My first camper was a 2000 Lance that came with the truck when I bought it. I had no experience with campers before and much to my shock after the purchase had been completed, I realized it was a wood framed camper and there was lots of dry rot. I initially spent $3000 trying to fix it only to find more areas of damage. I got rid of it as quick as I could for pennies on the dollar. There was just no way I was going to be able to get that camper back to proper condition.
Because of the dryrot issues, I looked at Northernlites and Bigfoots because I wanted the Fiberglass shell. Honestly, I'm surprised that they are the only two companies making fiberglass campers as it seems the most logical choice given the exposure our campers go through.
A word of caution even with a fiberglass camper is that there still is plywood behind the fiberglass at least on Bigfoots. If you pull your fridge vent cap off, or some of the access doors, you will see the fiberglass shell and then the plywood backing and that is exposed to moisture if the air is damp. The wood is in decent shape for being 16 years old but I have it on the list to seal it with some sort of sealent. Basically, you will be better protected than other brands but you still have to stay vigiliant.
Another factor to consider is that fiberglass repair if necessary can be difficult to find. Your best options are likely going to be finding a boat shop that deals with fiberglass for a living versus an RV repair center that deals with it once in a while. Fiberglass is great but it isn't perfect, time will take it's toll. I have some cosmetic blemishes (spider cracking of the Gelcoat) I hope to have worked on over the winter as an example to consider.
