Hello! My husband and I are in the market for our first truck camper. We started with a motorhome, then went to a 5th wheel toy hauler with a back porch and now we're downgrading to something more fitting for us. It's a lot of work/time to get the 5th wheel ready to go. Plus, we like to get away from people so we tend to go on some bumpy roads at times. We want to buy used and we want to do some winter camping so we'll need an all season or four season package.There are so many brands! Is there a brand that is more well-made than another? Or is this like asking if a Toyota or Ford is better? Personal preference? First we thought we wanted a Bigfoot (and maybe still do). Then we saw articles of people winter camping in Arctic Fox campers. Now we don't know. We don't want a monstrosity since we don't want any issues with drag on some of the dirt roads we may encounter. But we do want a slide out. I should mention we have a Dually 3500. Thanks so much!Susan

The dually 3500 should have a great cargo rating, especially if less than 3 years old. However some of the 2000 and earlier Dually GM's and Dodges only had a 10,000 GVWR, about what is found on a 2005 and later F-250 pickup with single rear wheels. The current F-350 dually has a 14,000 GVWR, and cargo rating above 5,500 pounds. So what cargo rating do you have? Or what model year and GVWR do you have? The diesel has a 600 pound heavier curb weight than a gas engine pickup, thus can normally carry more with the gas engine.Good luck on your search!Have you checked RvSearch.com They are set up by the same company that hosts Rv.Net. . .Fred.

Suzmax wrote: in the market for our first truck camper. we're downgrading to something more fitting for us.You might want to reconsider referring to your downSIZING to a camper as downGRADING. I'm offended. Just kidding of course. Us camper owners are at the bottom of the RV social ladder and it's impossible to be offended. As far as one brand out performing another, it's a wide open relm and depends on lots of variables. Even between years, one brand might be better than another. Certainly between models within brands. Some manufacturers make better large campers than smaller campers for example. Then there's features. While you might consider certain bathroom features needing a higher level of finish, someone else might not, but would consider fridge capacity, or sink size. I would suggest you start with making a list of everything you want in a camper and a list of everything you NEED in a camper. From there, prioritize by assigning a rank number to each item. For example, you might have a slide out as one requirement and over-all size as another. Which is more important? Are you willing to give up the space of a slide if the over-all weight was within realm of off roading? Or maybe a smaller slide and just a little more weight. Lance has a slide/ non-slide version of a camper that adds 200 pounds to the package. That might sound reasonable to one person and unnecessary to another. Now with a prioritized list of must-haves and wants, start looking into brands and years. Narrowed down, start researching on brand/model quality issues. If there's ever been a problem on a camper, I will assure you, someone has posted up their complaint about it here. Ha! This is going to take research on your part. Not because anyone person here is too snooty to just give you the magic brand and model of the ideal camper, but because we all have different ideas of what is important and different applications for using our campers. I fish a lot. My camper needs several features to accommodate that because that is what is important to me. Your interests will determine what camper and model is going to be right for you. Keep asking questions as this is a very friendly group in the downgraded camper forum. Cheers!

Lance and Arctic Fox are probably the two biggest brands out there right now but there are many others and biggest isn't necessarily best. Both make nice campers (I've had both) but due diligence is important when shopping used for any brand as different years have known potential problems for different issues. Also are you looking for side or rear door, wet or dry bath, basement, storage, mid bath or rear, etc., some of these decisions will direct you to what models you should be looking at.Best of Luck with your "Downgrade" lol,StickyI think Randy Travis said it best - "I'm going back to a better class of losers"

Golden_HVAC wrote:The dually 3500 should have a great cargo rating, especially if less than 3 years old. However some of the 2000 and earlier Dually GM's and Dodges only had a 10,000 GVWR, about what is found on a 2005 and later F-250 pickup with single rear wheels. The current F-350 dually has a 14,000 GVWR, and cargo rating above 5,500 pounds. So what cargo rating do you have? Or what model year and GVWR do you have? The diesel has a 600 pound heavier curb weight than a gas engine pickup, thus can normally carry more with the gas engine.Good luck on your search!Have you checked RvSearch.com They are set up by the same company that hosts Rv.Net. . .Fred.Fred,Thanks for that info. It's a 2010 Dodge Ram. It's a diesel. I'm not sure what the GVWR is. Hmmm...Susan

skipro3 wrote:Suzmax wrote: in the market for our first truck camper. we're downgrading to something more fitting for us.You might want to reconsider referring to your downSIZING to a camper as downGRADING. I'm offended. Just kidding of course. Us camper owners are at the bottom of the RV social ladder and it's impossible to be offended. As far as one brand out performing another, it's a wide open relm and depends on lots of variables. Even between years, one brand might be better than another. Certainly between models within brands. Some manufacturers make better large campers than smaller campers for example. Then there's features. While you might consider certain bathroom features needing a higher level of finish, someone else might not, but would consider fridge capacity, or sink size. I would suggest you start with making a list of everything you want in a camper and a list of everything you NEED in a camper. From there, prioritize by assigning a rank number to each item. For example, you might have a slide out as one requirement and over-all size as another. Which is more important? Are you willing to give up the space of a slide if the over-all weight was within realm of off roading? Or maybe a smaller slide and just a little more weight. Lance has a slide/ non-slide version of a camper that adds 200 pounds to the package. That might sound reasonable to one person and unnecessary to another. Now with a prioritized list of must-haves and wants, start looking into brands and years. Narrowed down, start researching on brand/model quality issues. If there's ever been a problem on a camper, I will assure you, someone has posted up their complaint about it here. Ha! This is going to take research on your part. Not because anyone person here is too snooty to just give you the magic brand and model of the ideal camper, but because we all have different ideas of what is important and different applications for using our campers. I fish a lot. My camper needs several features to accommodate that because that is what is important to me. Your interests will determine what camper and model is going to be right for you. Keep asking questions as this is a very friendly group in the downgraded camper forum. Cheers!Oh my that's funny! Yes, downSIZING for sure. We're so excited to get a truck camper and actually GO camping! We didn't make it out once last summer. We started a business about a year and a half ago so we need camping to be much easier than before. We know all about being at the bottom of the social ladder. We had American Pit Bull Terriers for years. We always said we had the "white trash" dogs. :) Of course they were awesome. You make very good points. We'll make a list. All we really know is that we want a hardside (since we'll be doing some winter camping) and a slide (we have Boston Terriers and a Rottweiler...see, we are still at the bottom of the social ladder!). The Bostons don't take up much room but that Rottie...he's small for a Rottie and can curl up to the size of a Boston, but still.Wet bath/dry bath. I'm not in love with the wet bath idea, but I'd do it for more space elsewhere. I'm sure I'd get used to it. Blech! I really like the Alaskan campers, but a girl needs her privacy in the bathroom. I didn't think to search on here for problems with different models/years. Good tip! I watched a video on some camper and you could tell the salesman was a fisherman. For every storage space he talked about putting extra fishing poles. Ha!Thanks!Susan

Advice on Truck Campers | Good Sam Community

59 Replies

JohnAM
Explorer II
Apr 29, 2015
RoyB wrote:

This is one of MELLO MIKEs Adventures photo's which really draws my attention on camping off the power grid with a Truck Camper...

Roy Ken

Just noticed one of my pics in this thread. That is a Lance 1191 on a 2006 Dodge Ram Dually CTD 4x4. You might enjoy the old trip report that this originally came from Boondocking Grande Ronde

This will give you some idea where you can take an ll.5 foot camper. The rear overhang is an issue for departure angle if really off road but unimproved forest roads are fine.

We also ski and love this camper in the winter. Heated basement and dual speed furnace are both features I would recommend for winter. Here's a winter pic from Steven's Pass Washington

My only other comment is that we really like the side entry with rear dry bath. Can access the bath with the slide in and creates a much more open interior than the forward bath.

Hope this helps, happy shopping!
garbonz
Explorer
Apr 29, 2015
We went from a 35 ft 5er, to a 30ft 5er and now to a Bigfoot 1500C8.2. It's small, but very sturdy well built and insulated. We never ake it off but just drive it around like a car. Fits in a regular parking spot. Makes for very flexible travel and never have to make reservations, as we can always stay in the parking lots.
suzmax
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
NEOK wrote:
As a Bigfoot owner I have to put in a good word for them. They are made in Canada and considered a 4 season camper. We have camped in temperatures as low as 9 degrees and been very comfortable and the small Coleman AC cools it very well in near 100 degree heat. After a few trips you get used to staying in a smaller space and figure out what you really need to carry.

We do like Bigfoots although we haven't seen one in person. They seem to be well-made from our research. There is a used one not too far from us for what seems like a great price, but I did a search on here about that model and there are issues with how heavy it is in the back and how that causes issues...a lot of people had to have them fixed somehow. We were thisclose to going to look at it so I'm happy for all of the information on here for sure!

Finished cleaning out the 5th wheel today because the new owners are taking it on Wednesday. I am just shocked at the amount of stuff!!! What was I thinking? ;)
suzmax
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
mbloof wrote:
Last year we went through this process.
- Compiled list of "must have" features
(often many models will be eliminated in this step alone)

- Is there a local dealer or not?
(while purchased used may imply that you do everything yourself, having dealer local to us was fairly important to us)

- Price range
(this filtered quite a few out as well)

Others have mentioned a lot of great models to look for and checkout. Indeed it is sometimes frustrating that not all models or brands are very well represented in the area you live in so some 'traveling' may be in order.

In the end we purchased a new unit ~100miles away.

Shopping for a camper can sometimes be almost as fun as using one!

Best of luck on your search!

- Mark0.

Mark,

I have to agree with you that shopping for a camper can sometimes be almost as fun as using one. Unfortunately the only dealers we've seen so far are for Palomino. But we definitely want used. That much we know for sure. Thanks for all your tips!
suzmax
Explorer
Mar 24, 2015
brholt wrote:
Just to complicate things we have an AF1150 with the wet bath and are happy with our choice. To us the dry bath made the camper feel much smaller inside.

Different choices for different people. I guess that is why they make both models. If you can spend some time in both versions.

Yeah, there's that whole space issue. Another AF1150 owner. Hmmm... :)
NEOK
Explorer
Mar 21, 2015
As a Bigfoot owner I have to put in a good word for them. They are made in Canada and considered a 4 season camper. We have camped in temperatures as low as 9 degrees and been very comfortable and the small Coleman AC cools it very well in near 100 degree heat. After a few trips you get used to staying in a smaller space and figure out what you really need to carry.
mbloof
Explorer
Mar 21, 2015
Last year we went through this process.
- Compiled list of "must have" features
(often many models will be eliminated in this step alone)

- Is there a local dealer or not?
(while purchased used may imply that you do everything yourself, having dealer local to us was fairly important to us)

- Price range
(this filtered quite a few out as well)

Others have mentioned a lot of great models to look for and checkout. Indeed it is sometimes frustrating that not all models or brands are very well represented in the area you live in so some 'traveling' may be in order.

In the end we purchased a new unit ~100miles away.

Shopping for a camper can sometimes be almost as fun as using one!

Best of luck on your search!

- Mark0.
brholt
Explorer II
Mar 21, 2015
Just to complicate things we have an AF1150 with the wet bath and are happy with our choice. To us the dry bath made the camper feel much smaller inside.

Different choices for different people. I guess that is why they make both models. If you can spend some time in both versions.
suzmax
Explorer
Mar 21, 2015
Bedlam wrote:
The 992 may be hard to find used, but has a dry bath without adding that additional length. Our next one will have a dry bath for the exact reasons you posted.

http://northwoodmfg.com/index.php?page=makeplans&make=camper

Interesting! Yeah, I want to say I'm good with a wet bath. I really do. But...we'll see about that.
suzmax
Explorer
Mar 21, 2015
cdbinns wrote:
We love our Arctic Fox. We have the 1150 model which is essentially the same floor plan as the 990 but with a dry bath and extra storage. The wet bath option gives you more space in the kitchen but you lose the storage in the bath. We really like the dry bath, not only because of the storage, but also because we can hang towels and wet clothing in the shower, and still be able to use the toilet and sink.

The 1150 is likely bigger than you are looking for, but check it or the 1140 out if you get the chance. Good luck on your search.

Thank you! Well, now that we've been looking more we're not so sure that a larger one wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm glad to hear you like your AF 1150. Dry bath...sounds so nice! :)