Introducing the “NEW” Alu-Cab Canopy Camper

Gthack123

New member
nice setup. How do you like the Rak Attach. I have been running 1Up racks on my wife’s and my vehicles for seven years and only needed a swing hitch with the camper. I bought a Kuat Pivot and am second guessing that decision within the first week of use.
Can't beat 1up. I like the rackattach. Certainly more convenient than having to swing the 1up down in order to crawl over it and get in the camper but it's the only swing out attachment I've used so I don't really have anything to compare it to.
 

kthompson

New member
@Mtpisgah I would be curious to hear your concerns with the Kuat Pivot. I had planned to purchase one to use with our 1up rack once we get our camper installed in April.
 

Mtpisgah

Active member
@Mtpisgah I would be curious to hear your concerns with the Kuat Pivot. I had planned to purchase one to use with our 1up rack once we get our camper installed in April.

i bought the Pivot because it was immediately available as opposed to a few weeks lead time for the Rak Attach on the sites I looked at. I installed the Pivot, tightened it like I used to tighten my Sherpa and less than I tighten the 1Up. It seemed tight and then the next day I noticed it was loose. What the heck?!? I tried to tighten it more but it never got tight in the receiver. I got home and took it off to inspect it and part of the wedge fell out.

I took it to the shop, dismantled their last right (driver swing), removed the wedge and bolt, and installed it in mine. When I dismantled mine, I found that the lateral bolt was bent. I can only imagine it bent when I tightened it after the wedge had apparently broken. The wedge is cast aluminum or pot metal while it should be steel or CNCed aluminum. It held over the weekend and hopefully it was just a bad casting. Photos have been sent to a friend of a friend who works at Kuat and he is checking with R&D, but he had never seen this happen before.

I have been working on bikes for 25 years. I have never broken, bent, or sheared a bolt on a bike. I have rebuilt shocks and forks, bled brakes, replaced hub and frame bearings, and never had an issue like this.

1st picture is the broken wedge
2nd picture is the bent bolt
3rd is the bolt from the brand new rack I took parts from
4th is my ************** truck with the Pivot and a 1Up.
 

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kthompson

New member
i bought the Pivot because it was immediately available as opposed to a few weeks lead time for the Rak Attach on the sites I looked at. I installed the Pivot, tightened it like I used to tighten my Sherpa and less than I tighten the 1Up. It seemed tight and then the next day I noticed it was loose. What the heck?!? I tried to tighten it more but it never got tight in the receiver. I got home and took it off to inspect it and part of the wedge fell out.

I took it to the shop, dismantled their last right (driver swing), removed the wedge and bolt, and installed it in mine. When I dismantled mine, I found that the lateral bolt was bent. I can only imagine it bent when I tightened it after the wedge had apparently broken. The wedge is cast aluminum or pot metal while it should be steel or CNCed aluminum. It held over the weekend and hopefully it was just a bad casting. Photos have been sent to a friend of a friend who works at Kuat and he is checking with R&D, but he had never seen this happen before.

I have been working on bikes for 25 years. I have never broken, bent, or sheared a bolt on a bike. I have rebuilt shocks and forks, bled brakes, replaced hub and frame bearings, and never had an issue like this.

1st picture is the broken wedge
2nd picture is the bent bolt
3rd is the bolt from the brand new rack I took parts from
4th is my ************** truck with the Pivot and a 1Up.


That's definitely not confidence inspiring or what I would expect out of their product. Hopefully it was just a batch issue. I had the version 1 of the Pivot on a van, and they had fixed all my gripes with the V2 design changes.

Not an excuse at all, but both Bikes and Car Racks have seen a flood of new customers during the pandemic and the supply chain challenges are real pain. I work in the bike industry in R+D as well, and the Kuat team is a solid crew. Glad to hear you already were able to get ahold of them asap, and hopefully they can help diagnose what's going on and get you replacement parts or a new rack.
 

Mtpisgah

Active member
That's definitely not confidence inspiring or what I would expect out of their product. Hopefully it was just a batch issue. I had the version 1 of the Pivot on a van, and they had fixed all my gripes with the V2 design changes.

Not an excuse at all, but both Bikes and Car Racks have seen a flood of new customers during the pandemic and the supply chain challenges are real pain. I work in the bike industry in R+D as well, and the Kuat team is a solid crew. Glad to hear you already were able to get ahold of them asap, and hopefully they can help diagnose what's going on and get you replacement parts or a new rack.

Yeah, I hope it was just a bad batch.

What kind of R&D do you do? I am in the market for a gravel bike, what do you recommend? I borrowed a friends 3T this weekend and had a blast. Actually ended up riding it mostly on single track. Now I need one and if I get one, my wife gets one.
 

kthompson

New member
Yeah, I hope it was just a bad batch.

What kind of R&D do you do? I am in the market for a gravel bike, what do you recommend? I borrowed a friends 3T this weekend and had a blast. Actually ended up riding it mostly on single track. Now I need one and if I get one, my wife gets one.
My background is in product design, and have worked on everything from bikes, components, and trailers.

Bikes are like trucks, it all depends on where and how you are going to ride - I am partial to larger tire clearance for more versatility, but I also have no intention on racing. These days every brand has a "gravel" bike, and I would recommend to start with the where and how, and go from there. Bikes will continue to be is super short supply in 2021, so your options will a bit limited. Feel free to PM me, I'd be happy to discuss further and make some recommendations.
 

Mtpisgah

Active member
I heard back from my contact at Kuat. They changed the design recently due to the cam pieces breaking but naturally there are still racks being sold with the old one. They are sending me a replacement and I should not expect further issues.
 

seekoutbeauty

Active member
It's been rad to read through this post and catch up on what everyone is doing!

I don't recall posting about this yet... but I love my Canopy Camper so much that I decided to become a dealer and start up a new company.... www.tinyrigco.com
We are very focused on building out Canopy Campers, Goose Gear, and REDARC.

If that doesn't tell you how incredible this camper is..... I love it.

It's been awesome to build out vehicles for customers, and then getting those text messages about how much they love their new setups.
Let me know if I can help in any way.

We are located in Southern California!




VG6bSkW.jpg
 

REDARC Tech Team

Supporting Sponsor / Approved Vendor
It's been rad to read through this post and catch up on what everyone is doing!

I don't recall posting about this yet... but I love my Canopy Camper so much that I decided to become a dealer and start up a new company.... www.tinyrigco.com
We are very focused on building out Canopy Campers, Goose Gear, and REDARC.

If that doesn't tell you how incredible this camper is..... I love it.

It's been awesome to build out vehicles for customers, and then getting those text messages about how much they love their new setups.
Let me know if I can help in any way.

We are located in Southern California!




VG6bSkW.jpg


Do you guys do installs as well? Where in SoCal?
 

JBinAZ

New member
New to the ACCC club and loving my camper and truck!!!

HUGE thank you and hearty recommendation for Tiny Rig Co!! They are doing great work in SoCal and are awesome to work with; detailed, knowledgeable and good communication. Completely happy that I turned my near blank slate over to them.

Also, throwing some gratitude towards Rin for going the extra mile to make my situation work out great. Lastly, thanks to all those in this thread/community for educating me along the way; please keep the posts and innovations coming!

Some pics from our first outing:
 

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givemethewillys

Jonathan Chouinard
It's been rad to read through this post and catch up on what everyone is doing!

I don't recall posting about this yet... but I love my Canopy Camper so much that I decided to become a dealer and start up a new company.... www.tinyrigco.com
We are very focused on building out Canopy Campers, Goose Gear, and REDARC.

If that doesn't tell you how incredible this camper is..... I love it.

It's been awesome to build out vehicles for customers, and then getting those text messages about how much they love their new setups.
Let me know if I can help in any way.

We are located in Southern California!




VG6bSkW.jpg
Oooohhhh glooooves..... that's the trick. I always somehow end up caulking gloveless, and it ends up everywhere!
 
It's been rad to read through this post and catch up on what everyone is doing!

I don't recall posting about this yet... but I love my Canopy Camper so much that I decided to become a dealer and start up a new company.... www.tinyrigco.com
We are very focused on building out Canopy Campers, Goose Gear, and REDARC.

If that doesn't tell you how incredible this camper is..... I love it.

It's been awesome to build out vehicles for customers, and then getting those text messages about how much they love their new setups.
Let me know if I can help in any way.

We are located in Southern California!




VG6bSkW.jpg

Would you mind sharing the process you are using to seal the front lip of the camper to the bed? As this is obviously more difficult to access, once the camper is seated. Curious as I am having a leaking issue on the ends (front corners of the bed) and trying to best determine how to seal it off.
 

seekoutbeauty

Active member
Truthfully, that is a spot we are looking at making something for future installs. It may just be some small pieces of aluminum sikaflex'd over.
For now, we are stuffing the hell out of them with Butyl Rope, and then doing sikaflex to fill in the gaps.



Would you mind sharing the process you are using to seal the front lip of the camper to the bed? As this is obviously more difficult to access, once the camper is seated. Curious as I am having a leaking issue on the ends (front corners of the bed) and trying to best determine how to seal it off.
 
Has anyone greased the rear door mechanism on the canopy camper? Mine is starting to squeak when I open/close the door. I'm not sure what product to use, or where exactly to apply it.
 

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