Stoked about the new Gofast camper

dman93

Adventurer
Dissenting opinion here - if you keep the top above the fin, then I know there will be room for my mountain bikes inside. My current shell is a very tight squeeze and I am counting on those extra inches that I know the GFC will provide!
 

rajacat

Active member
No problem with fin clearance issues for the current F150. A snug fit would be optimum as long as there'd be sufficient clearance for off road twisting and bouncing which I'm sure you'll account for.
I wonder if a lightweight fairing could be designed that would be mounted on the cab without permanently altering the roof.
 
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CM_CUMMINS

Member
Been following you guys on instagram for a while now! Very cool product!

On the F-150 version do you have measurements of the overall height of the tent off the cab?

Will you guys be at overland expo west this year?
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Been following you guys on instagram for a while now! Very cool product!

On the F-150 version do you have measurements of the overall height of the tent off the cab?

Will you guys be at overland expo west this year?

We will be at expo west. As will a number of our customers with their new GFC :)

As for the F-150 dimensions, we don't have those finalized yet. But generally speaking we're going to make all the truck-specific designs as low to the cab as possible without requiring any modifications to the truck (and allowing for flex).
 

timesinfinity

New member
man, this is such a beautiful thing! so well thought out and really cool that it's made in bozeman!

i do wish there were a slightly longer version that didn't require removing cushions to get in and out. i understand this is by design to minimize weight. do you think you'll make a version like that down the line, or would that require too extensive of a structural redesign?
 

aaen

Adventurer
Well, these are very interesting indeed.

Originally I wanted to put a four wheel camper in the back of the Tacoma, but after seeing the weight of them I realized that was a bad idea for the type of exploring I do. I then moved onto a wanting the AT habitat, but honestly the price tag for what you were getting was foolish, especially given the early issues with them. I moved onto a canopy an RTT and currently sit at an alucab canopy an Jb explorer rtt. Yes expensive, but the quality was there and it was a ha dtop RTT. Now though I am finding after my recent trip down to sw US for some desert exploring, that I'm no 100% sure of what I want anymore. No thanks to eat sleep wolf whom pointed out these campers to me and the recent release of these gofast campers.

Anyways, this ya really rethinking a lot of setup as I noticed with the canopy and rtt when crawling around rocks/e5c I was getting quite a bit of movement in the back end of the tacoma. Probably due to the 300 or more pounds btw the rtt and canopy.

I'll be monitoring the progress on this canopy and may have to take a swing down to check up in these in the next couple of months. I'm liking what I see so far, I'm just not certain this is the ideal setup for me. I'll need to see them in person and read reviews of them before I can make that decision. Perhaps though I should just be happy with what I have, it is after all quite a comfortable tent, although it could be a bit longer.

Anyways, looking forward to seeing where this develops and the path it takes. It may be the right solution for me in the long run.

Steve
 

dman93

Adventurer
+1. This is also a big deal for me, and one that I'm more than willing to compromise some weight for. Not needing to remove the cushions would allow to have a "permanent" bed area that could be covered with bed sheets and a nice comforter, which is a LOT nicer than sleeping bags. Now that I've done the sheets + down comforter approach, I don't think I'll ever be happy with sleeping bags. Having a more square design on the tailgate side of the camper would allow for more room inside, without having to stretch the camper much further forward over the cab.
I think the length of the sleeping platform with the rear-most cushions removed is long enough to sleep on, so that portion could be made up and still allow removal of the small 1/2 width cushions (one or both) for access and egress. I do agree with making the rear liftgate more vertical and had suggested this to GFC, specially for the shortbed, since space utilization is really important for us shortbed guys. Wiley seemed open to that. Like all good product design, this one seems like a balance of user-centered design and the designers' vision and values. That balance won't work for all of us but so far it seems pretty darn good.
 

Zkrob

New member
A little re-hash on the height of the rtt portion and the antenna. For Colorado/ZR2 owners the antenna can actually be removed and the lower portion without the antenna is 1-1/4”. That means you can probably fit the camper within 1-1/2” from the roof line and have decent room. I don’t mind removing my antenna as I rarely use the radio, but we could relocate to an external type mount on the camper itself for those that want to retain radio functions. My point is that I would like the camper as low to the roof as possible and it’s pretty do able with our setup compared to the shark fin on the Tacoma’s.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

crazysccrmd

Observer
Making up the bedding at/after every entry is a deal breaker. Not going to happen. Ladders are in the same boat. For me, the entire point of a pop-up camper like this is the ability to be able to get in/out in a covered, enclosed space, as well as the ability to stand up in that same space to put on shoes, jackets, etc. I've already got a top of the line hardshell RTT, there's no sense swapping it for another one.

I'm thinking that one of the small cushions can be removed altogether, and the other left setup on my side of the bed. My girlfriend's shorter and doesn't need that much bed length, so we could use the empty hole (from the missing cushion) at the end of her side of the bed to enter/exit, without disturbing the rest of the bed too much. At least, that's the current plan/theory.

Is bedding really a big deal? I've used sheets and a blanket in my RTT and actually prefer the simplicity of the double wide sleeping bag I now use. It's basically flannel sheets combined with a comforter and can be folded and moved around with very minimal setup time required.
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Just so everyone knows, the floor was designed to be used in two configurations. One for two people and one for solo travel (bunk mode).

When you have two people, and both need to get out at different times, the best arrangement is to place the two small square panels side by side at the rear. That way, each person can pull up their panel without the other person having to move out of the way. The small panels are 25" square, enough room to get in and out.

In bunk mode, you turn the long panel so it runs front to back. If you're traveling solo then you can leave the two small panels out and sleep on the bunk bed. This setup leaves plenty of room for sleeping and standing to change, etc. On the Baja testing trip (27 consecutive days in the tent) it was just me and my dog so this is the arrangement I used (dog slept downstairs in the bed). You can also use bunk mode with two people if you know only one person always gets up first. Neither me nor my girlfriend gets up in the night. And I always get up an hour or two before she does. So for us, we use bunk mode as well but instead of leaving one side open, I sleep on the two small panels and when i get up, I remove them both and my girlfriend doesn't have to move and I get more interior space to make coffee downstairs :)

And sometime this summer we'll also have fitted sheets available for the individual cushions, making it easy to sleep with a comforter and still pull panels easily.
 

Ryanmb21

Expedition Leader
Awesome product!

Everybody else, please keep discussion of what kind of bedding your prefer to yourself — nobody cares!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

skyfree

Active member
A little re-hash on the height of the rtt portion and the antenna. For Colorado/ZR2 owners the antenna can actually be removed and the lower portion without the antenna is 1-1/4”. That means you can probably fit the camper within 1-1/2” from the roof line and have decent room. I don’t mind removing my antenna as I rarely use the radio, but we could relocate to an external type mount on the camper itself for those that want to retain radio functions. My point is that I would like the camper as low to the roof as possible and it’s pretty do able with our setup compared to the shark fin on the Tacoma’s.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem with the 2015+ Colorado/Canyon is that the antenna assembly provides GPS/XM/Onstar/AM and FM signals. The only ones of those I care about are GPS and XM (for traffic), so I would need some sort of way to relocate the GPS and XM antennas to the top of the GoFast near the front hinge with a selection switch to switch between the 2 sources, or maybe in the bay where the windshield wipers are like I did in my F350 with truck camper which could be permanent. I realize this is not really a problem with the GoFast design as any type of camper or cargo up there would block it, but it's something I would need to figure out. The only post I could find about someone doing that was here: http://coloradofans.com/forums/201-2nd-gen-electronics-audio-lighting/314386-xm-cell-data-gps-am-fm-antenna-anatomy.html
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Also, while you're developing the fitted sheets, see if you can also develop waterproof mattress protectors that would go under the fitted sheets. I remember that the mattress covers can be washed, but I think it would be best to avoid the necessity. So fitted sheets, over fitted, waterproof mattress protectors, over the normal mattress covers. I'd hate to spill some drink on the cushion and have it soak into the mattress foam itself (especially since these cushions will eventually be used in the "couch" setup).

Yes, the sheets will be available separately. We're starting to ship campers in March and won't have the sheets ready by then (the sew shop we're setting up will be really busy at first just getting tents and cushions made) but we expect to have more soft goods accessories starting in the summer.
 

czukie

Active member
Just so everyone knows, the floor was designed to be used in two configurations. One for two people and one for solo travel (bunk mode).

When you have two people, and both need to get out at different times, the best arrangement is to place the two small square panels side by side at the rear. That way, each person can pull up their panel without the other person having to move out of the way. The small panels are 25" square, enough room to get in and out.

In bunk mode, you turn the long panel so it runs front to back. If you're traveling solo then you can leave the two small panels out and sleep on the bunk bed. This setup leaves plenty of room for sleeping and standing to change, etc. On the Baja testing trip (27 consecutive days in the tent) it was just me and my dog so this is the arrangement I used (dog slept downstairs in the bed). You can also use bunk mode with two people if you know only one person always gets up first. Neither me nor my girlfriend gets up in the night. And I always get up an hour or two before she does. So for us, we use bunk mode as well but instead of leaving one side open, I sleep on the two small panels and when i get up, I remove them both and my girlfriend doesn't have to move and I get more interior space to make coffee downstairs :)

And sometime this summer we'll also have fitted sheets available for the individual cushions, making it easy to sleep with a comforter and still pull panels easily.

I think a lot of us are still wanting/waiting for more interior photos of these various se ups...
 

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