Traveled 1200 miles to Pueblo Colorado to pick her up.2007 S&S Ponderosa 8.5FBSCCan't believe it. What a trip the wife and I had. Memories to last a lifetime no doubt. Its a rear bath rear fridge full booth dinette. It is in absolutely beautiful condition. Paid 16,000 for her. Came with a 2500 Onan Propane generator with 46 hours on it along with the muffler kit. A Solar Pro solar charge controller with a 50 watt panel. No microwave(didn't really want one) and no TV. It has the TV cabinet and it is pre wired so we will pick up a flat panel for it. We are very exited and happy with her so far. My F350 SD SRW handled her like a dream. We got the tork lift tiedowns and torklift stable loads. My truck came with a rear sway bar.It has dual 30 LBS tanks and two batteries. DSI water heater Air Conditioner Fantastic Fan ETC. The Dinette is a true face to face and is very comfortable. The tanks are insulated and the camper has ducted heat throughout.The bathroom is very small but in excellent shape. It also has dual stainless steel sink massive storage and a really neat sliding stair into the over cab.It was a one owner camper. We found out who owned it and we contacted him. He was very kind and gracious and told us everything about the camper. He never even used the shower, and only used the oven a few times.The S&S is a very well built unit. You can really tell the quality of the build. Very heavy and very solid. My wife and I look forward to many years of enjoyment and I AM EXITED AS HELL ! ! !

Rear awning too. She's a real beauty. Need interior pictures. We have the older bubble window style 9.6 S&S Ponderosa and we love it. Our bathroom is a tight fit also. Just 2 more inches in width and length is all I ask. Like your rear bumper and step too. Wish you many happy miles and years of service from it.

Congrats on your new to you TC. Hopefully you found one that will meet your expectations. S&S seems to have a good reputation. The on board Onans can be noisy but very convenient when you need power. You can't beat a one owner purchase as long as the previous owner took care of it, and from the pics it looks like you found a good one.

Here are some more pics. I know what you mean about the bathroom. Its freakin tight. Mama was really worried about it, but I think she will learn to deal with it.Nice rig you have there. Never seen one with the small bubble.Your rig must be pretty heavy being that it is a 9.5 footer.Ours is 3200 pounds with full propane and two batteries without water or any gear.With 40 galons of water and all our gear we will be right at our limit of 11,400 GVWR.The center of gravity is at least 18 inches in front of the rear wheel centerline. I was very pleasantly surprised about that.

Congrats, looks like a real sweet rig. Have you planed your first outing yet?

Victory402 wrote:Congrats, looks like a real sweet rig. Have you planed your first outing yet?After 2400 miles I am a bit tired of sitting in the truck. Maybe when the weather gets a bit warmer. Its pretty crappy here in the Cincinnati area right now. Maybe we will hit North Carolina in March.

Just Bought My First Truck Camper S&S Ponderosa

13 Replies

Cadillac_Jack
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
The Mad Norsky wrote:
No one's crazy to go and find what is right for them.

There are not many TC dealers here in the midwest, and one would honestly have to travel a good distance east or west to find any of them from my position here in SE South Dakota.

That said, I went about 550 miles one way to get mine. Made two trips from home and back cause didn't want to rush work and needed to leave the old tailgate at home, so it required a second trip.

So all told two trips to Denver area and both were welcome and enjoyable in getting my unit. 550 round trip each way and two trips = 2,200 enjoyable miles getting away from winter in South Dakota.

The only bad part is having it home now and too darn cold to do anything with it at the moment. Good grief -8 below zero right now.

Yes it was travel or end up with something that I did not want. By the way, we saw only one truck camper on the road all the way there and back. It was so old and dilapidated that we could not identify it.

We saw one Lance in the campground that we stayed at Sunday night in Kansas. This area of the country just doesn't seem to be TC territory.

I have to add this. I had never been through Kansas before, and MY LORD what a long grueling road that was. We were so sick of I 70 that we took US 50 back through Dodge City. It was no better. Kansas is a very bleak place in the middle of winter. Next time we head west it will be through Nebraska South Dakota or Oklahoma.

And yeah its freezing here in Northern Kentucky. We have been living in a meat locker for four months now. Cant wait to get the camper into the mountains.
stickbowjoe
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Congrats, Jack!

Looks like a beauty.

My new one is aching to go fishing!

From your previous posts I bet yours is too.

Trout for you, redfish for me.

Spring's a'coming...

Joe
The_Mad_Norsky
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
No one's crazy to go and find what is right for them.

There are not many TC dealers here in the midwest, and one would honestly have to travel a good distance east or west to find any of them from my position here in SE South Dakota.

That said, I went about 550 miles one way to get mine. Made two trips from home and back cause didn't want to rush work and needed to leave the old tailgate at home, so it required a second trip.

So all told two trips to Denver area and both were welcome and enjoyable in getting my unit. 550 round trip each way and two trips = 2,200 enjoyable miles getting away from winter in South Dakota.

The only bad part is having it home now and too darn cold to do anything with it at the moment. Good grief -8 below zero right now.
mike_mck
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
And I thought I was bad traveling 715 miles to pick up my Caribou 10 days ago. Now I can say I'm not crazy. Welcome to TC'n.
I have the 2.5 Onan propane and can sit in the dinete while it is running could hold a normal conversation. I was surprised how quite it was.
I was told it would go thru a 20# bottle of propane in 7 hours of AC use. Don't know as I just picked it up 10 days ago.

Your Ponderosa Looks like a beautiful camper. I'm not sure any TC bathroom is big enough. A wet bath seems to offer a little more room to move. My old 94 was a wet bath but new tc is a dry bath. The good news is I don't spend much time in it.

I use 4000 lbs as my loaded ready to roll weight. 1/4 tank of fresh water, 2 30# bottles of propane. Food, clothes and Misc gear. Seems to add up fast.
If you think you may want to tow something in the future start looking for a torklift super truss on craigslist. They can be had for around $5 to $600 and can't be beat. I have a 48" extension and it works great.
jroddick
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Good choice! We've had an S&S since 2006 and still love it.
exhaustipated
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Congratulations on your new to you camper. It looks like the trip you made out to Pueblo, CO to get her was worth it. I know you're going to enjoy the camper a lot. Keep us posted on where you go with it.
jimh406
Explorer III
Feb 26, 2014
Congratulations, it looks nice!
Camper_Jeff___K
Navigator
Feb 26, 2014
Cadillac Jack wrote:
Here are some more pics. I know what you mean about the bathroom. Its freakin tight. Mama was really worried about it, but I think she will learn to deal with it.

Nice rig you have there. Never seen one with the small bubble.

Your rig must be pretty heavy being that it is a 9.5 footer.

Ours is 3200 pounds with full propane and two batteries without water or any gear. That puts us right at our limit of 11,400 GVWR.

The center of gravity is at least 18 inches in front of the rear wheel centerline. I was very pleasantly surprised about that.

Our sticker says with full water, propane, 50 pounds in fridge, our weight is 2945 pounds. I got the heavier rated Schwab tires for the truck rated about 3400 each. The first set was rated E 3014 each and they formed bubbling in the sidewalls. The new heavier rated tires have shown no bubbling. Schwab did just start to sell an even higher rated tire at about 3900 pounds each which will be my next tire. We have a 60 watt thin film solar panel which I intend to replace with a couple of 140 watt Kyocera panels when I get some time. We like to find a high mountain hideaway for a week at a time as our usual method of escape. The camper does a wonderful job of meeting our needs for about 6 or 7 days before we have to deal with tanks and fresh food in the fridge. This can be extended if you implement some strict discipline on the various water usages.
Cadillac_Jack
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Victory402 wrote:
Congrats, looks like a real sweet rig. Have you planed your first outing yet?

After 2400 miles I am a bit tired of sitting in the truck. Maybe when the weather gets a bit warmer. Its pretty crappy here in the Cincinnati area right now.

Maybe we will hit North Carolina in March.
Victory402
Explorer
Feb 26, 2014
Congrats, looks like a real sweet rig. Have you planed your first outing yet?