Using your truck camper jacks
Not having purchased a TC or truck yet, I continue to read, ask questions and listen to the folks with experience. I was talking with the brother of a friend who has been truck camping for the la...
Forum Discussion
My opinion, which will be in the minority, is that when you get to a full length pickup with a 11 foot plus camper and a gross combined weight of 13,000 lbs. it makes more sense to get a motorhome. This is doubly true if the pickup would be used 90-100% of the time as a camper carrier and not as a pickup.
I have a short bed truck with a 8.5' camper and even this setup is restrictive in terms of where I can take it off non-paved roads. Too much weight and too high a center of gravity of many areas. I use the pickup 60% of the time without the camper in the bed.
A motorhome is made by a single entity. With a slide-in camper you have the camper manufacturer, the truck manufacturer, the tie-down and turnbuckle manufacturer, just to start with, and any modifications or upgrades are custom ones. You will need to add have the tie-downs added to the truck, wiring for the camper added, shocks upgrades, springs upgrades, shocks upgraded, possible add an anti-sway bar and air bags. All this before you put the camper into the bed to the truck.
With a motorhome you can fill up the fuel tank, stock the fridge, and be ready to go. You will have larger fresh water and waste water holding tanks, an intergrated generator and inverter, a sleeping area that does not involve steps to climb up and get into, access to the entire motorhome from the cab area. The motorhome will be much easier for others to drive and part of the reason that motorhomes are available for rent by the week all over the USA but no company is renting trucks with slide-in campers in this country.
In a situation where I wanted to be able to take the camper of the truck to go exploring on a frequent basis I would instead get a motorhome and tow something like a Suzuki Brat 4x4 or get a pickup and put an ATV in the bed and tow a convention trailer and leave the trailer at the campsite, or pull a toy hauler.
I have a short bed truck with a 8.5' camper and even this setup is restrictive in terms of where I can take it off non-paved roads. Too much weight and too high a center of gravity of many areas. I use the pickup 60% of the time without the camper in the bed.
A motorhome is made by a single entity. With a slide-in camper you have the camper manufacturer, the truck manufacturer, the tie-down and turnbuckle manufacturer, just to start with, and any modifications or upgrades are custom ones. You will need to add have the tie-downs added to the truck, wiring for the camper added, shocks upgrades, springs upgrades, shocks upgraded, possible add an anti-sway bar and air bags. All this before you put the camper into the bed to the truck.
With a motorhome you can fill up the fuel tank, stock the fridge, and be ready to go. You will have larger fresh water and waste water holding tanks, an intergrated generator and inverter, a sleeping area that does not involve steps to climb up and get into, access to the entire motorhome from the cab area. The motorhome will be much easier for others to drive and part of the reason that motorhomes are available for rent by the week all over the USA but no company is renting trucks with slide-in campers in this country.
In a situation where I wanted to be able to take the camper of the truck to go exploring on a frequent basis I would instead get a motorhome and tow something like a Suzuki Brat 4x4 or get a pickup and put an ATV in the bed and tow a convention trailer and leave the trailer at the campsite, or pull a toy hauler.
