If overlanding is akin to backpacking out of your 4×4, then wouldn鈥檛 your truck benefit from an ultralight backpack? That鈥檚 the general theory听that led to the , a hybrid rooftop tent slash pickup-bed topper that鈥檚 not only drastically lighter than anything else on the market听but radically simpler, too. I鈥檝e been camping out of mine since late July.
What Is It?
The Platform is both the most practical possible pickup-bed topper听and an extremely convenient rooftop tent, wrapped up in a package that鈥檚 lighter and stronger than not just any other camper听but any combination of topper, tent, and rails, too.
What makes it so much better than any of the above is that it鈥檚 actually so much less. Typical pickup-bed campers try to pack all the comforts of home into an end result that鈥檚 invariably compromised by the limited space available in the back of a truck. Trying to literally carry the kitchen sink when you go camping doesn鈥檛 just add weight, it takes up space. So听you end up removing your truck鈥檚 ability to do truck things when you鈥檙e not actually on an adventure. The Platform is different:听it鈥檚 only a shell and a tent. What you put inside it is up to you. And that means you鈥檙e free to change it for different trips, daily driving, or as you learn about your needs and evolve your setup over time.
But don鈥檛 let the Platform鈥檚 simplicity fool you. Compared to other rooftop tents, campers, and toppers, it鈥檚听incredibly versatile. Need to carry something on the roof? The Platform鈥檚 roof can support up to 500 pounds, meaning it鈥檚 also the strongest roof rack in the world. Want to mount accessories like awnings, shovels, or portable showers? The extrusions that form听the tent鈥檚 perimeter are designed to do just that. Need to bring a thousand pounds of manure home to fertilize your garden? The Platform leaves the entirety of your bed completely open. (And听you can power-wash the whole thing, including the tent, when you鈥檙e done.) It does all that while keeping your load secure, doubling your available load height,听and adding points for lashing inside that secure, contained space.
Who Is It For?听
Your truck鈥檚 听is the most important metric in determining how much work your truck is capable of performing鈥攁nd听a cap on how much you can carry. The maximum weight your vehicle is designed to handle, including both its own weight and what it carries, exceeding GVWR could cause an accident like a rollover, or simply exacerbate wear on components like your brakes and suspension, and could even cause parts like that to break. It鈥檚 an extremely important number that every truck owner should know, and you should go to lengths to ensure you don鈥檛 exceed it. . Load your truck up for your next camping trip, and go measure it.
罢丑别听GVWR on my Ranger is 6,050 pounds. Because I have the heaviest configuration鈥攁 SuperCrew 4×4鈥攖hat means my maximum听payload is 1,609 pounds. That has to include two humans and three dogs, which together weigh 555 pounds. So听I鈥檓 only left with 1,054 pounds to work with when it comes to throwing camping听stuff in my bed. That鈥檚 not that much, and it will be further decreased when I add bumpers, sliders, a winch, lights, a rear swingout, and jerry can听holders later this month. The problem is worse on vehicles like the Toyota Tacoma, which has a GVWR of only 5,600 pounds, leading to a payload as low as 1,120 pounds, again before people, dogs, and off-road accessories.
What I鈥檓 getting to here is that weight really matters. And听at 275 pounds when sized听for my Ranger, the GoFastCampers Platform takes the smallest bite out of my GVWR possible. With more complicated rivals weighing over 1,000 pounds wet, you can see where I鈥檓 going with this. The Platform is designed for people who听want a storage or sleep situation that does not utterly compromise the performance and safety of their vehicle both on-road and off.
Design
The heart of the platform is a steel-tube space-frame chassis that鈥檚 custom designed for the dimensions of each truck it鈥檚 made听to fit. This is the same technology that frames the fastest off-road race trucks听and is both enormously strong听and incredibly lightweight.
Aluminum panels wrap the four sides of the frame. The front panel, the one behind your cab, is fixed; the other three hinge at the top, are supported by gas struts, and can be locked closed. Windows in the front and rear panels allow you to retain use of the truck鈥檚 rearview mirror.
Forming the roof of the structure, and extending forward over the cab, is the tent, which hinges at the front to form a simple, robust wedge. Those hinges are impressively large, billet-aluminum items that GoFastCampers (GFC) produces itself, right here in Bozeman, Montana. They听cap听aluminum extrusions that frame the permitter of the tent听and which contain T-shape听tracks that allow you to bolt on a variety of accessories听听or virtually any third-party company. I鈥檝e used mine to add a 270听awning, and I鈥檓 going to fit 听to them later this month.
The tent鈥檚 roof and floor are made from a very lightweight听but strong honeycomb-composite material. Because it鈥檚 white, this means the roof of the tent doesn鈥檛 soak up too much heat from the sun on warm days. But听because it鈥檚 translucent, this also means enough light passes through to听the interior听that it听doesn鈥檛 feel like a dark cave inside.
The tent walls are made from a heavy canvas, which notably lacks听the typical听flame-resistant coating. , both in the manufacturing process and in use, so it鈥檚 reassuring that a small, agile manufacturer like GFC was able to forego听them. There are听two windows at the front of the tent, filled with a heavy-duty bug net听and backed by a canvas panel that you can zip closed on both ends. An enormous door fills the entirety of the tent鈥檚 rear panel. It zips all the way open, to maximize ventilation and your view. GFC welds flat connections onto the door鈥檚 sides听and the tent鈥檚 interior, so you can connect bungee cords to help contain the tent material as you pull the whole thing closed.
The floor of the sleeping area is a clever modular design. The panel over the truck鈥檚 cab is fixed, but the portion over the bed is composed of three听removable, reconfigurable panels. Each is topped by two-inch-thick memory foam (what you sleep on) wrapped in washable Cordura covers. With听one long rectangle and two squares, these can be repositioned to create different ways to climb up听into the tent. If you鈥檙e running solo, then removing the two squares can create a convenient bunk听that鈥檚 totally open on one side. To bring someone along, just turn the rectangle sideways and move the squares to the rear. Then, when you want to get in or out, each person just pops out the square at their head听and hops through. Made from the same honeycomb composite as the roof, each of these panels weighs maybe a pound, so removing and repositioning them is a cinch.
On midsize trucks, like my Ford Ranger听or a Toyota Tacoma, the interior dimensions of the tent鈥檚 sleeping surface measure 50 inches by听90 inches. On larger trucks, like a Ford F-150 or Toyota Tundra, that size grows to 56 inches by听90 inches. The Platform on my Ranger, with its short five-foot bed, weighs 275 pounds all in. All components of听the the Platform are made in America and assembled in Bozeman. Fitting one to your truck is simply a case of squishing a completed unit onto a rubber seal that runs around the perimeter of your bed鈥檚 rim, then connecting four proprietary clamps per side. You can get that done here in Bozeman, or GFC will听come to you听and fit the Platform to your truck in your driveway.
Using It
The thing that has surprised me most about the Platform is that it adds only a barely discernible amount of wind noise when you’re driving. This is especially remarkable because the tent on mine sits two inches higher above my cab than it should. Mine was a prototype unit鈥攖he first one GFC made for the Ranger; production items correct that error听and should run even quieter.
I fitted the Platform at the same time as a suspension lift听and much larger tires. All of that has knocked about three miles per gallon off my total fuel economy, but I鈥檓 unable to break down听the impacts of each individual component. .
While I obviously expected the Platform to expand the utility of my truck bed, the degree to which it鈥檚 done so is incredible. The five-foot bed on my truck is very small, but thanks to the extra-secure height within the GFC, I haven鈥檛 actually managed to fill it completely yet. On a recent elk hunt, even while carrying a 210-quart Yeti, a 75-quart fridge-freezer听plus the battery that powers it, a large Pelican case for my compound bow, an expansive tool kit, vehicle-recovery gear, MaxTrax, a large air compressor, ten gallons of water, a large stove, a propane tank, a jerry can, a folding table, and all my camping gear, I probably only used 80 percent of the available space.
And all that space is useful for more mundane tasks, too. When I finish this article, I鈥檓 going to make a run to the dump, with a bunch of cardboard that鈥檚 accumulated in my garage. There鈥檚 more than one trip鈥檚 worth of old boxes in there, but the Platform will allow听me to carry double the crap.
The Platform also makes setting up听and packing down camp a vastly easier听and quicker experience than before. Opening the tent is simply a case of unlatching the two huge bolts that secure the rear, then watching it raise up on its gas struts. Closing it takes about a minute, since you have to be careful to whack the tent fabric inside as you pull the lid shut. Both tasks can easily be accomplished by a single person, but it does take a little practice to get the hang of tucking the material in while closing it.
The GFC helps your truck form a natural center for your campsite. Most of your stuff鈥攜our fridge or cooler for instance鈥攃an stay in the bed, even while the tailgate听and the lift panels form sort of a quasi-cabana that鈥檚 perfect for camp hangs. Adding a听270-degree awning, which wraps one side and the rear of the camper, really helps make the Platform feel like your own little holiday home.
Sleeping in the Platform is not going to be as comfortable as home, though. In order to maximize fuel economy听and minimize wind noise, the company has gone to great lengths to keep the overall height of the tent portion to just six inches. This makes it the slimmest rooftop tent in the world听(and it鈥檚 available as ), but it听also means it can only carry a very thin mattress. My fianc茅e, Virginia, and I find it comfortable enough that it doesn鈥檛 compromise our sleep, but every time we use it, we do miss our Exped MegaMat Duo.
Unlike slide-in truck campers, which fully seal their interiors from water and dust intrusion, the Platform does nothing to close off gaps in the tailgate or bed of the truck it鈥檚 mounted to. Like pretty much all pickups, the bed on my Ranger has gaps around its front, behind the cab, and around the tailgate. As a result, the same small amounts of water or dust that get into the normal bed of a pickup can still enter a GFC-capped bed. The trade-off is that you retain the ability to simply hose听out that bed. Nitpickers have also pointed out that the side panels, which close on rubber gaskets, can allow a small amount of water or dust through in really tough conditions (like pointing a pressure washer directly at the seal), and that you get some rain drips around听the hinges when those panels are open. I treat my truck like a truck鈥擨 don鈥檛 mind if it gets wet听and am not bothered by a drop or two running down the steel-tube space frame while I鈥檓 sheltering under the awning.
Likes
- The rear latches on the side panels can be used to lock those panels partially open, creating ventilation for dogs riding in the bed. The white roof also absorbs less heat than a painted car roof would. I still wouldn鈥檛 carry dogs back there on a hot day听or leave them in there unattended for very long, but this is a very welcome degree of added utility.
- Side panels combine with the minimal frame to give you uncompromised access to the bed.
- The strongest tent I鈥檝e ever slept in, it remains virtually silent even during heavy, sustained wind.
- You quickly develop a knack for removing the square panels听and sneaking downstairs for a middle-of-the-night pee break. Ditching the ladder gives you one less heavy, bulky thing to carry.
- The modular, versatile nature extends to virtually every component. This has helped me better organize my bed, allowed me to fit my solar-power system, makes running a 270-degree听awning easy, and facilitates听mounting of stuff like a fire extinguisher, MaxTrax, etc.
Dislikes
- Locking and unlocking each of the latches individually is a real pain in the ass, and I鈥檓 constantly worried that I鈥檓 going to break their key. They鈥檙e also a magnet for dust, mud, and other debris听and can jam if you let them get very dirty. Carry WD-40, and don鈥檛 lose the little straw that comes with the can.
- The thin memory-foam sleep surface is very firm. You can sleep on it comfortably, but it鈥檚 not as fine a surface upon which to have sex as the Exped MegaMat.
- On cold nights, you can feel a little cold air rising through the cracks between the floor panels. As a result, a听sleeping bag is a better idea than a quilt.
- While the panels lock, the tent itself does not. The entire thing is less secure as a result.
- Realize that you are still camping in a tent. There鈥檚 no heater听and no insulation. You鈥檒l want an appropriate sleeping bag for the conditions you face.
- It鈥檚 a single-wall tent, so if you鈥檙e not careful about facilitating air flow through the windows while you sleep, you鈥檒l wake up to condensation on the ceiling in the morning. I keep a microfiber cloth in one of the tent pockets to wipe it off before I pack up.
Should You Buy One?听
How do you want to use your truck? If you鈥檙e building a dedicated camping vehicle, don鈥檛 need or want to perform practical tasks, take it really easy off-road, and have plenty of money to spend, then there are more comfortable, luxurious options out there. But听if you want something that鈥檚 not going to get rattled apart over bumps, won鈥檛 compromise your truck鈥檚 performance and safety, and allows you to keep using your truck for more things than going camping, then the GFC Platform is the only viable option.
It鈥檚 also a relatively affordable one. With prices starting at $6,500, the Platform is , even if it is still very expensive.
Worth it? At this point, I can鈥檛 imagine owning a pickup without one. A truck just isn鈥檛 complete until it has 听Platform听on it.