Still Considering...Class B/C or Pickup Camper

Class C motorhome value decreases with age and these are usually very low mileage vehicles. Not at all unusual to find a 10 year old motorhome with 50,000 miles on the odometer.

The motorhome is fully integrated by the manufacturer. You can fill up the gas tank and the propane tanks and hit the road. With a pickup truck you become the integrator and then researching, buying, and installing tie-downs, camper wiring and battery isolator, turnbuckles, bed mat, overload springs, heavy duty shocks, higher capacity tires, rear anti-sway bar.

Then you get to try to find the right camper that will fit your truck and your budget. When you do you will find that the holding tanks are lower in capacity and the fridge is smaller and the living space and storage space is also less than with a Class C motorhome.

I can find a good truck for $25,000 and put another $3,000 to modify for hauling a camper, and then spend $20,000 for a used camper, and spending in total $48,000 or more. Piece of cake to find a Class C motorhome for less than that amount.

The only advantage with the truck camper is in being able to remove it and then having the use of a pickup truck, which is why we went that route and spent the extra money and a lot more time and effort to put our rig together.

The truck camper is something that I would recommend to people who have a do it yourself mentality and a high level of mechanical aptitude and hands on experience.

Before you decide go to local campgrounds and talk to people with motorhomes and trucks with campers and ask them what they like and dislike about their RV's. Go inside and get a sense of how much or how little room there is for gear, cooking, clothing, living space.

A Class B has two advantages over a truck and camper rig. One is that it is fully integrated and ready to go. The other is that your fuel economy is going to be at least 50% better. The B motorhomes built using the Sprinter chassis with the Mercedes 5 cylinder diesel engines get 23-25 MPG in real world use. My diesel powered pickup gets 14-15 MPG without the camper and 8-10 MPG with the camper.

I take my B to a regular oil change place that a friend owns. A C is a bit more problematic as they are wider and won't fit on many racks. The only thing to watch on a B is heights. A normal van is about 6 1/2 feet tall, more or less. My B is a little over 9 feet.

Not sure if it's better to ask my HOA or just park in an out of the way place and wait and see if anyone notices - I'm leaning towards the latter. We have an agency in charge of our HOA and I'm a littler worried that they might err on the side of safety by saying no!

Not having to pay for RV storage would be a big plus! However I wonder if it would cause undue wear and tear on the pickup suspension to store the PU camper on the truck full time?

Thank you for your replies!

I would love to buy a truck/camper together, but not sure I can find one local. My leave of absence is now so if I wait too long it will pass my by - I'd love to get a rig and drive around the USA for the next 4-6 weeks! In my line of work these breaks are almost impossible to obtain (even though I had vacation hours saved to cover the whole thing) and require quitting or at least serious begging. My current budget idea is to try to get an old camper - I can always recover the cushions - and spend more money on the vehicle.

People seem to expect their PU to drive at least 200k miles. Since I will not be putting very many miles on mine - per year (I will keep my commuter car). A PU with 100-150K miles could last me another 10 years. It is going to be tricky to find something, but after looking around I think I can do it in 20k or maybe slightly over.

Idaho requires titling of campers unfortunately. I suppose it's because the state's broke and there are so many PU campers around here. Apparently it's pretty cheap though.

Tonight I am researching the options of making a really light popup camper work in winter versus the expense of a 3/4 ton truck with a more 4 season trailer. It's not easy to look when the salesmen don't know what payload means (they often give me the tow rating or the GVWR).

One guy who did seem to know what he was talking about said that you could go over the payload by the weight of passengers in the truck. His reasoning was that payload refers to weight in the truck bed - so if you park and extend your jacks the weight is not in the truck bed when you are inside the trailer. Thoughts on this?

I did find an old 95 Bigfoot in which the dealer stated they had just replaced all of the plumbing. It's molded fiberglass.

Maintenance and repair on the drivetrain and chassis will be similar between all your options if you're talking about a small C. All will be light to med duty truck chassis.
Mechanics rates are not the deciding factor IMO, regardless whether you're going to a dealer, rv dlr or a mech shop labor rates will be close.
You obviously know the difference in amenities between the 3. If you're taking it skiing, a truck camper with a 4wd is the best option IMO. With a 2wd B or C you may have to chain up for powder days.
With a truck camper it could be your daily driver, saving you the maint cost of 1 vehicle. Get a 3/4 ton gasser 4x4 pickup, sell your Subie and have the funds for both vehicle and camper. A well taken care of short bed ext cab 4x4 gasser truck will serve you well, not be huge to drive around and haul a reasonable size camper.

Check your state's laws on TCs. In VA they are just cargo so no inspections, no tags, no personal property taxes. I've heard they don't apply to HOA restrictions on RV's because it's not a vehicle, just a big box to haul around. I'm not sure on that one though.
I love the TC concept because the truck is 4wd and I can still tow a lot of weight (like my boat).
When you get to a camping spot you can unload the camper and drive around in just the truck if you want.
However, a TC and appropriate 3500 truck (skip the 3/4 ton)to haul it on can get expensive. I use the truck for work so it's a great deal. If you have no other use for a truck it may not make sense.

I think you’ll find the Class C will be the most expensive to operate. Buying though, the B’s are more expensive. We looked at both B’s and C’s for just traveling, not camping, and I doubt you could get a B that didn’t need a lot of expensive maintenance work for the budget you mentioned. But who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky and stumble on a smoking deal.

As far as the TC goes, you realize that unless you can find a really light camper you’re likely going to need a ¾ ton PU to carry it? Your budget imposes a lot of restrictions on what you can get. In your shoes I’d probably exhibit a lot of patience and search for someone who for one reason or another was getting out of RVing and selling their PU and camper.