Wind flap and loose tent?

What will the title of your Marketplace post be? Made in China piece of shit gfc for sale? :joy:

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are you are aware these are the least expensive wedge camper on the market? there have been a few things I had to finish. for instance, the sharp edges on the rectangle floor needed a light sanding to take off the edge. I was concerned 1 night after a beer I’d put it through the tent. it was 5 minutes of my time that could easily have been done in the factory but again… the least expensive wedge camper on the market.

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gfc3093 - sorry you haven’t had a good experience mate. Sometimes things don’t work out and you just have to move on. But kind of sucks when you have made a big investment of time, hope, and money.

I just got my GFC (camper) last Friday in Montana, and then drove back to Wisconsin. I camped in ND and Minnesota in 40 mph winds, and my tent did great. The only thing that kept me up some the 2nd night was freeway noise, because I camped in a rest stop, due to rivers were flooding in eastern ND and western MN, so didn’t want to camp in their parks. But my trusty earplugs worked as well as ever. I just pointed it into the wind, put my earplugs in, and sacked out. The wind kind of gently nudged the side of the tent, but I did not have flapping bothering me. At the Teddy Roosevelt Park on Fri night, did not need earplugs, as the tent was quiet. The one thing I would say is that I found I had to move the side zips up to collapse the tent, or they caught between the frame. Until I zipped those back down each time tent went up, it was starting to flap. But with all the zips down all the way, was minimal.

But YMMV. When I first reported to my frigate in the Navy, the first few nights I didn’t sleep well, because you feel like you are sleeping in the middle of a giant machine. Which you are. But after a few nights I got used to it, and the rocking of the boat would put me out like a light. Then when I went home on leave, it was really weird getting to sleep without any noise or motion at all.

As to build quality, to me it seems built really well. Seams are all double sewn and weathersealed, the material bomb strong, the shell and frame are tight, and not a drop of water in my camper or truck bed driving through that wind/rain storm for hundreds of miles.

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I’ve had mine installed on the 28th of April and have camped in it all but one night (it’s now May 7th). If you zip the doors down all the way and park with the wedge towards the wind it reduces the noise a lot. Ive camped in Craters of the Moon, outside yellowstone, in Moab and dispersed camped outside various parks in Southern Utah. Always checked to see where the winds were out of and made sure I angled in that dire as best i could. Ultimately though, its a tent and they all make noise in the wind.

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I have a V1. It makes less noise in the wind than any other tent I’ve had, aside from the single wall MH tent that I use (which is equally difficult to ventilate).

The older I get, the more I realize that you can’t please everyone all the time.

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I’ve been trying a really simple solution for this. It is too early to say how it will hold up in the long run but so far so good. One package has five.

They are stick on fabric snaps for tents. I used three evenly spaced for the rear and one in the centre for each side. It makes a huge difference.


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I would pay a pretty big premium to get these if they color matched my stone tent color.

I know that’s kind of a nitpicky take, but I am a sucker for clean asthetics.

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When it’s shut they are totally covered up.

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It’s complete ready to go. It’s nice 3M adhesive as well. Similar to a gore-Tex repair tape.

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would love to see the inside of that bed buildout you have!

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I’m sympathetic to OPs concerns. But I have a fix. First, the issue: My first few nights in the GFC sucked; I barely slept because those loose tent flap bottoms make the whole side flap against the inside layer of the tent, rattling the buckles and creating lots of noise (50+ dbs as I measured in fairly low 20-30mph winds). Worse than any ground tent I’ve ever used, for two reasons. First, the wind is usually stronger off the ground, second, a ground tent rain fly tensions to the stakes and poles, preventing it from whacking the tent body.

[The fix:] buy some tarp clips and use them to tension the sides of the tent down to the tent rails. (How does your tent perform in the wind? - #21 by KOM-Chaser)

This mostly solved it for me. That, and making sure the zippers of the doors were all the way up.

Good luck, don’t give up up because of this.

That said, I’m also in the “GFC aint worth it” club. Would rather just use a ground tent and snugtop. Use the savings to triple lever QQQ or something dumb like that :wink:

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I sewed a strip of Velcro along the bottom of one side flap as a POC and it made a massive difference. Just took like 4-5 hours to sew by hand. :joy: So many thread tangles and breaks.

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Using the gas struts to provide the final tension to the tent is not the best design in my opinion. These gas springs are impacted by temperature, seem somewhat inconsistent in their pressure and suffer from degradation over time. Also, depending on how much weight is on your roof it will impact the tent tension. I feel they should be used to “assist” in opening but not be the single point that holds the tent open. The below solution helps. A similar method was posted on the forum by another member too.

  1. Have someone push the tent fully open, getting the fabric nice and tight.

  2. Measure the open length of the gas strut cylinder.

  3. Cut a section of PEX pipe to that measurement and cut a slot along its entire length the most sketchy way possible (I used a track saw)

  4. When you open your tent, clip these onto the gas springs. This will hold the tent fully open and keep it secure in harsh weather. It’s quick and easy to install and remove. I chose the PEX over PVC because it’s light and flexible. If you forget to take them off and close the tent they will just pop off and don’t risk any damage.

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Hi Chuck
? What diameter did you use PEX
Thx

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1/2” I think - it was the only size that was anywhere close to what looked like a good fit.

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Great for dust protection whilst at camp too!

great fix. mine blows closed on me all the time.

If I parked the wedge into the wind it would slam closed with me in it. Turned out to be a blown strut out of the box from the get go. I was really mad at first as I was having all kinds of issues and was just going to sell it and call the camper a POS. Calder reached out from GFC and replaced all the parts I was having issues with. He saved my opinion and I am really loving it now.

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Is this normal? I started a new topic but it seems to have disappeared

Yeah mine is like that, and a little more slack on the bottom edge as well. I just try to ignore it, sometimes it makes closing the zipper bind up a bit.