, ya know?) and am now settled pretty much to run the service department. What I am saying in all of this is that I did not come on to be a part of the manufacturing or fabrication team so it has taken me some time to learn how to build a camper correctly with tools and implements I can fit into one truck. When I came on I did learn how to build a camper (without the new sealant mind you) but it was not my primary focus and I wanted to roll out on this mobile warranty program with the confidence to repair any issues that may come up, not just the resealing of the campers.
So now I am in the process of having my tooling finalized (panel straighteners, stands for the camper, panel stands etc) which are all necessary to repair the camper without causing any damage to existing items like the panels. The process is this
Rebuild campers or build depending
Learn how to do it without the shop tools and carts etc
build tooling
test tooling
rebuild tooling if necessary
build out extra tool list
build out the repair truck (current stage)
build route
depart
I apologize for the lack of communication on my end. I do not have anything to do with the newsletter, Instagram or anything else that I was currently a part of (so my forms of communication are limited and I don’t know whats going on in the rest of GFC world) and since we are in a place where we are able to afford to hire someone else to help with the day to day issues in the service department, I am kind of wearing all those hats at the same time but still working almost 12 hour days to get the program up and running. This means I have not been able to better communicate where I am at in this process (not an excuse, just information)
Here is where I am at:
I have the final cut done on all the tooling I need and we are building the final products.
I have the reseal process down and can build or rebuild an entire camper without issue while not having the normal tools at my disposal
I have already ordered all the materials I need for the reseal (some of these items have long lead times).
I am working on buying and building the new repair truck (this is obviously not a super simple task and is very costly.
This means I am for the most part reaching out to those I have not been in communication with at all (and a lot of you have reached out to me, which I appreciate) to try and build a route for this tour. Once I have the route down, and have communicated with everyone my general timeline for being in their area and the truck is loaded up and ready to go I will be rolling out.
When I said after the holiday I would be working on rolling out the program I in no way intended to make any of you believe that I would be able to build and support something like this (I think a lot of you believe this is a simpler task than it is) in 2 weeks. While I was not able to start the program building until after Thanksgiving, I did not specify that I would be leaving right after the holiday (and if I had that would have meant I would be away from home for the rest of the holidays as well and my lady would have murdered me or had me assassinated or something long those lines). I plan to have this program on the road in January. Logistically this is a huge undertaking and I know that is not lost on a lot of you.
If there is anyone else on here in this thread who has issues (does not have to be hinge related) please DM me or send me an email to mike@gfcengineering.com (I no longer use the support email) and let me know what issues you are having so we can fix them if they are a warranty issue or otherwise. I know that everyone here at GFC wants you to have a camper that functions properly every time and that us especially true for me as I know a lot of you personally and know the kind of support you want to give.
Thanks, Mike. Sounds like a good plan.
Please give us some dates as they become available. A deadline to make it onto your first repair/refurb route would be a good one to know.
Enjoy the holidays. 
I do no think I will have a “deadline” for you all. It is likely I will just remain in one area until those affected or potentially affected customers in that area have had their issues resolved and then move on to the next area. This very likely will mean I will be away from home for a few months at a time which should give everyone plenty of time for their repair.
Thanks for providing some insight. Looking forward to seeing it in action.
I was not expecting actual retrofit service immediately after thanksgiving, but an announcement with more specifics and a timeline. This covers some of that.
Sent from a campsite while using the GFC.
Any panel that has a riveted panel design will remain a riveted design. Only campers that leave here with the adhered hinge will (which uses a special 3M 8010 adhesive that is a custom order for us). I will let Wiley chime in on the change (he is currently in Baja for the holidays).
Working as fast as possible on a timeline and such, but since I am building this as I go I can only update as I make it up in terms of specifics. Thats why I can only say “in January” still as I do not have a specific date yet.
My camper was finished last week, would it have the rivetless design or the riveted one? It’s #468.
Thanks in advance, crossing my fingers for rivetless, it’s for a DCLB Tacoma.
Maybe I should’ve said schedule instead of deadline. My point was that it may help everyone to know when & where you’ll be, so they can make sure they don’t miss you while you’re in the area, and so you can make sure you have materials on hand to take care of whatever rolls up to your mobile shop.
Still at this point easier said than done but I will be reaching out to everyone individually to gauge availability and flexibility so I can plan the route!
As far as I know only Tacoma LB models have the glued hinge.
Makes sense. I was just thinking that this will already be enough work without you having to backtrack.
I did post up a HQ News post about the tour, and hopefully between me reaching out to those I am not already in contact with and people being able to contact me easily as well I can get everyone sorted out.
Will you be doing front and rear tube replacements on this tour as well?
The front is warrantied with excessive rusting and spillage of contents and the rear is warrantied if the sliding pins no longer work or have a significant amount of resistance. As this is a regular production item they can only be warrantied as such until we have enough stock to possibly just change them out. But yes I will have them on the tour with extra seals, gaskets, latches, hardware etc.
The P.I.T. will be a memorable period in GFC history. 