AF 990 feedback requested

I always appreciate everyone's posts. Lots of great information.

I am thinking a Chevy/GMC 3500 diesel to go with it. I am going to be in the neighborhood of 25-30k a year, so thinking diesel is just the better way to go.

Based off of the data I can find on weights, the AF plus myself and the kids when with me will be right at the top of the payload for the trucks. My initial pick was the 1140, but the 990 keeps the weight under the payload rating.

In your travels and experiences, is there a reason I should really consider a gas motor other than the initial cost?

The additional payload with gas would open up my options.

I had a 2007 990 for 8 years. Generally, no problems. The bolt in the slide arm broke on one trip which prevented the slide from coming back in. Fortunately, I had a cousin that lived in the area with the right bolt. I carried spares after that, but never had another problem with it. We camped in some pretty cold weather on one trip and the sewer connector froze. But, since the furnace really eats up the battery, we used an Olympic propane heater to maintain temperature and only used the furnace first thing in the morning or to “top off” the temperature. The onboard furnace heats the basement, so I’m sure relying on the Olympic is why it froze. I let the camper go to get an AF Fifth Wheel, which I dearly love, to get more space. But I do miss that camper! I will also say, it’s heavy. I started out with an F350 SRW and eventually changed to an F350 DRW. The difference in handling was significant. My SRW was equipped with airbags, which helped with overall stability, but it still had a tendency to lean to one side if I didn’t add more air to the right side then what I had on the left side. With the DRW, no problem at all. We were able to squeeze in with the slide in, but it was a squeeze. I weigh 190lbs; 6’ tall, so that gives you an idea.

Bedlam wrote:
I had the shorter 811 with the same layout and no problems with the camper.

Same thing with 2 different 860 campers now.
Winter camping, if you do it frequently, there are worthwhile modifications to help with heating, sealing, keeping tanks from freezing and general thermal efficiency.
But the camper does pretty good on its own. Have camped down to low teens/single digits without any freezing issues, but it killed both 30lb bottles in about 3 days and had to run generator more than normal to keep batteries charged.
I’d say it’s a good base for winter camping with some mods.

2016 Arctic Fox 990
I've had it for just apx 2.5 yrs now, full timer 90% boondocking.

Rollers:
The only real problem was the rollers underneath the slide keep popping out. While I haven't really seen anyone else have those problems, I did. They say to lube the tracks and that would lube the rollers but didn't learn that till after the fact. Dealer put them back in the first time, then fell out again, haven't been back and other dealers won't even talk to you during their busy months May-Oct.. Slide still works, grunts and groans and I do lube the outside tracks, but would like to not have this issue.

Fridge:
It works ok, running on propane. Ice Cream is a little hard to keep hard cold as it will soften I guess when it's defrosting. Keeps other stuff, meats etc, frozen. I'll check out the above referenced fans or whatever it was..

Propane:
With the 2 tanks, one tank usually last 8-10 days or so weather dependent, it's not a problem. I turn one off (it has an auto switch) so I will KNOW when one is empty. It does require me to go out and switch it over, but it's something I choose to do to keep track. I also carry an extra 30lb tank, typically for BBQ but also as a backup which has been used several times as I forgot to turn off the other tank and it auto switched. Just my fault for not paying attention.

Black/Gray Water Tanks:
I figure 7-days I plan on a "Dump N Fill". Dump Tank level gauges stopped working correctly after about 3 months or so, always show FULL, tried the various cleaning techniques, next level will be a rod spray to clean off the sensors on the Black tank, not sure how to do the Gray one.
Water tank is my indication it's time to go in for the Dump n Fills.. Gray water tank has recently been backing up at about the 7-day period. Suspect it needs a good cleaning, tried the "Happy Camper" and soaps to no avail.

Insulation:
Coldest was down to 16F night, furnace handled it fine, no discomfort, will obviously use more propane. Currently, today, it dropped down to 26F and no problem. Suggest you look at the Mattress heating pads, they are great.. and plan on a new mattress in a year or so.

Generator:
I have the options Onan w/Propane. It works well, but loud and use propane. I also have the Honda 2000i which I use constantly, it's quieter and not a problem to use, just keep it chained up as they have a bad habit of walking away in certain areas. The Onan is a back up so-to-speak, apx 25 hrs on it since purchased. I run it apx 1 hr every month or 2 but be aware, you'll need to run it before the batteries are too low or it won't crank it over, heheh, don't ask me how I know that. No big deal, just started truck and the Onan started right up. Having it might be overkill if you have a Honda, but as they say, One is none, two is one etc...

Solar:
As a side note, have a "Solar Specialist" do solar if you're going in that direction. Plan ahead for future use on panel location and wiring and batteries. I believe you have the option for 12v or 6v, 6v is better apparently.

Steps:
I had been using the Giant Ladder step ladder but eventually got the Torklift Stow go which are perfect. No fuss, no muss as they say and great for the Wally World (Walmarts) market resupply.


Other than the above, the camper is terrific, solid, insulated and not afraid to take it anywhere. As long as the Truck can carry it properly, I ended up with a 5500 and it's not a problem in the x-winds etc on the highways..

I'd get one again if and when the need arises...

Well, I've rambled on enough, it's a good camper.
Hope that helps...

My Arctic Fox was the end of 2012 model year run, so I'm sure reliability varies with how long a particular design has been in production. My unit changed in how the basement was built from previous years and I hoped getting a later model that year would address anything caught early on. 2005 or 2006 was the switch over to aluminum framing, so I'm not sure how much of the design was just swapped over from the wooden frames of past and how much was changed along with the frames. I try to avoid the first year run of a new product or redesign knowing there will be problems that slip by testing, but sometimes the timing of my purchase and design changes conflict. I try to apply this to vehicles as well as RV's and let someone else working out the teething pains of a new born product since this is not brand specific.

We must have just got a lemon. The slide on our 2006 1150 was a constant problem. The camper was poorly sealed on the roof from the factory and the company no longer works directly with the consumer on issues like broken slides. On our last trip with the AF the slide broke again, Northwoods couldn't be bothered to help me by shipping another motor to us in Alaska. I understand manufacturers wanting customers to deal directly with dealers but there weren't any near us and given that broken slide motors had plagued us since the unit was new I think the Northwoods could have been a little more accommodating. IMO since Ron Nash has been out of the picture at Northwoods the company isn't as customer satisfaction driven as when we purchased the camper. Take my experience with a grain of salt. Every manufacturer has disgruntled customers...

I had the shorter 811 with the same layout and no problems with the camper.

We have a 2016 AF 990 and the slide mounted fridge needs to be run on a higher setting to keep things frozen. We added an ARPRV system with a fridge controller and 2 fans and it now keeps everything at the proper temp with a lower number setting.
The slide mechanism is the old reliable Power Gear slide and works well. We chose the 990 because you can get into the camper with the slide closed and when the slide is open the camper feels spacious.

Also, never had any issue with the slides. We were not shopping for a camper with a slide when we bought our first AF990, but now that we've had it, would never be without it and have had no problems whatsoever with it. On the AF990 you can get into the camper with the slide closed if you're not too stout.

We are on our third AF990 (2008, 2012, 2018). They are very well insulated. We've stayed in it in very cold weather in CO, but were usually plugged in to electricity. So we could run the furnace as much as we wanted. It seems a tank of propane lasted more than a week, but we often augmented the furnace with a small ceramic space heater. The fridge and furnace are very efficient and insulation is good, so having two good sized propane tanks, we never ran out of propane before leaving a camping spot. Camping in the cold without hookups you naturally will run low on battery before running out of propane, but even that takes awhile. Never had any issues with the fridge in the slide. The AF990 layout has been around longer than any other RV, so it is tried and true. It suits us well. That said, I'm sure any modern, well-insulated camper with two propane tanks and two batteries will give you similar results.