Is it common to remove your truck camper at your camp spot?

Two campers over 24 years, and we've removed it exactly once; to drive the Monument Valley loop without shaking up the beer. Why unpack the camper to pack for the day trip, when everything we might need is already snug in its place? Food, clothing, water, bed (strictly for napping :)), first aid kit, dog gear, swim suits, etc..

And when the boat goes along, launching with the camper on gets easy with practice.

We take it off about half the time, but only if we will be in a CG for several days. We can explore areas easier without it, and it stays connected in the CG if we have services. Sometimes, it depends on the area as well.

KD4UPL wrote:
I used to take mine off so I could launch and retrieve the boat without it. It's also nice for hauling the kids and their bikes around the campground or whatever. I could take it off in about 15 or 20 minutes. Putting it back on was maybe 30 minutes. It's no big deal.

Do this all the time. Easy if you practice.

It depends on many things, remote/isolated spots, never a need. When we come to a spot where we will be for a while and want to be able to move easily or if there are height restrictions (like where we are now) and we want to be able to access some remote trailheads, we take it off. Ours is pretty easy to take off and put back on, it is just a cost/benefit analysis. To each their own.

Regards...

JimBollman wrote:
Since you haven't bought a TC yet you may want to consider that part of your reason for looking at truck campers was getting into tighter spots. We had a series of truck camper softer the year and found that popup 8 or 8.5' that did not hang beyond the back of our 8' truck box worked the best for us. It was only 7' tall and about 7' wide. We ran a standard cab to further the mobility and park ability. We could park nearly anywhere a normal truck could park. Our style was to seldom stay more than one night in the same place and get all our sight seeing and such done before we setup camp. Even when we had full hookups we only connected AC to charge batteries and never dropped the jacks, in fact on our last camper I took the jacks off while it was on the truck so it was easy to setup and take down the camp.

We found that you almost forgot it was on the back and I usually loaded in the Spring and unloaded in the Fall unless I needed the truck to haul something. We stuffed so much in the wheel wells, including an ancillary battery that plugged into the side that it was a bit of a task to take off and get everything packed back in when reloading.

Unfortunately a few years ago my wife's knees would not allow getting in the overhead bunk anymore and we switched to a 19' B camper and it serves most of the same needs our truck camper did as far as easy to park and maneuver in tight spots. We purposely got as low as we could and are now 8' 8". Would have liked a popup B but could not find one when we were looking.

We used to do what you describe in our coachman ranger. It was small and easily maneuverable and fit into parking spots very easily even on the crew cab dually. The lance 1181 is very different and is not geared for local shopping and running around. It is huge and very high. Often we hit low branches at Walmart's etc... Plus with the slide out in the way we have to push it out a little bit to use the bathroom. No big deal but in my opinion the 1181 was not designed for daily routine and sight seeing and is why we have so often taken it off although others have no problem I don't care for it. There is a campground down the street from me that has many snow birds in motor homes and on the weekend they bring the motor home to the Winn Dixie to resupply. Just a point. I too am having trouble with getting in and out of my unit as well as the bed. We looked at tow behinds but they are to much money right now.

Since you haven't bought a TC yet you may want to consider that part of your reason for looking at truck campers was getting into tighter spots. We had a series of truck camper softer the year and found that popup 8 or 8.5' that did not hang beyond the back of our 8' truck box worked the best for us. It was only 7' tall and about 7' wide. We ran a standard cab to further the mobility and park ability. We could park nearly anywhere a normal truck could park. Our style was to seldom stay more than one night in the same place and get all our sight seeing and such done before we setup camp. Even when we had full hookups we only connected AC to charge batteries and never dropped the jacks, in fact on our last camper I took the jacks off while it was on the truck so it was easy to setup and take down the camp.

We found that you almost forgot it was on the back and I usually loaded in the Spring and unloaded in the Fall unless I needed the truck to haul something. We stuffed so much in the wheel wells, including an ancillary battery that plugged into the side that it was a bit of a task to take off and get everything packed back in when reloading.

Unfortunately a few years ago my wife's knees would not allow getting in the overhead bunk anymore and we switched to a 19' B camper and it serves most of the same needs our truck camper did as far as easy to park and maneuver in tight spots. We purposely got as low as we could and are now 8' 8". Would have liked a popup B but could not find one when we were looking.

If I am staying in the same spot for a week or more, which is unusual, I will take it off, otherwise I leave it on

Kayteg1 wrote:

You also don't need cabin bigger than with 2 seats.

Its not don't need, its don't want. ;)

I see it once in awhile.
It is hard to find a level spot when boondocking. Even a lot of campgrounds have very unlevel pads.

RE loading and unloading on sloped or uneven ground…
Unload the camper completely at the slope of however the unit was sitting, mark the jacks for re load, level the camper after unloading. Bring it back to previous position for re-load.
Pretty easy.
And depends how you camp and what you do. A lot of our camping it is far more convenient to lose the camper off the truck than to roll up camp and pack the camper around everywhere for days when it’s not needed.
Examples:
Yellowstone touring around no camper = much easier.
Stay a friends for a few days and need vehicle.
Launching and retrieving boat daily or more often.
Middle of bfe nowhere and using truck to explore.