One of these days I'd love to find one of the GFC toppers for my Ranger, but had to stretch just to get the truck so it will have to wait, in the meantime I'll just do what I did with my ancient T100 and stretch a tarp over the back when I want to camp out of the bed, or use my springbag canvas tend which is very bomber.
Thank you for the detailed response. Looking forward to reading more Wes Siler. I am probably one of the few people who have read every, or virtually every, issue of Outside. I subscribed near the it's beginning and later found an archive of all the earliest issues at a B+B I stayed at in Block Island, I stayed up late catching up from issue 1. But I recently cancelled my subscription because Outside has really gone downhill lately imo and it seems to be 98% fluff so wasn't worth the price.
Completely agree with you and your detailed assessment of these various platforms. We started out with a 1992 Volkswagen Eurovan Campervan, that we sunk lots of money into to fully restore, and during a roadtrip to the southwest USA, lost a headgasket on the highway between Sedona and Prescott. Couldn't find anyone who could fix it, and had to get the van shipped back to Canada, thus ending a great trip. Now have a wedge camper on a Toyota Tacoma. I had a local fabricator build the wedge camper, based on the specs of a GFC crossed with a Vagabond Drifter. We also spent a sleepless night on a beach in Newfoundland, Canada, with gale force winds. No damage to the camper, but it rocked and rolled all night. We now just sleep in the cab when high winds are in the forecast. We love the capabilities of this set up, of a reliable pickup truck and wedge camper. It takes us places that the other types of adventure vehicles can't go.
We thought about getting one of those GFCs for our Bronco but ended up getting a regular old tent. The wife wasn’t a fan of the ladder to get way up there. Tenting on the ground has its drawbacks though and I was looking at one of the small tow-behinds. They aren’t all as a poor a quality as the one you tested out!
Yeah, I'm not a fan of RTTs. Lotta expense and hassle for not much return. Note that the GFC on a pickup truck provides an 8 foot tall internal living space.
Re: tow behinds. Look for the simplest, most robust setup possible, and try to keep total loaded weight at half your vehicles tow capacity or less to avoid disaster and hassle.
Or, for the Bronco, just stick a Pakmule Scout in the tow receiver and bring along a nice, comfortable tent setup.
We ourselves prefer to tow a compact hybrid caravan around Australia because it minimises vehicle modifications and we can still leave it and go off to difficult locations.
I went from a big heavy slide-in, to a GFC, to a FWC, back to a GFC. They really are hard to beat for the price and durability. Cool seeing all the options available as the car camping space continues to evolve. You ever used a Campteq Landcruiser or UrsaMinor for Jeep?
Another fun article! Wes, I'm thinking of upgrading to paid. Does that give access to all the Indefinitely Wild articles you've written in Outside, if I'm not an Outside subscriber?
Thanks Cory. As is standard across the media industry, I give up (most) rights to my work when it's published by a website or magazine I don't own. So no, I can't give readers on this platform access to a subscription on a third party site.
Still gathering information and developing a plan around charging for this newsletter. Goal is to rebuild a really valuable community around the stuff I write and enjoy reading. I turned on subscriptions a few days ago just to get a handle on how they work, but nothings behind a pay wall yet. I'll solicit input from you guys in the near future. We're down in Dallas visiting friends and family this week, so working a little slower than I normally would.
One of these days I'd love to find one of the GFC toppers for my Ranger, but had to stretch just to get the truck so it will have to wait, in the meantime I'll just do what I did with my ancient T100 and stretch a tarp over the back when I want to camp out of the bed, or use my springbag canvas tend which is very bomber.
Love those Springbars
Thank you for the detailed response. Looking forward to reading more Wes Siler. I am probably one of the few people who have read every, or virtually every, issue of Outside. I subscribed near the it's beginning and later found an archive of all the earliest issues at a B+B I stayed at in Block Island, I stayed up late catching up from issue 1. But I recently cancelled my subscription because Outside has really gone downhill lately imo and it seems to be 98% fluff so wasn't worth the price.
Completely agree with you and your detailed assessment of these various platforms. We started out with a 1992 Volkswagen Eurovan Campervan, that we sunk lots of money into to fully restore, and during a roadtrip to the southwest USA, lost a headgasket on the highway between Sedona and Prescott. Couldn't find anyone who could fix it, and had to get the van shipped back to Canada, thus ending a great trip. Now have a wedge camper on a Toyota Tacoma. I had a local fabricator build the wedge camper, based on the specs of a GFC crossed with a Vagabond Drifter. We also spent a sleepless night on a beach in Newfoundland, Canada, with gale force winds. No damage to the camper, but it rocked and rolled all night. We now just sleep in the cab when high winds are in the forecast. We love the capabilities of this set up, of a reliable pickup truck and wedge camper. It takes us places that the other types of adventure vehicles can't go.
We thought about getting one of those GFCs for our Bronco but ended up getting a regular old tent. The wife wasn’t a fan of the ladder to get way up there. Tenting on the ground has its drawbacks though and I was looking at one of the small tow-behinds. They aren’t all as a poor a quality as the one you tested out!
Yeah, I'm not a fan of RTTs. Lotta expense and hassle for not much return. Note that the GFC on a pickup truck provides an 8 foot tall internal living space.
Re: tow behinds. Look for the simplest, most robust setup possible, and try to keep total loaded weight at half your vehicles tow capacity or less to avoid disaster and hassle.
Or, for the Bronco, just stick a Pakmule Scout in the tow receiver and bring along a nice, comfortable tent setup.
I am going to go check out the Pacmule scout now
What do you think about teardrop campers for those of us who still drive Subarus?
Spend the money on a pickup truck plus GFC combo for your next vehicle instead. No reason to reduce your already so limited capabilities.
Another option is to go all-out with a lifting roof camper like the one below. This one is set up to tour the world.
https://youtu.be/1LR8GZkv90M?si=7efENOkUE5iz0ZU4
Yeah, that ends up being very similar to how a pickup + GFC works. Nice, compact, easy setup that retains all your handling, fuel economy, etc etc.
We ourselves prefer to tow a compact hybrid caravan around Australia because it minimises vehicle modifications and we can still leave it and go off to difficult locations.
I went from a big heavy slide-in, to a GFC, to a FWC, back to a GFC. They really are hard to beat for the price and durability. Cool seeing all the options available as the car camping space continues to evolve. You ever used a Campteq Landcruiser or UrsaMinor for Jeep?
My friend Kate has an UrsaMinor and brought it to Baja once. Really slick setup.
Another fun article! Wes, I'm thinking of upgrading to paid. Does that give access to all the Indefinitely Wild articles you've written in Outside, if I'm not an Outside subscriber?
Thanks Cory. As is standard across the media industry, I give up (most) rights to my work when it's published by a website or magazine I don't own. So no, I can't give readers on this platform access to a subscription on a third party site.
Still gathering information and developing a plan around charging for this newsletter. Goal is to rebuild a really valuable community around the stuff I write and enjoy reading. I turned on subscriptions a few days ago just to get a handle on how they work, but nothings behind a pay wall yet. I'll solicit input from you guys in the near future. We're down in Dallas visiting friends and family this week, so working a little slower than I normally would.