Habitat Owner's Thread

[RangeBrover]

Hope you guys get taken care of, although its posts like this that make me glad i didn't go the JK with Habitat route.

Hey DK, great to hear from you on this thread, although sorry to hear about some frustrating circumstances. Interesting timing on your post as I recently hosed down the Habitat to get some dust off and keep everything nice. To make a long story short, a lot of water got inside the front section and some even spilled out of the hinge area when I closed up the top. I could not get the gutter flap to sit flat around most of the tent, mainly due to the material being too taught and/or too short of a skirt as you mentioned. Speaking of taught fabric, I ended up adding two extra screws per corner to hold in the rubber piping that secures the tent bottom to the aluminum channel as the corners were tearing away from the channel things were so taught. Until I get the tent out in a good rain, I can't be sure I was careful enough not to squirt water in sideways or in a manner that would be atypical for a rain shower event. I did try to replicate a good shower though. I'll report later this summer after a few good rains vs. water from the hose at home. Also, John is working on a little shifting issue I have with the hinges that I am concerned about. The Habitat is still usable although it won't be fun if something goes awry out somewhere in the bush or during a heavy rain. This all means another trip and time to head to AT for resolutions, although I don't necessarily consider seeing the guys a bad thing as I want to peek at their new Chaser Sportsman sometime. It looks like AT and probably other Habitat partners read these threads - my intent is not to do any bashing. I am a little surprised after a few years in the field with the first couple of units that some of these things are even cropping up. Nonetheless, I still have faith that AT and involved parties will implement the proper fixes for us early adopters who helped fund the project as well as others who may experience similar issues. Time will bear this out so let's hang in their and keep communicating and see how production and "support" on these units continues to evolve. I still love the Habitat concept and suspect that some of these issues may have already evolved into fixes for the latest deliveries. Oh, those rivets are fairly easy to replace with longer ones that hold a little better - ask me how I know .

 

[kb7our]

Hope you guys get taken care of, although its posts like this that make me glad i didn't go the JK with Habitat route.

I'm still happy with the purchase as an early adopter and still also believe these things will get worked out. I don't think anything mentioned that needs tuning is a show stopper as long as these items get fixed. It looks like placement of the entire tent structure (channel, poles, etc.) which is mounted to the Habitat base may need to be a bit more precise during install to get an ideal fit. We should not be getting rain ingress based on what I read from Ouray testing in the rain for 3 days and a few other items mentioned could be one offs??? I have several summer excursions planned including hopefully a trip to Prescott to settle some final? tweaks. The platform is still pretty sweet.

 

[Martyn]

Hey DK, great to hear from you on this thread, although sorry to hear about some frustrating circumstances. Interesting timing on your post as I recently hosed down the Habitat to get some dust off and keep everything nice. To make a long story short, a lot of water got inside the front section and some even spilled out of the hinge area when I closed up the top. I could not get the gutter flap to sit flat around most of the tent, mainly due to the material being too taught and/or too short of a skirt as you mentioned. Speaking of taught fabric, I ended up adding two extra screws per corner to hold in the rubber piping that secures the tent bottom to the aluminum channel as the corners were tearing away from the channel things were so taught. Until I get the tent out in a good rain, I can't be sure I was careful enough not to squirt water in sideways or in a manner that would be atypical for a rain shower event. I did try to replicate a good shower though. I'll report later this summer after a few good rains vs. water from the hose at home. Also, John is working on a little shifting issue I have with the hinges that I am concerned about. The Habitat is still usable although it won't be fun if something goes awry out somewhere in the bush or during a heavy rain. This all means another trip and time to head to AT for resolutions, although I don't necessarily consider seeing the guys a bad thing as I want to peek at their new Chaser Sportsman sometime. It looks like AT and probably other Habitat partners read these threads - my intent is not to do any bashing. I am a little surprised after a few years in the field with the first couple of units that some of these things are even cropping up. Nonetheless, I still have faith that AT and involved parties will implement the proper fixes for us early adopters who helped fund the project as well as others who may experience similar issues. Time will bear this out so let's hang in there and keep communicating and see how production and "support" on these units continues to evolve. I still love the Habitat concept and suspect that some of these issues may have already evolved into fixes for the latest deliveries. Oh, those rivets are fairly easy to replace with longer ones that hold a little better - ask me how I know .

Wade, I'd have to think it was reasonable to assume that any water coming from the hinge area would be associated with the hinge issue we are working on with you.

Regarding the tent taughtness, as the tent is secured to the shell on four sides the only way to adjust the tightness is by adjusting the extrusion on the shell or the length of the poles. During initial fitment the material has a tighter fit allowing for the fabric to relax with use. If you think your material is still too tight we can adjust the fit when you come in.

All of the tents made for the Habitats have been sewn by a US company that is a military supplier. As the volumes have been low they have sewn them is small batches in their sample room. What we have seen with the tents is that the sewing and cutting is exceptionally good, but as they are basically custom tents we see a very slight variation in size. This is caused by the seams being slightly offset, but it means we have to adjust each tent to fit.

As we move forward we are going into larger volume production where panels of material are CNC cut but the seams are still sewn by individual operators. We have chosen to "relax" the fit of the tent and take up any slack using pole length. This is nothing new when it comes to tent manufacturing, every tent will vary slightly in size, the difference is they don't have a fixed circumference.

As you said you were one of the early adopters, and we appreciate your support on this project. The design and production of this product is something we are going through together. We have seen a handful of issues with the Habitats. It's variable as to what they are, and when they come up we take care of them. If we had a consistent problem it would be easy to put in place an overall fix, but there tend to be just a very few minor issues that vary. The vast majority of Habitats are problem free.

The only consistent issue we have seen is with the torsion bar. We did a lot of initial test on the bar and came up with the spec we wanted for production. The initial production run was made to spec and worked well. When we ordered the second batch we found out from the manufacturer that they had lots the specifications on the bar. We then had to reverse engineer the torsion bar which involved cutting the bar and having it sent out for metallurgic testing. The bars we got back had slightly too much spring rating and the bars had to be turned down slightly.

Small scale manufacturing is rarely constant, and we adapt and modify to address issue that we face on a daily basis. It's the nature of the business.

 

[Dan Grec]

As we move forward we are going into larger volume production....

I'm happy to hear production is increasing!

Keep up the great work, and as usual, any photos that people want to post are greatly appreciated

-Dan

 

[kb7our]

...They cut the metal back because it cannot be attached due to the big steel hinge bar inside the lower top section. I ask about how to keep water out and was told that the rear flap, if tied down would keep water out. Well it does NOT.

DK, this isn't possible since your channel has been shortened around the hinge area but for mine I wonder if some silicon under the channel where there are no rivets would help? It seems like it would as long as there isn't stress on the material to force the channel back up. At least up to the last little gap where the hinge is located which is also where there are no rivets. This is one idea I'm contemplating in addition to possibly sliding out the padded hinge cover (it slides out pretty easy as there are two piping strips, front and back, that slide into center channel, and then have some larger flaps sewn on to the ends to cover the rest of the hinge area opening better. Just thinking of some viable options to seal up the hinge area a little better like an RTT and these seem like they are. I wonder if I can get a couple of feet a material from AT to accommodate this trial mod?

 

[kb7our]

Martyn, thanks for the recap you provided above. Mario seems to have my bar dialed in well for the mattress setup I mentioned and thanks for your continued support getting some of us with issues fixed up. Adjustable poles (which was suggested earlier somewhere) or simply trimming to fit when the tent is mounted makes a lot of sense to accommodate variances. I also think that running a screw through the rubber piping to hold it in place at each corner creates a weak link that will eventually pull through as mine did in a couple of corners, which is why I had to add additional screws on each side of each corner to hold the piping in place, although I didn't like screwing through the piping again. Maybe with less tension on the fabric this won't be an issue with the piping wanting to pull away from the corners (and out of the channel). It seems like there needs to be some additional material like a flap with a ring at each corner as part of that rubber piping that can then be secured to the base and it won't have the possibility of tearing away from a screw holding it in place.

 

[kb7our]

Simple tent skirt/rain gutter hold down for hinge area

Identified a non evasive hold down solution for the hinge area of the tent skirt/rain gutter to help pull it down a tad so water doesn't pool. Seems to help keep much of the rear flap down to eliminate or at least minimize water pooling. This is an S hook from a rubber strap what seems to be just the right size to loop through the ties and then around the lower hinge.

 

[Healeyjet]

I just pulled that thin strap attached to the skirt down and closed it in the front doors. Worked great for me.
Ward

 

[kb7our]

Working Rear Awning

Used this setup over the weekend. Awning can be purchased online from ********'s. Added REI shock corded poles, one for the Habitat end (plus an extra piece as you need 79" eye to eye to add a mounting surface, plus 2 replacements for the crappy end poles that come with the awning. I have a couple of small tie down brackets that happen to slip into the top of each latch that secures the Habitat cap - these brackets keep the awning in place and from pulling away from the Habitat plus they can be removed quickly. Very sturdy setup for as long as I need it to last. The end poles can be removed so the awning end can be dropped to the ground and it still allows sufficient clearance for the window to open as long as the ground is fairly level.

 

[kb7our]

Rain Test Update

An update on rain tested Habitat...

We spent a couple of nights NE of Strawberry AZ @ 7K' in ~70 deg coolness and got some rain. Fortunately, the rain did not last long but it sure was refreshing. It made for a good leak test of the Habitat. I found one issue similar to what DK reported where water was starting to weep right where the roof attic mount straps are sewn to the top front roof section of the tent. I got just a couple of very small drops down a couple of the attic straps and some of the other straps were moist. Be aware of this potential issue before you get into a soaking rain like DK did. I will be adding a little Seam Grip (good stuff) around each of these attachment points where they are sewn to the roof which should take care of any future issues.

 

[kb7our]

I just pulled that thin strap attached to the skirt down and closed it in the front doors. Worked great for me.
Ward

Yep, that works too. I got tired of securing it in the door every time I opened the door so added an S hook which also allows you to keep the front and rear skirt straps tied together nice and tight.

 

[brianjwilson]

Hope that's not the kijaro shade I bought at dicks as well. Mine was securely tied down on the white rim and a wind came through, the rear poles folded up and it self destructed. I return it and I'm looking for a more secure option. May end up with a small arb awning or making my own.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Blue Performance makes one that I have been considering for a similar application at the rear of my camper. Although it is not as big as the ones pictured above.

 

[kb7our]

"Hope that's not the kijaro shade I bought at dicks as well. Mine was securely tied down on the white rim and a wind came through, the rear poles folded up and it self destructed. I return it and I'm looking for a more secure option. May end up with a small arb awning or making my own."
-
Same one, Brian (sharp J30 setup). That's why I changed out the two rear poles and added a front pole which yours does not have. The unit is very solid now. Would be even better zipped to the Habitat but that will have to wait. I consider this a very viable option with the aforementioned mods - not so good as you experienced without the mods.

 

[Jr_Explorer]

Hope that's not the kijaro shade I bought at dicks as well. Mine was securely tied down on the white rim and a wind came through, the rear poles folded up and it self destructed. I return it and I'm looking for a more secure option. May end up with a small arb awning or making my own.

Blue Performance makes one that I have been considering for a similar application at the rear of my camper. Although it is not as big as the ones pictured above.

Canopies and wind are just a bad combination. The Blue Performance website is revealing. Their "Small" is only 3.5' X 3.5' and their "Giant" size is a mere 6' X 6'! :Wow1: Any canopy basically becomes a parachute in the wind and the forces generated can be huge. I am seriously considering just using a camouflage net as a canopy for shade. They are virtually all "hole" so there is nothing for the wind to grab. They are used a lot up at Burning Man and survive dust devils going right through them. Here in Southern California and our SW deserts shade is the big deal.

For the occasional rain I'd love a solid canopy. Often those rain clouds pack said dreaded breezes/winds so right when you want the rain protection how long would that solid canopy last anyways. It's a dilema.