Hello everyone, I have tent camped all my life and am now about 8 years from retirement. I purchased a very clean 2002 f350 superduty 7.3L PSD 4wd cc drw 8’box and have bought but have not installed yet the 5K rear load lifter suspension. My truck is rated 11,500. Pounds gvwr and I will need to scale my truck to see how much room/weight I have to play with. I want the cab over to extend over the full crew cab and the camper to stop at the end of the bed so I can pull my fish n ski. I do know I will need to buy or build extensions for the front jacks to clear the rear dual wheel wells. I am a Boilermaker Welder/mechanic by trade so fabrication isn’t an issue, but I know squat about campers. Any advice for a beginner and my style truck would be greatly appreciated. Safe travels! Glenn

So you want what is commonly called an 8 foot camper. Bigfoot is nice, but costly. Arcric Fox does build some nice campers. Mystery to me, but truck campers are way more expensive per sqft than other RVs. But if you can sacrifice living space to tow something then it can be a good match. But honestly for less you can get a pretty nice class C motor home and still pull your boat.

What is a fish an ski, I’m assuming a boat or watercraft?What is the weight of it?With a DRW, I would consider a 9-10’ TC with a slide out and use a hitch extension like the Torklift Supertruss or Reese Titan depending on the weight. With a TC like the Lance 981 or Arctic Fox 990, (both 9’11”) you could probably get by with a 24” extension and have a camper with much more room, built in generator and larger holding tanks. I had a Dodge DRW and Lance 981 and loved it. Not too big and heavy but very comfortable and drove great with the dually. I plan to go back to that setup soon. Nice find on the 7.3.

Those trucks have carried big campers, and towed big boats millions of miles, you should have no problems. Just use your head.Our camping friend has a 73 Dually long box carries a Lance 10', and tows a big toy box trailer, nothing major in over 200K.Here ya go

We have a Northstar igloo 9.5 on a f350 and love the combo. Your truck will be good for most anything reasonable weight wise. Campers are expensive on a square foot basis but the ultimate in flexibility. have fun shopping.

Thank you all for the replies...... I should have went into more detail but didn’t want to make the post too lengthy. My fish & ski is a 18 ft Dyna Trak 150 hp Merc on a 3500 lb. trailer. It was too much for my other truck (f150) with the small 4.2 and 253,000. miles- but still a great work truck. My wife doesn’t fish or tent camp (Lol) so I only need a small truck camper for fishing and hunting trips. My wife and I do want to start traveling and trailer camping when I retire so I plan to buy a 5th wheel for that- hence- buying the 1 ton superduty psd. So I guess the truck camper (used) is for me and a 5th wheel for her (us). I don’t mind an older camper as long as well maintained and looks nice.i was thinking smaller to be more manageable but as I have never had one, really don’t know how much trouble loading, setup, unloading is. And unfortunately there are not a lot of used truck campers in our part of the Country. Apprehensive about going to a camper sales due to high pressure sales tactics, inflated price, or trying to set me up with something I don’t need. Have always had great experiences with community forums such as yours, 99% of the members are always helpful, and like sharing their interests and experience. I do as well with some “new to” interests that I’ve been involved in for years- campers/camping trailers just isn’t one of them. If I can find a used truck camper in Illinois/Missouri/Indiana not too far (5 hours) that needs the swing out extensions my thought was take my flat bed trailer to load and anchor tie downs, bring home to my shop, and make the modifications here at home. Thanks again—- Glenn

Newbie needing beginners advice | Good Sam Community

33 Replies

Tom_Barb
Explorer
Nov 03, 2018
Those trucks have carried big campers, and towed big boats millions of miles, you should have no problems. Just use your head.
Our camping friend has a 73 Dually long box carries a Lance 10', and tows a big toy box trailer, nothing major in over 200K.
Here ya go
FireGuard
Explorer II
Nov 03, 2018
What is a fish an ski, I’m assuming a boat or watercraft?
What is the weight of it?
With a DRW, I would consider a 9-10’ TC with a slide out and use a hitch extension like the Torklift Supertruss or Reese Titan depending on the weight.
With a TC like the Lance 981 or Arctic Fox 990, (both 9’11”) you could probably get by with a 24” extension and have a camper with much more room, built in generator and larger holding tanks.
I had a Dodge DRW and Lance 981 and loved it. Not too big and heavy but very comfortable and drove great with the dually.
I plan to go back to that setup soon.
Nice find on the 7.3.
donn0128
Explorer II
Nov 03, 2018
So you want what is commonly called an 8 foot camper. Bigfoot is nice, but costly. Arcric Fox does build some nice campers. Mystery to me, but truck campers are way more expensive per sqft than other RVs. But if you can sacrifice living space to tow something then it can be a good match. But honestly for less you can get a pretty nice class C motor home and still pull your boat.

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Newbie needing beginners advice

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