Stoked about the new Gofast camper

Whaler

Adventurer
It makes a ton of sense that the tent structure itself is enough for mounting, that's great. I couldn't find dimensions anywhere, did I miss them? My XJ suffers (benefits?) from being short and narrow, so most hard shell RTTs overhang the roof area.
 
how much rooms is left above the mattress when the tent is closed for bedding and such? i know the tent fabric has to tuck into that area as well, so im just wondering what can stay up there when its closed ( obviously soft stuff only lol).
 
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gmacmt

Adventurer
It makes a ton of sense that the tent structure itself is enough for mounting, that's great. I couldn't find dimensions anywhere, did I miss them? My XJ suffers (benefits?) from being short and narrow, so most hard shell RTTs overhang the roof area.

The exterior dimensions are 54"x93". We are Thinking about offering a smaller version for RTT's that is between 6-12" shorter, but the same width.

how much rooms is left above the mattress when the tent is closed for bedding and such? i know the tent fabric has to tuck into that area as well, so im just wondering what can stay up there when its closed ( obviously stuff only lol).

There is enough room for stuff like compressible sleeping bags and pillows.
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
A few (ok, a lot of) questions:

1. The large, rear window has a bug net. If I go to bed with the window open and bug-net in place and it starts raining in the middle of the night, can I close the exterior panel of the window without getting out of bed? By somehow opening up the bug net, and rolling down the exterior window? Or would I have to exit the truck to access that window panel?

2. How are the bug nets/window panels attached? Velcro? Zippers?

3. Are there similar bug nets on the two smaller windows?

4. Are all these windows and their closure methods expected to be waterproof?

5. Excluding the roof rack/cross-bars, how far above the Tacoma's shark fin does the highest part of the tent sit? Trying to figure out whether I'll be able to fit into my underground garage.

6. Your site mentioned 'Heater' as a planned optional extra. Can you share what you had in mind here?

7. Any chance of having a larger rear door panel that would eliminate the tailgate and go all the way to the bottom of the bed?

8. Are you expecting a weatherproof seal between the bottom of the camper and the bed sides? (Assuming the "corner gap" found on 3rd gen Tacos is properly filled in.)

9. Is it possible to order the aluminum side panels with sliding windows? I'd like to have my dog's kennel in the bed, and would need ventilation during transport.

10. If #9 is not possible, how much room will there be between the aluminum panel and the DOM tubing behind it? Curious whether I'll be able to retrofit a sliding canopy window in there.

11. Can the interior of the roof be had with some sort of bungee net, or at least hooks that a net can be attached to? I have this in my JB Explorer and it's great for tucking away clothing and sleeping items.

12. Will the sleeping area have any wall/roof mounted pockets for small items?

13. You've shared a short video of the tent being opened. Can we see a similar video of a walk-around, and closing process?

14. In a rain, water will pool between the vertical, fabric walls and the metal/structure below. Are there some kind of run-off channels for the water to escape?

15. If I wanted to remove the aluminum side panel (to install window or do other modifications), how easy is the re/re process?

16. Will the side panels/windoors remain open/lifted by themselves, or would they need to be supoprted by hand? Noticed that in all photos of them open there's someone supporting them.

Hopefully some useful answers for you:

1. The large "rear window" is also a door. The mesh zips completely open (it's fixed at the top) so you'd just unzip the mesh, zip the rain flap closed, then re-zip the mesh.

2. I assume you mean the mesh in the tent fabric (we'll have an optional bug mesh that magnets over the tailgate opening). But the ten mesh is sewn in, so the mesh doesn't come out. On the big rear door both the mesh and the cover zip open. On the side windows there are internal rain flaps (that drain into the rain gutter) that zip open and closed from the inside but the mesh does not zip open.

3. Answered above but again, the mesh is part of the tent, and the rain covers zip from the inside.

4. Not waterproof per se (it's not a submarine) but they're designed to shed rain so the inside doesn't get wet when all the rain flaps are closed.

5. About 8"

6. It'll most likely be a propex propane heater that vents combustion gasses outside. We're designing a fit kit that will include the heater, vents, mounting brackets and a plenum that can divert air upstairs or downstairs. We'll also be making a propane locker but the final location for that hasn't been sorted out yet and will probably vary depending on the truck model.

7. Not in the foreseeable future. We're talking about doing one that will hold two upright spare tires and a gas can where the tires stand up about 1/3 into the bed and 2/3 out with a back panel that seals when closed, but that's a ways away. Generally we really like having a tailgate.

8. The campers ship with gaskets so the seal between the plastic and the camper is sealed. You might need to seal the surface under the plastic to get a perfect seal. I have not done that on any of the prototypes and it hans't been an issue. The 3rg gen cornres seal well with butyl seal tape but we plan on making an optional plate that replaces the square metal cross tube to improve sealing and make the front edge flush with the bed sides.

9. We're not doing side windows for now.

10. There's a 1/8" gap between the inside of the panel and the tube frame. This is caused by the gaskets. You could install a smaller window or opening in the open space between the bracing. it's larger than it looks. You can pass a full sized cooler through the tubes on the side, so a little 10" window would fit.

11. we're working on some upstairs storage provisions. But keep in mind that when the tent is closed there's only an inch of space between the roof and the mattress, so you can't close it with anything more than compressible sleeping bag and pillow upstairs.

12. See #11

13. We're working on one. i just got back from Baja testing. I just spent 23 consecutive nights in it. But we're planning on filming a walk around late this week or early next.

14. I designed the framing extrusions to channel water into the lower rain gutters. And yes, these have drains that direct water toward the ends and onto the ground. A lot of thought was put into water drainage and channeling, which is how we can build the upper tent without the need for sealants or gaskets. We did this so that it would be easy to make any repairs. Parts can be unbolted and replaced without having to scrape glues or reseal components.

15. About 5 minutes. You just loosen four bolts (per side) that attach the tent frame to the lower frame, and pull the panel off. There's a gasket here but no adhesives or glues so as long as you don't tear the gasket the reinstallation would just involve sticking the panel back on and re-torquing the four bolts.

16. Yes. We didn't have time to get any of the supports installed before I had to leave but the rear hatch will have gas struts and the side panels will have mechanical struts that hold various open positions so you can crack them open in a rain.
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Fantastic. Thanks for all the details.

I want to double check the answer to #5: that's 8" from the top of the shark fin to the top of the tent (excluding cross-bars / roof-rack), and not 8" from the top of the truck's roof to the top of the tent, correct? In the photos it appears that the tent is thinner/lower, so I just want to make sure we're talking about the same dimension.

Correct. When closed, the tent portion is 6" tall. Right now we have it so that the bottom of the overhang is 2" above the fin. We might lower this by 1.25" but that has yet to be determined. it won't get any taller though.
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Good stuff, thank you. If you do end up lowering it, please make a post.

In its current form I suspect the camper won't fit in my underground, but I do plan to move to a house in the second half of the year, at which point the current height should be just fine, so it'll just be a question of time before I pick one of these up.

Will do. Definitely wish that shark fin wasn't there.
 

inv3ctiv3

Adventurer
Will do. Definitely wish that shark fin wasn't there.

Yo whats up Wiley it's Jim Bob, I too would love to see it get lowered and a lot of campers required cutting the shark fin which I did for my flippac....

32697882760_e1da6db05c_b.jpg


39424254362_9ee4f83d30_h.jpg


http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...ld-2015-Tacoma-DCLB-4wd?p=1936004#post1936004
 

85cj7boy

New member
Excited to see this offered as a stand alone DIY build for ____________ rig you have as well.

I want to build it to fit on top of a Jeep LJ like was previously mentioned in the thread Previous poster wanted for a JKU. Open floor design not a RTT just a lower and upper ring with tie in points that you use for your existing bed cage designs called out so that others who want to fab their own base can do it. Looking forward to see this develop.

I can fab steel, aluminum, etc but sewing, special extrusion pieces, zippers, hinges, gas shocks, etc that is all obtained at a cheaper rate in mass quantity to build the topper
Straight panels, tubing, etc are all things that most builders are used to working with already.
 

HONDO Garage

Wish I'd invented Airwolf
Excited to see this offered as a stand alone DIY build for ____________ rig you have as well.

I want to build it to fit on top of a Jeep LJ like was previously mentioned in the thread Previous poster wanted for a JKU. Open floor design not a RTT just a lower and upper ring with tie in points that you use for your existing bed cage designs called out so that others who want to fab their own base can do it. Looking forward to see this develop.

I can fab steel, aluminum, etc but sewing, special extrusion pieces, zippers, hinges, gas shocks, etc that is all obtained at a cheaper rate in mass quantity to build the topper
Straight panels, tubing, etc are all things that most builders are used to working with already.

What you're describing is part of our product roadmap. We plan to offer builders, both commercial and individuals the pop-top portion for incorporation into their own builds. This will extend not just to complete units but spare parts as well. Right now I'd estimate that we'll start making these parts available late Spring / early Summer.
 

DVexile

Adventurer
How about 3D-printing a lower-profile fin that could be included with the tent? Should be simple enough to transfer the antenna's internals from one fin to another.

It can be quite a pain to get the fin antenna off of the truck because it means dropping the headliner which is a major PIA to do. Some folks attempt to get to it from the back by only releasing the headliner at the rear but this frequently results in a creased headliner.
 

firefox90

New member
We'll get it as low as we can but I'd prefer not to require folks to chop the fin. At least not on 3rd gens.
Have you done any checks for the 15+ Colorado fin? I can provide if necessary. I would definitely like to avoid trimming.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

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