Thunderbolt Adventure Gear Sled and Camp Kitchen install demo

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 28, 2023

Hi Rivian Forums community!

We get a lot of questions about how difficult or easy it is to install or Gear Sled and Camp Kitchen. It's quite straight forward. We have a video you can watch to learn more. And we'll even lend a hand to customers who choose to pick up their order at our workshop!

https://www.thunderboltadventuresup...gear-sled-and-camp-kitchen-installation-guide

Rivian R1T R1S Thunderbolt Adventure Gear Sled and Camp Kitchen install demo IMG_3843

AtlaWater · Oct 29, 2023

Cool product. Thanks for sharing, @Thunderbolt Adventure.

vordo · Oct 29, 2023

I’d love to see a review of sorts - got any?

Shnork · Oct 30, 2023

Plywood construction is a lot of weight to add, not sure if a support would be useful, not sure what rivian made there's out of but would imagine it would be much lighter.

MrMusAddict · Oct 30, 2023

I really like this, but (even if it's not totally warranted), it seems pretty wobbly. Any efforts being made to add a leg? Perhaps telescoping to account for wherever you may be parked?

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

Shnork said:
Plywood construction is a lot of weight to add, not sure if a support would be useful, not sure what rivian made there's out of but would imagine it would be much lighter.

Our Gear Sled weighs about 70 pounds. The whole kitchen is about double that. It's akin to having a passenger in your truck. Our sliding mechanism supports about 200 pounds without the need for a support leg. Since Rivian pulled their product, I cannot find any specs on how much it weighed, but I do know it was going to require a Rivian Service Center appointment to install.

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

vordo said:
I’d love to see a review of sorts - got any?

Hi! We're working on collecting reviews from our customers. Stay tuned!

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

MrMusAddict said:
I really like this, but (even if it's not totally warranted), it seems pretty wobbly. Any efforts being made to add a leg? Perhaps telescoping to account for wherever you may be parked?

Thanks for your comment. The feedback we've received from our users is that it is less wobbly than kitchen drawer systems out there. Our R1T Camp Kitchen does not use drawer slides like many other products. It utilizes a system of linear bearing rails that are much more stable. I've cooked on our dozens and dozens of times and I've never felt it needed any additional support.

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

AtlaWater said:
Cool product. Thanks for sharing, @Thunderbolt Adventure.

Thanks! We've had a lot of fun developing this product. Keep an eye out for other Thunderbolt products too! We have an R1S Kitchen, a purpose made center console bag, and more on the way!

EVTrukHog · Oct 30, 2023

Thunderbolt Adventure said:
Hi! We're working on collecting reviews from our customers. Stay tuned!

Congrats on what looks like a great product! I look forward to being able to see independent reviews and think that will help your launch and sales. An observation is that your folding design appears to put the countertop closer to the ground than other prototypes I've seen... for us tall guys, that's a drawback but maybe negligible for most users. I really like the integration of the Dometic water dispenser/pump faucet for compactness and convenience.

AFAIK, your product is the first Rivian Camp Kitchen to launch on any type of scale! Congrats and hope it's a big success!!

RIVinIT · Oct 30, 2023

Good to hear some interest in this product, can you tell us what the cost of the bottom slider is and then the cook top? I look forward to some reviews being posted. With time I would think it will just get better and better, just like our trucks -

NathanM · Oct 30, 2023

@Thunderbolt Adventure this looks like a great build, seems like you've thought through a lot of the "gotchas" already. I'm very interested and see that a lot of my questions have already been asked and answered, but I didn't see anything about the "flamed" color. I looked up the technique and get the gist of it, but it seems like the finish can vary a lot by wood, technique, etc.

Sorry if this is already out there and I missed it, but do you have any pictures you can post of the original vs flamed finish?

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

EVTrukHog said:
Congrats on what looks like a great product! I look forward to being able to see independent reviews and think that will help your launch and sales. An observation is that your folding design appears to put the countertop closer to the ground than other prototypes I've seen... for us tall guys, that's a drawback but maybe negligible for most users. I really like the integration of the Dometic water dispenser/pump faucet for compactness and convenience.

AFAIK, your product is the first Rivian Camp Kitchen to launch on any type of scale! Congrats and hope it's a big success!!

Thanks! As a team, we are very sensitive to the question of "what is the right height" for the counter top. One of us is 5'2" and the other is 6'2"! Depending on the terrain of the camp site, we usually set the truck in either standard or high (we find that the truck's leveling function works best in those settings). With the truck leveled, the camp kitchen's counter top is usually between 35 and 37 inches. Standard kitchen counter height is 36 inches. In our opinion the flip up design in the original Rivian kitchen was much too high.

The Dometic water tank and faucet does not come with our kitchen as we were unable to become a dealer with them. But, it is the best solution we've tested and a lot of our customers have also purchased and like that set up.

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

RIVinIT said:
Good to hear some interest in this product, can you tell us what the cost of the bottom slider is and then the cook top? I look forward to some reviews being posted. With time I would think it will just get better and better, just like our trucks -

Thanks for your note! The Gear Sled is currently on sale for $1,199 (https://www.thunderboltadventuresupply.com/products/gear-slider). The Kitchen and Gear Sled combo is on sale for $3685 (https://www.thunderboltadventuresupply.com/products/camping-kitchen). These prices are both for the natural finish. The flamed finish is a bit more.

Thunderbolt Adventure · Oct 30, 2023

NathanM said:
@Thunderbolt Adventure this looks like a great build, seems like you've thought through a lot of the "gotchas" already. I'm very interested and see that a lot of my questions have already been asked and answered, but I didn't see anything about the "flamed" color. I looked up the technique and get the gist of it, but it seems like the finish can vary a lot by wood, technique, etc.

Sorry if this is already out there and I missed it, but do you have any pictures you can post of the original vs flamed finish?

Thanks for your question! We use the flamed finish technique as an accent, so in the attached images, you'll see some very dark (nearly black) components next to some natural colored components. The black parts are the flamed finish.

Thunderbolt Adventure Gear Sled and Camp Kitchen install demo

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