Back to truck campers

My answer to sway was Stable Loads and aftermarket anti-sway bars. Other swear by their duallies for that purpose.

I'm with those above, who like having everything along when on sightseeing day trips. Others here will say dropping the TC and using the unloaded truck for day tripping is the way to go.

I guess the advantage of the truck and camper is that you could use the pickup when you have a place to unload your camper. I have seen some campgrounds that allowed unloading the camper at the site, but some have rules against that. Electric jacks can be helpful, and unload the camper in a few minutes.

But I guess the easy way to go camping is a class C motorhome, in the 18- 24 foot long range, perhaps with a rear full size bed, (sometimes with the bath on the drivers side) or queen in the back with a split bath that is forward of the bedroom. It would end up about the same length of the truck camper, without the very high center of gravity. Being built into the van chassis, the water tank, and most of the weight is not 3 feet off the ground, like in a truck camper.

I had a truck camper, then moved up to a 27' class C, and then up to a 30' class A without a slide out (1997 model). I liked each of them, and each was a improvement in water tank size, stability, and easy use. The camper had about 20 gallons of water, the class C about 25, and the class A has 100 gallon fresh water tank, 17,000 GVWR, and 2,734 pound of cargo rating (including water and anything else you might want to add to the RV).

I lived in the class A, and was able to get 3 weeks without refilling the fresh water tank, and dumping the black water.

I don't think I would ever move back to a camper, but might get a A-Frame hardside pop up, like Aliner. That is something that is light enough to tow with my Ford Edge, and get about 15 MPG, instead of the 7 mpg of my class A motorhome.

Even at 7 mpg, the motorhome did not cost all that much in fuel, because I never really drove it over 5,000 miles in one year, so the $1,200 insurance and fuel costs of around $2,500 a year made up most of the cost of owning it.

Every RV type is a matter of finding the one with the most pros and least cons and that will be individual.

With a truck camper, yes, you would generally be taking your "camp" with you everytime you want to drive somewhere. If that would be a problem really depends on where and how you will be camping.

If you are setting up a base camp and then taking a bunch of day trips, then the TC is less than ideal unless you can tow a small car or scooters, etc.

If you are doing a lot of one night stops until you reach a destination and then staying place for a while (no day trips), then it would be a good choice.

Some folks use a TC to sightsee, however they might park it at the RV Park and use uber, public transit, etc to get around.

You just have to decide if you can work around the negative of a TC in your personal circumstance and if those workarounds are easier than any inconvenience.

We like ours because we can take everything with us where ever we go. I have food allergies so we don't eat out. So having our kitchen and bathroom with us where ever we go is awesome.
We were hiking at the Grand Teton's a couple of years ago. Once we got done we got in the camper, cleaned up, ate some lunch use the RR. Couldn't do that if we'd like a 5th wheel back at the campsite and just drove the truck.

HD sway bars are a good call, but I am not sure what you mean by “taking your bed with you”. With all of your previous RV’s you have always taken your bed, or beds,....with you. TC’s are no different in that way, except in some rigs you need to make it up each night & take it down in the morning. Not so with TC’s.