truck camper or class c?

I'll throw out a 3rd option and the one I would go with.

Get a 1-ton SRW truck, a used small 8' TC that is well under the payload, then a 25-30' used travel trailer. Set up the TT at your home park for the season so you get a better rate by being there longer and have amble room to set it up as an office. Then you still have the TC for exploring the remote locations on the weekends. By being well under the truck's payload, it won't be a problem using it for the weekday errands, plus you will be able to tow the TT. If you still have a brick house in PA, you can put the TT in storage so you don't have to haul it back and forth. This option is the one at the top of our list when we slow down our travels a few years after retirement. Best of both worlds.

Instead of TT, you could just set up a 12' or so trailer with a couch, TV and desk for your office. But with the TT, you would get the fridge and bathroom in the same space.

I have a 2,400# 8'6" TC on my SRW and once it's loaded for a trip, don't take it off until I'm home. Usually it's on the truck two or three days before I leave and after I get home despite the fact it is my daily driver. If my HOA would allow it, I would keep it on there for weeks between my trips.

If it's just you and your dog, you really don't need much more than a bed, a place to sit, cooking facilities and a toilet. The bigger and heavier you go, the less flexibility you'll have and the more hassle you'll have loading and unloading. I'd go with a TC, but I'd concentrate on those that will work well with a SRW long bed 3/4 or 1 ton. Keep the size and weight down and you'll be happier in the long run. I'd avoid heavy slide-outs and look at campers with a dry weight less than 2000#. If you need more room, go outside.

Unless you already have a truck, ClassC will be easier to buy and more comfortable.
Unless you buy the monster-C, why would you need a toad?
Bad news it is hard to find C with diesel.

Here is my 2 cents for what it is worth..... I had a 26' class C on a ford E350 chassis for a dozen or so years and just went to a truck camper last weekend. The TC is a lance 855s sitting on a 2016 CCSB 4x4 gas F250.

For our first run we picked it up in Silverthorne and drove it to Ft. Collins for my son's science olympiad contest. From there we spent a night at Moraine Park before heading back home to Steamboat. Knowing I would be going over a pass or two before bringing it home I installed the hellwig bigwig swaybar, airbags, and homemade stableloads from splitting wedges and couldn't be happier with their performance.

For my use the TC is a huge improvement over the class C from a driving standpoint and I think that is pretty good test for a rig from an on road trip even though I only have one trip with it so far. I'm sure off road excursions will be slow and nothing too drastic as it is a lot of weight up high but still a lot more capable than our class C.

We needed some parts for the camper while in Ft. Collins and driving it around and parking was a breeze compared to the class C and not much different that just driving the truck alone. We also tow our ski boat so I can tell you a class C pulling a trailer and parking can be an interesting ordeal especially if you don't have a spotter in some places. I'm expecting the new rig to handle the boat with no problems and looking forward to hitting the lakes this summer. I'll also add that heading up to Moraine Park the wind was blowing the big flags straight out but the truck hardly noticed it and if it hadn't been for the flags and trees I wouldn't have known how hard it was blowing.... my class C would have been all over the road and a handful to drive on the interstate. Not sure how many times I told the wife I was glad I wasn't driving the old RV but it was a lot. Heading up the pass in the curves the driving was actually fun vs the class C which would have been stressful and a lot of pull overs to let people pass no matter how hard I was pushing it. Same with the way down and we kept up with traffic without feeling like we were anywhere close to the limits of handling or braking. We did pull over once to let some cars pass but at the bottom we were all at the same stop light so I wasn't slowing them down too much. As for space.... yeah.. you do give up some but with only having one motor to maintain, insure, and tag it was worth it to us. We are heading to Salt Lake City with it this weekend and would have never considered driving the class C that far for a short trip.

Everyone has different needs so get what works best for you. For us it is the TC but we won't be working out of it either and if we do it will be trade show stuff (I have a laser engraver and cnc router) like the trip to Salt Lake City for the North American Handbuilt Bicycle show (I engrave for Kent Eriksen for those who are into bikes).

Oh... and gas mileage. The old 460 drank gas and wind only made it worse. Going to Ft. Collins the wind wasn't bad so we pulled in with the trip meter reading 12.5mpg. With the strong head/side winds going home we ended up at 10.5 for the whole trip. The class C would have been low 5s at best and at a much slower pace.

I prefer the Truck and TC. A towed is a bonus. I lived in my 11.5 foot non slideout TC for four nights and three days a week for five years due to my job. Most of the time I stayed in the parking lot. I would go home on weekends.

I would drive my truck/TC shopping, to eat out on occasion and to go site seeing. My work place was in the San Francisco bay area, which has a lot of heavy traffic. I quickly adapted to driving and parking. The truck/TC was not as obvious in parking lots as a Class C. On occasion I would drive to other locations after work, just to kick back, cook dinner and change scenery. Later I would drive back to my work parking lot, which was free rent and I could walk to work. Sometimes I would flat tow my Samurai. This allowed me to tour places where truck/TC was awkward.

Wayne

If I were to use a camper for living in and just parking it a 2 different campgrounds with hookups, I would get a motorhome.

I have a truck camper because we travel the backwoods and always dry camp. Plus I tow to offroad areas and races. Nut would like a 4x4 diesel class C later to replace it.

I have both and it sounds like you'd want a class C. In comparison, the cabover camper I have is WAY SMALLER and MUCH more cramped than the Class C! I didn't realize how much smaller it would feel like than the Class C (ours is 30').

Both fit easily into parks and campgrounds. Both drive easily.

I find the camper great for the very short, last-minute trips where I do more exploring and moving night-to-night around during the trip. The class C is better for longer trips and with less moving around. In the Class C, you tend to get stuff laying around everywhere that has to be secure before driving. But, it sure is nice for spreading out a lot more than the camper!

I'd suggest you rent a class C first. If you could rent a camper, do so too. The difference is immediately noticeable, but hard to describe!


Good luck!
Bill

When we looked at new 2015-2016 class Cs, we were profoundly disappointed with their insulation. I lifted the seat on a dinette that could change into a bed, and I could look straight down to the asphalt through a gap in the floor...Just something to think about if you are in temperature extremes. Also, framing, especially around windows, etc. was minimal or nonexistent. Not my idea of durable.

We went with a well-insulted TC.

I think your situation has truck plus travel trailer written all over it.
I like truck campers and have had them most of my life but they get really small really quick for living in for any extended amount of time.
Storage is almost nothing in a camper.
With a trailer, you get WAY more space, plus you can put a canopy topper on your truck and have lots more room for your stuff.
It's easier to hitch up or drop a traile than loading a camper (unless you have a Stable-Lift camper lift) and you can just park that at the campground and have a real "house".
That's definitely what I'd do in your shoes.

I like the idea of the small truck camper + trailer. The trailer will be much better for living and working in.

Go used on the truck, small + used on the truck camper, and moderate size on the trailer. On the trailer, you want a dinette for a place to work, and another place to sit, so you can relax away from your work space.

Your leisure spot doesn't have to be a sofa, it could be a recliner. A lot of floor plans have a bedroom divider wall with sofa on it, then dinette, a mid-kitchen, rear bath. You could replace that sofa with a comfy recliner.

You could start out with the truck camper, and take your time looking for the trailer. If you winter in AZ, there are lots of trailers of all types for sale there.