Wedge campers information and comparisons

[Greg]

I like this. Comparing these at around $5000 to a Habitat at around $10,000? I like it a lot.

^^^^I'm not sure a Parker Pumper has the volume to pressurize an entire pick up shell. A better option might be a bilge blower fan for a boat, we used a couple of those on our Jeepspeed car to help keep the rear shocks cooled.

Whatever fan used though I don't thinks that's the problem. It's where and how you choose to draw air in. The potential positive pressure the fan can create is not going to mean jack if the air intake is about to implode because a filter is clogged and no air is moving. Or if it needs cleaning so often that the fan is just turned off. Where do you place the intake? On the wall between the cab and the shell?

 

[Dave]

I’m sure @Andy knows how to make an NBC overpressure system work.

 

[Greg]

I’m sure @Andy knows how to make an NBC overpressure system work.

I hope he puts it in a build thread. Because I know enough to know I don't know enough to build one right.

 

[Haggis]

I like this. Comparing these at around $5000 to a Habitat at around $10,000? I like it a lot.

We were thinking about a AlumaCab Kahuna slide in unit for the Tacoma, but this looks like a more flexible and easier to deal with solution to our camping needs. And at 1/3 the price the GFC might just do the trick. I like it too.

 

[TangoBlue]

I’m sure @Andy knows how to make an NBC overpressure system work.

An M-51 NBC Shelter over-pressure unit should do it... hmm...

 

[jscusmcvet]

Just wrap it in sewn together MOPP 4 and you are GTG.

 

[Mitch]

My work here is done. Logistics: Someone else's problem!

 

[richard310]

@Andy Is there a hard delivery date? I'm eager to see this in-person.

 

[Andy]

@Andy Is there a hard delivery date? I'm eager to see this in-person.

Not yet, just an estimate

 

[kalieaire]

There is another alternative with a longer top.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-drifter-specs-and-faq.540826/

http://vagabondoutdoors.com/

It precludes the option of having a roof rack, but the bed is 80 (6'8") long with 30" between the bed and the end of the cap so you can go into the lower area if you need to. Similar empty camper that allows you to customize it anyway you want. They have a few options too like sliding cab facing window if you're boxed in with cabinetry.

The good thing about these designs is wind resistance because you can point your truck towards the majority of the wind. Flippac/Wildernest/Habitat styles are not so great with the wind, but hey, you can always close the top and sleep inside just the same.

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http://www.stanceworks.com/2018/04/stanceworks-off-road-utah-desert-part-i/

Jim Bob has a the GFC has a writeup here.


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@Dave just fyi, everyone has plans to practically copy your goose gear build out from your tacodoc days. This goes for habitat, gfc, and vagabond owners.

Also a note regarding dust. Dust intrusion happens in a couple of ways, underneath the bedsides, the composite bed is actually notched. We removed the bedsides of our friend's truck and filled it in with silicone caulking before he installed the Vagabond. We'll see how things work out in a few months. A couple of other options I've seen is a hepa filter intake providing positive pressure. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to co-opt one of the cab vents into an air intake into the bed with a 12v dc blower for whenever the engine is running.

Filtered positive pressure inside the camper = no dust.

 

[Dave]

@Dave just fyi, everyone has plans to practically copy your goose gear build out from your tacodoc days. This goes for habitat, gfc, and vagabond owners.

Yeah, I’ve noticed

 

[Andy]

There is another alternative with a longer top.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-drifter-specs-and-faq.540826/

http://vagabondoutdoors.com/

It precludes the option of having a roof rack, but the bed is 80 (6'8") long with 30" between the bed and the end of the cap so you can go into the lower area if you need to. Similar empty camper that allows you to customize it anyway you want. They have a few options too like sliding cab facing window if you're boxed in with cabinetry.

The good thing about these designs is wind resistance because you can point your truck towards the majority of the wind. Flippac/Wildernest/Habitat styles are not so great with the wind, but hey, you can always close the top and sleep inside just the same.

---------

http://www.stanceworks.com/2018/04/stanceworks-off-road-utah-desert-part-i/

Jim Bob has a the GFC has a writeup here.


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@Dave just fyi, everyone has plans to practically copy your goose gear build out from your tacodoc days. This goes for habitat, gfc, and vagabond owners.

Also a note regarding dust. Dust intrusion happens in a couple of ways, underneath the bedsides, the composite bed is actually notched. We removed the bedsides of our friend's truck and filled it in with silicone caulking before he installed the Vagabond. We'll see how things work out in a few months. A couple of other options I've seen is a hepa filter intake providing positive pressure. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to co-opt one of the cab vents into an air intake into the bed with a 12v dc blower for whenever the engine is running.

Filtered positive pressure inside the camper = no dust.

I’ve seen one of Vagabonds early models and it was a nice setup. I went with the GFC platform for 100 other reasons. The GFC production model comes in at just under 250lbs, the Vagabond is advertised at 340lbs. That’s a lot of extra mass to haul around. Plus, I think that GFC’s use of extrusions for the upper structure is stronger and looks way better than the folded box look that vagabond has. It’s nice that we have options available so everyone can choose what best fits their need!

 

[Andy]

GFC is 6-8 weeks behind so I won’t have mine for Expo. They will have their own booth so you can check them out there!

Why are they behind? Because they found that outsourcing parts wasn’t getting them the quality they wanted so they built out their own shop to do everything in house. I’m alright with waiting for a better product and I’m glad they aren’t just pushing out inferior parts to meet an arbitrary deadline.

 

[Haggis]

Looking forward to you getting your unit. One of these are definitely on our radar to replace the contractor cap and Maggie on our Tacoma.

 

[kalieaire]

I’ve seen one of Vagabonds early models and it was a nice setup. I went with the GFC platform for 100 other reasons. The GFC production model comes in at just under 250lbs, the Vagabond is advertised at 340lbs. That’s a lot of extra mass to haul around. Plus, I think that GFC’s use of extrusions for the upper structure is stronger and looks way better than the folded box look that vagabond has. It’s nice that we have options available so everyone can choose what best fits their need!

Yeah, the habitat is easily 360-380lbs. But it's insulated on 3 sides, plus I can put carpet on the hatch and the cab facing side to make it 5 sides insulated. But the best part is having 9 feet of headroom and tons of space otherwise. But it's relatively amazing that the community decided to do this all of the sudden. I'd been talking to Iggy and Phil (owners of Vagabond) about campers this craze happened and watched the entire process starting from before AT had gotten their production Habitats out, it's been quite the journey!

Can't wait to see what everyone else is putting together. I'm sure someone in China will build a GFC type kit or something where someone could just buy it and assemble it themselves. Have you seen the Autohome Columbus Variants on Alibaba? They're like 600-800 bucks! Just stuff them in a container and sell them like hotcakes.

In the long term, I'm hoping to ditch my bed and get a custom aluminum flatbed built out for the Habitat. I'd like an externally accessible way to get to my heater for maintenance as well as stow all the recovery gear and spare axles, prop shaft, ball joints, universals, tools, in a place that can help lower the center of gravity.

GFC is 6-8 weeks behind so I won’t have mine for Expo. They will have their own booth so you can check them out there!

Why are they behind? Because they found that outsourcing parts wasn’t getting them the quality they wanted so they built out their own shop to do everything in house. I’m alright with waiting for a better product and I’m glad they aren’t just pushing out inferior parts to meet an arbitrary deadline.

Yeah, that's too bad. Vagabond came to a similar conclusion wrt to their manufacturing when their prototypes came out. They're doing everything themselves now as well. They're currently filling out their pre-orders.

 

[Greg]

Can't wait to see what everyone else is putting together. I'm sure someone in China will build a GFC type kit or something where someone could just buy it and assemble it themselves. Have you seen the Autohome Columbus Variants on Alibaba? They're like 600-800 bucks! Just stuff them in a container and sell them like hotcakes.

Yakima entered the RTT market. I wonder if truck cap companies like Leer will do the same and come up with their own version of these.

 

[Dave]

Yakima entered the RTT market. I wonder if truck cap companies like Leer will do the same and come up with their own version of these.

No kidding. IMO it’s only a matter of time.

 

[WashingtonTaco]

Yakima entered the RTT market. I wonder if truck cap companies like Leer will do the same and come up with their own version of these.

I’ve emailed Snug Top about this, nothing but crickets.

 

[Dave]

I’ve emailed Snug Top about this, nothing but crickets.

Yeah if they do it they’ll unveil it at SEMA or something

 

[Greg]

I’ve emailed Snug Top about this, nothing but crickets.

Enter. Leentu!

$10K for the fiberglass composite shell. $15K for the carbon fiber. It's selling point is the 150lb target weight for the fiberglass composite version and 100lb target weight for the carbon fiber version plus a low profile design for minimal impact on fuel efficiency. Tacoma only though.

Their Instrgram has more interior and exterior shots of the prototype and concept photos.

Round one. Fight!