You and I both would like to put things on the website. Since we are working on launching a new one, it has been an uphill battle for me to add anything but I fully expect to have a detailed warranty/maintenance page.
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Just got back from my install in Montana. If you have the time and the means, consider the trip up to Montana. The mountains line the horizon right beyond the shop and the guys at the shop are top class. I was able to talk extensively with John and Mike (the other Mike, not @Mike_GFCUSA). Campers that are hot off the press are coming with the updated tent fabric, grab bars with drain grooves, and the redesigned hinge (as explained earlier by @Mike_GFCUSA).
I snapped a picture of the rivet-less hinge for those that are curious. Personally, I dig the look.
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Do you know the differences of the new fabric ?
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Thanks for the pic. I definitely like the rivet-less look better. You got any pics of the grab bars? And what version of the tent material is this now? V3?
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Lol those white panels look pretty good! You may have just changed my mind on what color panels I was going to pick. The white panels shouldn’t absorb as much heat as the black ones!
It’s the same fabric they’ve been manufacturing since earlier last January. So far there are only 2 fabric types, 1.0 and 2.0; this is the 2.0. Having had both the 2.0 is much lighter, breathable and more of a tent than the 1.0 and it’s easier to close; it’s more of a tent now than before imo. It’s a 600D polyester with PU coating. This article goes into more depth and comparison: https://expeditionportal.com/the-off-road-wedge-camper-shootout/
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Congrats on the install! Could you share an image of the grab bars?
is your rig a long bed?? I was told that the rivet less hinge is only in the long bed configuration
I believe I have V2, I do not know if V3 is out yet or if it is still being developed.
I have a white truck and decided to get white panels. I enjoy the look more than the grey or black panels.
Yes I have a double cab long bed Tacoma with the rivet-less hinge design.
Last I heard it was 1) going to be made in China and 2) got nixed recently probably because of reason 1) lol. Current fabric is fine, just don’t cook with giant fires inside since it’s not flame retardant.
I personally never have a flame near my tent per my BSA habits. Also,
https://www.outsideonline.com/2406767/flame-resistant-tents-carcinogens-cancer
@anon72572904 @oddball @Mike_GFCUSA
Here are pictures of the new grab bars. There are a few things I notice right away. The grooves are massive and allow for water to drip right out of the bar across the entire length of the bar. Also I like that the color matches the extrusion very well and creates a clean look (versus matching your frame color previously). I have a pretty minimal build and wanted to remain as subtle as possible, and these grab bars certainly achieve that more than the grey or orange ones previously. I did order a wind skid before I found out the grab bars changed, so I do have a grey frame color-matched wind skid. On the camper version (GFC vs. RTT), the wind skid isn’t super necessary, but it does help to keep critters out of the extrusion. So I went ahead and had it put on anyway. I believe that the front grab bar also has the same groove design as the rear grab bar, however it is not pictured because my wind skid is covering that part. I was assured that water would still drip out appropriately even though the wind skid creates a more or less closed channel. I have not had issues with water sloshing or hanging out in the wind skid so far, but I haven’t had much exposure to heavy rain yet; I will report back if that is the case.
My personal take on picking up my camper and the camper itself is very positive. GFC is clearly implementing solutions to problems as quickly as they can and it shows in recent builds (new grab bars, new tent materials, new hinge attachment process). This is rapid prototyping and development in practice. Of course I would love overnight solutions to issues that I may discover with my camper over time, but that is part of being an early adopter to a new design. With regards to the early early campers, I am glad to see GFC announce the P.I.T. program for you guys; time will tell how that helps out the early early adopters (some of the most important people when it comes to building the GFC brand).
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I am glad you posted this because I did not realize that the new grab bars would not match the frame color of the camper. So I assume they just all come in black now?
I have the same philosophy on the wind skid and bugs lol.
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From what I recall seeing at GFC headquarters, the grab bars are black. They are also slightly textured, I don’t know if that comes through on the photos. They have a matte finish to them, not glossy like they previously were.
Getting bugs out of the little grooves in the extrusion would drive me nuts! I’m glad I kept the wind skid.
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Thanks for posting the photos. Those are the first I’ve seen of them, and they help clear up some questions I had about the mounting brackets for my awning.
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The new Aluminum front and rear crossbars come in what is dubbed “Durable Black”. We use this because we no longer use a steel crossbar that would have gone to powder coat with the steel frame. It now goes as part of the extrusion coatings. Another reason is that the rear is a heavy use item and the durable black will stand up to the abuse better than the other colors we currently offer for the frame. The durable black also adheres tot he aluminum much better on the extrusion allowing us to get a more precise and consistent coating. They do match the extrusion of the tent quite nicely as well. I too run a wind skid purely for the road bugs!
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Hi. Just got back from Baja running the new Flight Deck through its paces (two spares, fridge, tool box, compressor, floor jack, and 7 gallons of water all strapped down tight). Anyway, the repairs will be riveted like the original. As for the glued hinges, it’s primarily a process improvement on our end as well as (in my opinion) an aesthetic improvement. We’re using a 3m structural acrylic adhesive. The reason we haven’t rolled it out to all models all at once is because it requires tooling and racking and we don’t have enough of that tooling made yet to accommodate our full production volume (~15/week now) and we can’t stop production to wait for it to be built. But there’s no functional issue with the riveted hinges, so we’re rolling it out incrementally.
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Have you come up with a cool nugget alternative that locks in place?
The nugget locks rotationally. And when tensioned they cam in place along the track and don’t budge. Plus, it’s always a best practice to slide the tie-out points as close to the load as possible anyway. So even though they’re free to slide in the track, it’s not really an issue since it would have to come loose first to be able to slide at all and in almost all cases you can position the nugget next to the object being tied down (in the axis of the track).