Best TC for 4x4 trip?

One popup camper that is popular with 4x4 types is the eponymous Four Wheel Camper: http://www.fourwheelcampers.com

Another option is Phoenix, founded by the son of one of the original owners of Four Wheel: http://phoenixpopup.com

There is a sub forum, dedicated to pop ups, on the EXPO forum. Almost all are on 4x4.

Hope this is helpful.

I agree 100% with your original plan of buying a cheap-ish camper for the trip so don't have a lot of money tied up in it if something goes wrong. So I think you were on exactly the right lines, you were just unlucky to not spot the problems with this particular camper - though to be fair to you many older campers hide problems like this - I had to rebuild the roof on mine.

Trading it in is likely to be difficult given the damage that is now visible. Any dealer is likely to see it as a write-off.

Another option, if you can find a few days and somewhere on the flat where you can work on it (friend of parents-in-law for example), is to do a strong but maybe less than attractive temporary fix. E.g. for the cabover get some thick plywood to go all the way underneath and some for the inside, and drill all the way through and bolt them together sandwiching everything in place. Ugly but it will probably work for the trip. I'm not sure about the tie-down point, but again you can probably make something ugly but strong with plywood and bolts.

Another possibility is to check the RV.net forum in general for places to get RVs repaired cheaply in Mexico - it may be cost effective to get someone to at least patch the problem for you down there given lower labor rates.

Re. 4x4 - 6 wheels is better than 4 in the dry (putting aside the width issue you pointed out), but if you are in jungles tackling mud then I would prefer single rear wheels - I spend a lot of time 4-wheeling in mud, plus I used to have a truck with 2 x DRW rear axles - that was 10 military pattern tyres - it was awful in mud, slid everywhere as the gap between the dual wheels would fill with mud. On the plus side, BTGraphix' rig has been down to Argentina before he purchased it and that is bigger and heavier than yours (GMC Kodiak - DRW as well of course).

Sorry for your predicament.

Steve.

Given the fact that we want to leave within the next 1-2 weeks, what kind of patching up can we do without dumping more good money after bad into this TC?

The goal of buying this old TC was to not have to worry about it too much on the trip and sell upon our return.
However, due to my inexperience, it looks like we bought ourselves a TC that isn't even capable of surviving the trip ...

So, looking ahead:
1) I'm staying with my parents in law. No room here to work on the TC. Even their driveway is too sloped to take it off the truck and when we park it in the road, the San Antonio police gives us a warning to remove it (this already happened).
2) Do we cut our losses and try to trade it in or dump more good after bad money into making this RC trip capable (so at least it won't fall apart in the middle of a dirt road in Belize)?
3) If we sell/trade it, what do we get in return? We're open to a popup camper like Palomino. Our only requirement is that it doesn't have much overhang and that it has a toilet/indoor shower (which most of their smaller models don't have).
I'm concerned about Palomino as I don't know their quality of construction. At this point, I don't want to buy a 2nd lemon that will shake apart on some mild dirt roads.
4) I actually like the dually for 4x4. 6 Wheels on the ground is better than 4. The only negative I see is increased width of the vehicle.

Thoughts?

RoyB wrote:
I would get a good look at the problems with your current TC by professional welder shop before giving up on it... Might brace up better than you think. I'm thinking the corner problem may have caused the floor problem...

I'm guessing you are going to stay north of the Panama Canal region of South of the Border trip where there will be some roads... Your Starcraft TC might be just the thing to run the bad lands of south of the border...

This will give you some breathing room on doing something different when you get back from the trip...

Just my quick thoughts...
Roy Ken

This is a good point - I can't talk about the roads or standards of driving in Central America, but I know a bit of Africa. If the choice is patching up your current camper or spending a load more money on a supposedly more appropriate one, I would be tempted to go for the first option since you will have less to lose if something goes wrong - i.e. you could spend a lot more money on another camper and still damage it during your trip. Plus spending more money might make you hesitant to go certain places for fear of damaging / losing your investment.

I suspect your rig will be similar in size to commercial vehicles operating in Central America, and they will only be rear-wheel drive. However, if you do want to get to more remote places then you would have to rethink the whole truck and camper combination and start looking at something more like a SRW truck with pop-up camper.

Good luck,

Steve.

My first thought was that your dually is the limiting factor in 4x4 offroading, not the truck camper.

Jefe4x4 has proven that a hardside can be a great choice if you keep it light & keep the weight low. Limited overhang helps. Lower height of a pop-up can help if you enter areas where you need to duck under branches or rocky overhangs.

I would get a good look at the problems with your current TC by professional welder shop before giving up on it... Might brace up better than you think. I'm thinking the corner problem may have caused the floor problem...

I'm guessing you are going to stay north of the Panama Canal region of South of the Border trip where there will be some roads... Your Starcraft TC might be just the thing to run the bad lands of south of the border...

This will give you some breathing room on doing something different when you get back from the trip...

Just my quick thoughts...
Roy Ken

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