Forum Discussion

Tiger4x4RV's avatar
Jun 18, 2014

European TC

One of my DD's, currently tent camping in Switzerland, saw a Bimobil and said I should take a look at it. I really like some of Bimobil's features.

One Bimobil product is a hard-side "cabin" which bolts onto the truck frame, similar to the ALite 400 I posted I few days ago. Bimobil claims that demounting the pickup bed and mounting the cabin takes a team of two about 20 minutes or less. There is a demo video on the webpage. The cabin can be demounted at camp and the truck used for exploring.

There are models to fit many types of trucks available in Europe - Volkswagens, Nissans, LandRovers, etc. Some shown on the website are 4WD. Interior options are very attractive. Entrance is a curbside door on the US side, not "backwards" like those cool Australian ones that Robert Ryan is always showing us.

The company also makes Class C's and expedition vehicles.

There do not seem to be any US retailers for this product. Too bad. Maybe coming soon?

http://www.bimobil.com/website/00_uebersichten/start_e.php
  • Not for me. I complain about loading the camper on the truck. If I had to remove my truck's bed, too, it'd be a deal breaker.
  • I sure think that the bimobil is innovative, which is one of the first things on my checklist. The ability to remove the bed is amazing...I have never seen a system like that before. And yes, I sometimes OOH and AAH when something new comes along ;-)
  • jimh425 wrote:
    I'm not sure who would want one. It's not like they are replacements for high end campers of the US and Canada. It would be kind of like building campers for just flatbeds in the US. That's even a more tiny market than exists for the more common truck camper.

    A case of horses for the courses. You get what is appropriate, US TC's do not tick that many boxes here, otherwise everyone would be building similar.
  • I'm not sure who would want one. It's not like they are replacements for high end campers of the US and Canada. It would be kind of like building campers for just flatbeds in the US. That's even a more tiny market than exists for the more common truck camper.
  • Marshfly wrote:
    I don't get it. Everyone oohs and aahs over these European campers, all of which, obviously have the camper CG severely behind the rear axle. Why is is ok for these European campers to have the front wall of the camper a foot in front of the axle? Have someone put an 8ft camper in a 5.5' bed crew cab truck here and the stones start throwing.

    I ran an 8ft ATC popup in my Ford Supercrew with the 5.5' bed for thousands of miles and over more than one 4wd pass in the Colorado San Juans with no bad manners whatsoever but according to a lot of guys here, I was flirting with disaster because my camper CG was behind the rear axle.


    I understand. Many who see my 10ft Avion on my 6.5ft F350 start to give me grief. But then a 12ft TC on a 8 ft box has more overhang than I do... and more behind the axle...

    But I think the difference on these overseas units is that they are specifically designed for going on the smaller pickups that are prevalent overseas. I live in Scotland for 2 years in the early 90's, and I drove all over Scotland and England. But even my 1976 Saab 99 was considered a "big" car to British standards for the non-highway (motor-way) roads. So it tends to be all relative, and just as in my Avion, I rebuilt it to move much of the weight forwards, a lot of these European built TC's the weight is purposely set as far forward as possible even though the aesthetics say its all behind the axle. I think if you lived in a place like Scotland, with the narrow roads with stone wall and no shoulders and sheep in the middle of the roads, you would understand more that a smaller (non-US Spec) truck and Camper will get you around a lot easier, and to do that the TC is going to look far different than a US spec, which the RV industry caters to the "plush" over the "functional" since they cant be caught selling a bare bones basic, when they offer full blown posh ecstasy in their trailers and motor-homes etc... just my $0.02....
    Garry in AK
  • I don't get it. Everyone oohs and aahs over these European campers, all of which, obviously have the camper CG severely behind the rear axle. Why is is ok for these European campers to have the front wall of the camper a foot in front of the axle? Have someone put an 8ft camper in a 5.5' bed crew cab truck here and the stones start throwing.

    I ran an 8ft ATC popup in my Ford Supercrew with the 5.5' bed for thousands of miles and over more than one 4wd pass in the Colorado San Juans with no bad manners whatsoever but according to a lot of guys here, I was flirting with disaster because my camper CG was behind the rear axle.
  • This looks like a really well engineered camper mounting system! It looks like the products they produce are also well built, and the models mounted on the larger class 6 trucks are very impressive.

    Here are some pictures.


    This is a base put onto the pickup frame, and the mating frame built into the camper base.

    The camper offers a larger base than typical US manufactures.



    They state that most floorplans offer a forward couch with exterior access to the storage under it. The flat floorplan also offers popular options like rear couch and flip out wall to open the back of the camper.



    The manufacture probably does not have the resources to market such campers in the United States. Though they do have a wonderful website, and probably could make something that will fit on a F-350 with a extended chassis.

    Fred.