The latest entry in poptops

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very very well built looking(on paper) but again its over 5K not doing it
 
seems like it would be cold...and weary of the roof leaking...nice use of 80/20 tho...
 
What does this do better than a Maggiolina / Colombus roof top tent? That you can go up from inside / below is nice. Maybe it is a whole lot lighter? But still, I don't see the advantages.
 
Hey all,

My name is Graeme. I am one of the cofounders/designers at GFC. Happy to answer any questions you might have, and I am a fellow 80 series owner to boot. In fact, two out of the three folks at GFC have 80's.

LandCruiserPhil said:
Go Fast Campers Homepage

Interesting concept but the lack of ventilation and windows will be a killer in the SW from my poptop experience.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Hey Phil, answered some of your questions on insta. There is actually quite a bit of ventilation with all the mesh windows, no less than a standard hard shelled RTT and it is better insulated than most. The rear door is full height and has a mesh bug screen built in.

Additionally, we are designing a low profile forced air system that will push air like a fantastic or maxx fan for use when occupied. It would also be very easy to install a traditional fan in the roof if you were OK with the height increase.

We tested the system a bunch in death valley at the end of last month in 95+ degree heat and it worked well.

bugsnbikes said:
i can guarantee an Oztent sets up faster.....has more room.... is 150lbs less..........and has a lower center of gravity......and costs $4000 less.

what am i missing
Click to expand...

I promise you our system sets up faster. Deployment takes 5 seconds, literally. The oztent has more room because its a giant ground tent though, so its a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. We are building a rooftop tent/canopy camper.

LAMBCRUSHER said:
seems like it would be cold...and weary of the roof leaking...nice use of 80/20 tho...
Click to expand...

We have tons of measures in place to mitigate any water intrusion, and our current rough concept doesn't leak. The production model will be better than the prototype. And we actually aren't using 80-20, its our own custom extrusion designed specifically to keep water from getting into the living area.

The roof panel is a composite honeycomb which has a sizeable air gap which is helpful for insulation. We will have a winter weight tent liner and lower topper insulation kit that will get released next fall. Combined with a catalytic propane heater you should be fine any weather you want to tent camp in.

Hiace4wd said:
What does this do better than a Maggiolina / Colombus roof top tent? That you can go up from inside / below is nice. Maybe it is a whole lot lighter? But still, I don't see the advantages.
Click to expand...

So our Platform system is a completely different product category than a columbus RTT. Our standard RTT that we will release this coming summer is much more comparable to a maggiolina/columbus. Some of the differences....

-Made in the USA. Completely, no outsourcing.
-Price point of the RTT will be ~3200.
-Is also a structural roofrack, you can load lumber/hi lift jacks/rotopax/steel/bikes/skis/thule boxes on top of our tent.
-Similar weight to columbus (non carbon model). ~140#.
-We will stock replacement parts for each component of our system. If you break something, the tent will always be serviceable.
-only 6" thick when closed.

The Platform system integrates it into a topper with a welded tube lower, panelized or fabric sides and a pass through floor. It is literally built to be able to put on a long travel truck and jumped, and the entire system (canopy camper combo) weighs in at ~200 pounds.
 
Last edited:
It looks very similar to an Alucab setup.
 
And to give you guys an idea of the final build quality, here are some of the hinges we machine and anodize in house...

37860383846_c99278e0c7.jpg


37860383956_24ab5421ac.jpg


V2.0 will have some slight changes, but these are basically race truck quality parts, not your typically stainless piano hinges found on most tents.
 
You guys ever think of supplying the diy crowd?
 
We are totally into enabling DIY. We can sell the Tent portion of the system with the transform-a-floor if that's what you'd be interested in... Might be cool to cut an cruiser roof and do a CAMPTEQ style build. I did a little research on my truck, I know it fits on an 80.

Also, if you see a have a truck you want a Platform system for, we can add it to our supported vehicle list if we get 5 buyers for the same setup (Same generation/fit and bed length).
 
Hi GFC , nice idea .
I had a maggiolina , a Columbus , air camping and at the end I cut my roof of and made my pop up tent .
There is a long post here somewhere on it .
As said I like your idea , but .....
Don 't quite understand if you enter the tent only by the floor or there might be a back side entrance .
Or maybe both?
May I give you my critics ....?
The option of having the opportunity to "load "the roof is good , once the tent is closed , but you should also be able to open it . And with some weight it becomes difficult and stressful on hinges and on air pistons , not to mention to keep it open in case of wind or just light wind .
The pistons are stresses to do an extra work of weight with a negative leverage .
Best would be to have adjustable pistons .
Might "sell" you my solution !!!

The entrance from the floor is nice , but .....once the floor of the pickup is loaded I see very little space to crawl in/out from that side .
Not to mention the frame you need to hold the tent in position .
A back side entrance for me is the best bet .
Plus it gives a much better structural stiffness to the tent , that will help a lot on keeping the thing together .
Put great attention to water sealing , test it in heavy rain for some days , if you get the mattress wet , sleeping in it becomes the worst nightmare .

Good luck

Renago
 
renago said:
There is a long post here somewhere on it .
As said I like your idea , but .....
Don 't quite understand if you enter the tent only by the floor or there might be a back side entrance .
Or maybe both?
May I give you my critics ....?
The option of having the opportunity to "load "the roof is good , once the tent is closed , but you should also be able to open it . And with some weight it becomes difficult and stressful on hinges and on air pistons , not to mention to keep it open in case of wind or just light wind .
The pistons are stresses to do an extra work of weight with a negative leverage .
Best would be to have adjustable pistons .
Might "sell" you my solution !!!

The entrance from the floor is nice , but .....once the floor of the pickup is loaded I see very little space to crawl in/out from that side .
Not to mention the frame you need to hold the tent in position .
A back side entrance for me is the best bet .
Plus it gives a much better structural stiffness to the tent , that will help a lot on keeping the thing together .
Put great attention to water sealing , test it in heavy rain for some days , if you get the mattress wet , sleeping in it becomes the worst nightmare .

Good luck

Renago
Click to expand...

Renago, appreciate your insight. Feedback is always welcome.

We don't have very thorough pictures of our fabric pattern on our site, but the entire back wall is an operable door that also has a mesh door for keeping it open with bugs. Additionally, there will be provisions for a fabric awning so that the wall can be open or in 'mesh' mode in light rain.

With the roof closed (rack mode), there should be the ability to load 3-500 pounds on the tent. It will not open with this much weight, but if you need to haul a load of lumber or steel it makes a nice option for not having to remove the topper.

When wanting to load the roof during traveling, we do have provisions for it to be opened with 75-100 pounds on the rack system. This should be enough for a thule style box and skis, or surfboards, bikes etc. We have designed adjustable positions for the pistons to change the mechanical advantage, so if you are going to load the roof and go camping, you can put the struts in 'heavy' mode.

We will be doing a lot of testing and documentation, we are doing everything possible to minimize both water intrusion and wind buffeting, and are currently testing battens to add rigidity to the structure in windy scenarios.

Thanks

-g
 
gofastcampers said:
Hey all,

My name is Graeme. I am one of the cofounders/designers at GFC. Happy to answer any questions you might have, and I am a fellow 80 series owner to boot. In fact, two out of the three folks at GFC have 80's.



Hey Phil, answered some of your questions on insta. There is actually quite a bit of ventilation with all the mesh windows, no less than a standard hard shelled RTT and it is better insulated than most. The rear door is full height and has a mesh bug screen built in.

Additionally, we are designing a low profile forced air system that will push air like a fantastic or maxx fan for use when occupied. It would also be very easy to install a traditional fan in the roof if you were OK with the height increase.

We tested the system a bunch in death valley at the end of last month in 95+ degree heat and it worked well.



I promise you our system sets up faster. Deployment takes 5 seconds, literally. The oztent has more room because its a giant ground tent though, so its a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. We are building a rooftop tent/canopy camper.



We have tons of measures in place to mitigate any water intrusion, and our current rough concept doesn't leak. The production model will be better than the prototype. And we actually aren't using 80-20, its our own custom extrusion designed specifically to keep water from getting into the living area.

The roof panel is a composite honeycomb which has a sizeable air gap which is helpful for insulation. We will have a winter weight tent liner and lower topper insulation kit that will get released next fall. Combined with a catalytic propane heater you should be fine any weather you want to tent camp in.



So our Platform system is a completely different product category than a columbus RTT. Our standard RTT that we will release this coming summer is much more comparable to a maggiolina/columbus. Some of the differences....

-Made in the USA. Completely, no outsourcing.
-Price point of the RTT will be ~3200.
-Is also a structural roofrack, you can load lumber/hi lift jacks/rotopax/steel/bikes/skis/thule boxes on top of our tent.
-Similar weight to columbus (non carbon model). ~140#.
-We will stock replacement parts for each component of our system. If you break something, the tent will always be serviceable.
-only 6" thick when closed.

The Platform system integrates it into a topper with a welded tube lower, panelized or fabric sides and a pass through floor. It is literally built to be able to put on a long travel truck and jumped, and the entire system (canopy camper combo) weighs in at ~200 pounds.
Click to expand...
will this be doable on an 80series? if so Im in because the quality of build if its what your showing us is supreme JMO
 
RFB said:
will this be doable on an 80series? if so Im in because the quality of build if its what your showing us is supreme JMO
Click to expand...

It absolutely could be done, that said it probably will not be a service we offer simply due to the scope of the project and we aren't really tooled for custom fab.

If someone wanted to take a project like that on though, we would wholeheartedly support it. The result could be awesome.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
I have rear and side outside access and never use the rear mainly because i do not want to crawl over my pillow :eek: For me the side entrance wins over the bottom and rear.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. For our rooftop tent system we will be using side access, we use the rear on the truck version because its easier to get the fabric pulled tight (so it doesn't flap) by having the sides be mostly solid panels.

For the bottom access, you don't have to crawl over your pillow if you sleep with your head on the small side. Strangely enough, that is the natural way to sleep in this thing. Even my business partner who is 6'6" sleeps that way.
 
gofastcampers said:
Fair enough. For our rooftop tent system we will be using side access, we use the rear on the truck version because its easier to get the fabric pulled tight (so it doesn't flap) by having the sides be mostly solid panels.
Click to expand...

I will have to disagree with you there my experience see a need for more cross ventilation. My sides are full double panels 1 solid, 1 screened and I find the need sometimes to be completely open to be comfortable.

Does your rear panels hinge on the top or bottom?
 
gofastcampers said:
Fair enough. For our rooftop tent system we will be using side access, we use the rear on the truck version because its easier to get the fabric pulled tight (so it doesn't flap) by having the sides be mostly solid panels.

For the bottom access, you don't have to crawl over your pillow if you sleep with your head on the small side. Strangely enough, that is the natural way to sleep in this thing. Even my business partner who is 6'6" sleeps that way.
Click to expand...

For me that makes everything more difficult and colder in the winter with your head in the wedge.
 
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