Yes! Aboot time. Maybe they can get back some of the market share they lost to the Transit.
Campers
- Thread starter johnbryanpeters
- Start date
That's super cool! I've seen all manners of low-profile pop up shell and that one earns bonus points for being hard sided. Flippacs, Wildernests, 4 wheel campers, and AT Habitats are cool and all, but they are all just glorified, expensive tents.
Hey @eric strt6, tell me about the slide-in camper life. Asking for a friend of course. 
Test drove an F350 and 3500 Cummins tonight with the thought in the back of my head of selling it all and getting a big truck and camper.
Test drove an F350 and 3500 Cummins tonight with the thought in the back of my head of selling it all and getting a big truck and camper.
Biggest thing is if you can park the truck there you are camped. no need to find a spot for truck and trailer, being able to turn around on a forest service road without the benefit of a big tun out. no need to sweat towing a trailer in ice of snow. We have been doing the truck camper thing for 8 years. It is a mobile hotel room on wheels. We camp rain or shine in snow and ice. We watched all the other RV's, trailers, tent campers, bail out of Yosemite ahead of a winter storm. we woke up to 18" of fresh snow and an empty park. we saw no one for hours on end as we snowshoed up to below Half Dome. We have traveled the desert sw, taken the Kayaks up on the roof and kayaked various Cascade Lakes and done a 4 hour paddle down the snake river in Grand Teton. When we visit family we just pull up in front of their house and we have our place to stay without invading their private space. It helps to think like a backpacker when deciding what to take. take the bare minimum because if you really need something you don't have out on the road they have these things called stores where you can buy stuff..lol. Seriously half of our storage space is left empty on trips..Buy used. we got our current truck 4 year old for less than half the original price in perfect condition and we got the truck camper at the same deal and it was only 2 years old. Diesel is the only way to go. you can range farther and actually have power crossing the continental divide with 4-5000 pounds of load in the bed. I can't imaging ever owning a motor home or towing a trailer to do the stuff we like to do.Hey @eric strt6, tell me about the slide-in camper life. Asking for a friend of course.
Test drove an F350 and 3500 Cummins tonight with the thought in the back of my head of selling it all and getting a big truck and camper.
My concern with truck bed campers is on bike trips when wanting to drive somewhere to ride we'd have to pack up camp and then hope we can find a good spot again later once we've finished riding...
When I used to camp out of the back of a truck, we would set up a tent and leave some cheap camp chairs...spot was never poached.
Why? With electric jacks it takes less than 15 minutes to detach the Camper from the truck, drive the truck out, and then lower the camper down to just a few inches off the ground creating a base camp. the camper has its own power supply, it doesn't need the truck. You have freed up the truck to go off exploring
That's been in my mind, but the other thing that weighs on me more and is a HUGE stressor is something Eric touched on earlier, the possibility of dragging a trailer down a road where you can't turn it around and are forced to traverse whatever lies ahead. I've run into several instances where that would have turned into an hours long ordeal trying to back a trailer out. Plus with a trailer in tow I can't just make camp anywhere, slide in would be home at camp, a rest area, a trail head, or a Walmart parking lot.
Exactly
Follow on possibly dumb question. What's to stop another pickup from coming along and doing the reverse while you're away?
Securing a camping trailer was already still on my to-do list of things to research.
Three things the dip switch to activate the jacks is inside the camper. They have to break in to get to it. Second take the remote with you. Third pull the jack relay fuse. They can still manually crank the jacks but that will take over an hour.
Eric makes some really good points about the benefits of a slide-in camper, particularly as compared to a trailer. If you're looking for more versatility in terms of the vehicle itself (or already have something suitable), you need winter/off-road capability, and don't mind giving up some room, a slider on a kick-ass truck is a great call. I gave it some thought and personally a Sprinter made more sense for me. I'm not much of a winter person, don't do a lot of serious 4X4 stuff, and I wanted more room inside. (Room for storing multiple bikes inside when we're on the road was a key requirement.) Plus, it's pretty great if your passenger has access to the "house" while driving, which you don't get with a slide-in. ("Honey, how about making me a sandwich?") Lots of good options, and always some compromises one way or another.
Looks like we can rent the model of camper trailer we were looking at, need to find a suitable rental towing vehicle too...
I rented a Yukon XL for $61/day including taxes and fees from my neighborhood Hertz, which is incongruously in a strip mall next to a FedEx Kinkos. Don’t tell them you’re towing and just pop off the little cover covering the hitch.
I have a relatively short 21' trailer and there have been times it has been sketchy trying to figure out how to maneuver it. We have 2 young kids right now so a trailer is necessary. I would love to have a truck camper at some point for the easy parking and what not.
Apparently I joined the ranks of this illustrious thread earlier today. I pick up a 1999 Phoenix pop-up truck camper tomorrow sometime. It needs a bit of electrical work, but otherwise in good shape from what I can tell. I did a lot of thinking about what to get, and truck camper became the 'right' option for me at the moment. Price and versatility being the top criteria. I'll post pictures tomorrow, or soon.
Sweet.
Will your truck/camper fit parked under your parking canopy?
so like, 2 bedrooms, 2/5 baths?
is there a maid's quarters?
is there a maid's quarters?
I saw a camper van on CL today with a bed inside AND a rooftop tent and I was like... guest room?
https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1996-ford-e250-4x4-van/6557538184.html
The wife sent me a Sprinter conversion that was $65k used. 
I sent her a listing for used Sprinter for $18k and a DIY article.
I sent her a listing for used Sprinter for $18k and a DIY article.
Almost certainly already linked in here somewhere:The wife sent me a Sprinter conversion that was $65k used.
I sent her a listing for used Sprinter for $18k and a DIY article.
http://faroutride.com/
Wish they were my friends too. Faroutride is the best thing to come out of the internet since Nyan Cat.Ah, those are my friends. I'm the one who convinced them to get a Transit.
You should send me money for not being in CEL HELL.
The only picture I have at the moment:
Pulled the electric-only fridge out last night, will be removing the cabinet enclosure it was in tonight to make room for a 65qt Engel cooler. Trying to recruit @Adventurous to help with wiring in a battery, apparently this camper was only ever wired for shore power.
It’s light enough that’s not sagging my rear suspension too badly, but some helper springs / air bags will definitely be going in. Heck, I wanted air bags after carrying all the spare race car parts and other gear we needed for the Baja 1000 down to Mexico.
Pretty stoked so far, in great shape for being nearly 20 years old. Will slowly be making improvements, but mostly just getting out there.
Pulled the electric-only fridge out last night, will be removing the cabinet enclosure it was in tonight to make room for a 65qt Engel cooler. Trying to recruit @Adventurous to help with wiring in a battery, apparently this camper was only ever wired for shore power.
It’s light enough that’s not sagging my rear suspension too badly, but some helper springs / air bags will definitely be going in. Heck, I wanted air bags after carrying all the spare race car parts and other gear we needed for the Baja 1000 down to Mexico.
Pretty stoked so far, in great shape for being nearly 20 years old. Will slowly be making improvements, but mostly just getting out there.
Any idea on total height of truck with camper?
I'm gonna assume you mean "not popped", as in how much clearance I need to go under stuff. I haven't measured it yet (note to self: measure that) but it's lower than the previous iteration of the Tundra, which had a topper + roof rack + giant Thule Cascade XL top box up there. I'd guess right around 7' give or take some amount of inches.
Aw yeah that's me! Started working through the rat's nest of wiring in this thing last night, chasing down wires with @Adventurous in his driveway. We found where the battery *used* to be (under a hacked-together compartment to hold a porta-shitter), I was under the impression the wiring for that had been removed. Kinda cool that it wasn't, makes dry camping a bit easier this weekend. But... the AC input doesn't appear to want to charge the battery. So, I need to sort out if the converter is buying the farm or if it's just not wired up correctly. My money is on the latter.
Spring seems to be here.
Pressurized the new water line from the house to the trailer pad for the first time and flushed it.
Put ten ounces of household bleach in the fresh water tank and filled it.
Put anode back in water heater.
Fired up the water pump, found a leak (failed pressure transducer) and fixed it, cleaned some gunk out of the galley sink spout, fired up the water heater to test it.
Had a beer sitting by the pod and enjoyed the sunshine.
Pressurized the new water line from the house to the trailer pad for the first time and flushed it.
Put ten ounces of household bleach in the fresh water tank and filled it.
Put anode back in water heater.
Fired up the water pump, found a leak (failed pressure transducer) and fixed it, cleaned some gunk out of the galley sink spout, fired up the water heater to test it.
Had a beer sitting by the pod and enjoyed the sunshine.
That belongs to an old retired couple out in the Florida Keys. Not my cup of tea but what ever floats their boat.they live in it year round
Per this morning's GMT, I now own this 1995 Lance 480 camper.
Untitled by Tim Souza, on Flickr
So @eric strt6 , drop some knowledge on me. What things do I need that I don't know I need? Discovered one yesterday when we got home only to find that the camper jacks aren't long enough to lift the camper off the trailer without blocks underneath.
Untitled by Tim Souza, on FlickrSo @eric strt6 , drop some knowledge on me. What things do I need that I don't know I need? Discovered one yesterday when we got home only to find that the camper jacks aren't long enough to lift the camper off the trailer without blocks underneath.
@Adventurous What's that camper weigh? What's your rear axle weight limit?
Camper dry weight is 2,400 lbs, I have a payload capacity of 4,480 lbs total with 4,100 lbs of that of that being the max rear axle load. Should be well within the rating once gear/water is added.