Mostly Off Road T/C Questions
Please, pardon my ignorance. My background: off road/remote/lightweight camping, lot of it in Jeeps, motorcycles, backpacking, ultra light fishing, etc., often in poor conditions (cold, snowing, we...
Forum Discussion
Only you know what your TC usage prism happens to be. The old adage, "Form Follows Function" is a tried and true path applicable to many endeavors. There are just too many variables to have a definitive, one-size-fits-all answer. What are the variables?
1. Your age. Younger folks want to be more connected to the outdoors than older people.I have seen many outlive their earlier choice in order to obtain more comfort, quietude, space, and luxury. I have only seen a few escape this inexorable progression.
2. Your personal vehicular history. People with a more aggressive 'jeeping' (small j) past tend to want to use their TC in a similar, if muted, scaled back way.
3. How many people are going to be traveling in the TC?
4. Do you need 4 season capabilities?
5. Short bed or long?
6. Mostly short, weekend trips, or long, meandering road trips, occasionally going off road? This makes a big difference with tank size, insulation, and livability.
7. How much do you want to spend on a TC? If the sky is the limit on your TC budget, I do like the XP camper. I live a couple miles from the owner (a former chef at a German restaurant) and have been inside his product many times. The shop where they make these, make that a huge warehouse, is in Grass Valley, CA a short drive from us. Every one is a one-off. Even so, I have reservations on some of the interior decor. It's a bit too cold and clunky for me and my wife.
8. Small is not conducive to long term travel. Small is conducive to off roading.
9. Your personal desires/needs in a TC platform.
We all own our own experience in the TC realm. It shapes our paradigm and outlook. That's obvious from the posters above. Jeanie and I have only owned one camper, a '98 Lance Lite. It has not been trouble free, but fixing the problems has been a blessing as it forces you to understand the engineering forces at work in and around a TC you are trying to make go the distance. It has no fatal flaws. Oh, and the most important part: it's paid for and we're used to it. My bro John had a brand new 9.5 OUTFITTER! delivered to his doorstep about 10 yrs ago and right off the bat he found the thing was wired wrong. So he had to get into the basement and re wire it. There were also woes with the plumbing which he quickly fixed. There was a long term propane slow leak somewhere in the basement that he finally chased down last year. Since he off roads his OUTFITTER! and does get the axles all twisted up, all the fasteners along the outside, bottom of the floor were pulled out to varying degrees showing the stress from tweaking or racking. But, he can fix anything and is used to it.
I also think he was just unlucky. OUTFITTER! has a better reputation than that.
I see these forces at work in an off-road TC:
A soft-side TC is like a shoe box with the lid just set on. If you twist the box, there can be a lot racking, because the top is not glued on. This is a plus. Those TC's that can take the racking or twisting motion the most easily are a good bet if you do not have a 3 point or 4 point diamond pivoting sub frame. The XP has the pivoting frame. In fact, you get an entire aluminum pivoting flat bed with the XP. A hard side TC, whether wood or aluminum framed, is like a shoe box with the lid glued on forming a fully boxed structure. Try to twist that one. However, if you don't have the 3 pt. pivot, you must find a way to alleviate the stresses caused by racking of the truck frame and subsequenty tie downs that have little give. If you don't, then you will slowly and inexorably pull you TC apart.
So, i have no recommendation for you, only a little discussion.
If we were starting out again in the TC biz, I'm sure we would be at a completely different place. Alas, the Lance is our first and last, kind of an only child who never left home, and I'm O.K. with that, all things considered. Emerse yourself in TC, like a fine shakespearian actor who, "becomes the part" in total emersion. I hope you find your bliss.
jefe
1. Your age. Younger folks want to be more connected to the outdoors than older people.I have seen many outlive their earlier choice in order to obtain more comfort, quietude, space, and luxury. I have only seen a few escape this inexorable progression.
2. Your personal vehicular history. People with a more aggressive 'jeeping' (small j) past tend to want to use their TC in a similar, if muted, scaled back way.
3. How many people are going to be traveling in the TC?
4. Do you need 4 season capabilities?
5. Short bed or long?
6. Mostly short, weekend trips, or long, meandering road trips, occasionally going off road? This makes a big difference with tank size, insulation, and livability.
7. How much do you want to spend on a TC? If the sky is the limit on your TC budget, I do like the XP camper. I live a couple miles from the owner (a former chef at a German restaurant) and have been inside his product many times. The shop where they make these, make that a huge warehouse, is in Grass Valley, CA a short drive from us. Every one is a one-off. Even so, I have reservations on some of the interior decor. It's a bit too cold and clunky for me and my wife.
8. Small is not conducive to long term travel. Small is conducive to off roading.
9. Your personal desires/needs in a TC platform.
We all own our own experience in the TC realm. It shapes our paradigm and outlook. That's obvious from the posters above. Jeanie and I have only owned one camper, a '98 Lance Lite. It has not been trouble free, but fixing the problems has been a blessing as it forces you to understand the engineering forces at work in and around a TC you are trying to make go the distance. It has no fatal flaws. Oh, and the most important part: it's paid for and we're used to it. My bro John had a brand new 9.5 OUTFITTER! delivered to his doorstep about 10 yrs ago and right off the bat he found the thing was wired wrong. So he had to get into the basement and re wire it. There were also woes with the plumbing which he quickly fixed. There was a long term propane slow leak somewhere in the basement that he finally chased down last year. Since he off roads his OUTFITTER! and does get the axles all twisted up, all the fasteners along the outside, bottom of the floor were pulled out to varying degrees showing the stress from tweaking or racking. But, he can fix anything and is used to it.
I also think he was just unlucky. OUTFITTER! has a better reputation than that.
I see these forces at work in an off-road TC:
A soft-side TC is like a shoe box with the lid just set on. If you twist the box, there can be a lot racking, because the top is not glued on. This is a plus. Those TC's that can take the racking or twisting motion the most easily are a good bet if you do not have a 3 point or 4 point diamond pivoting sub frame. The XP has the pivoting frame. In fact, you get an entire aluminum pivoting flat bed with the XP. A hard side TC, whether wood or aluminum framed, is like a shoe box with the lid glued on forming a fully boxed structure. Try to twist that one. However, if you don't have the 3 pt. pivot, you must find a way to alleviate the stresses caused by racking of the truck frame and subsequenty tie downs that have little give. If you don't, then you will slowly and inexorably pull you TC apart.
So, i have no recommendation for you, only a little discussion.
If we were starting out again in the TC biz, I'm sure we would be at a completely different place. Alas, the Lance is our first and last, kind of an only child who never left home, and I'm O.K. with that, all things considered. Emerse yourself in TC, like a fine shakespearian actor who, "becomes the part" in total emersion. I hope you find your bliss.
jefe
