2017 host Mammoth triple slide

[pa_traveler]

Anyone own one or know about there quality? Thinking of taking a trip to truck camper warehouse to look,4.5 hrs away.

[GeoBoy]

pa traveler wrote:
Lots of good info ,thanks. Have a Tadi brother rear camera,guess I will remove it for putting in Host. Like the idea of 3x160 solar. Just mounted a 60 inch by 45 cargo rack on roof of lance for chairs and flat items.Will remove it also,it is lower than top of air. Gotta leave room for dog in back seat. Just looked at weight sticker on our Lance it reads 4034 with water and propane. Liked the Chalets, too bad they no longer make campers.

Larry, I went with Camera Source for my back up camera and plugged into the OEM socket for the tailgate camera. The price was $249.00 delivered.

[pa_traveler]

Lots of good info ,thanks. Have a Tadi brother rear camera,guess I will remove it for putting in Host. Like the idea of 3x160 solar. Just mounted a 60 inch by 45 cargo rack on roof of lance for chairs and flat items.Will remove it also,it is lower than top of air. Gotta leave room for dog in back seat. Just looked at weight sticker on our Lance it reads 4034 with water and propane. Liked the Chalets, too bad they no longer make campers.

[Bedlam]

I was successful in carrying 8000 lbs reliably and safely on the rear axle of my F250, but know you can only modify to some point where it is no longer cost effective. Like most people, I could not afford to take the financial hit of buying the camper and truck at the same time, so I bought the larger truck first and kept the design flexible enough to carry my current Arctic Fox and future Host.

The reason I tell people to skip the Class 4 trucks, is the GVWR limits. If you go with the pickup F450, you are limited to 14k lbs on a truck that already weighs 9K lbs. If you go with the chassis cab F450/4500, your GVWR goes up to 16.5K lbs, but the typical upfitted truck will weigh over 10K lbs. The axles are much beefier in Class 4's and can take the weight, but why start with truck that is over GVWR and has no room to grow?

The Class 3's are limited by rear axle capacity. Even adding 19.5's to these DRW's will not help their capacity (although it will help handling). Most of the guys hauling triple slide TC's on a class 3 are over vehicle GVWR and RAWR but most can stay under OEM rear axle and wheel ratings by not filling the fresh tank completely and not towing anything with tongue weight (flat tow is fine). Could you slip a Dana 110, 111 or 130 axle under your Class 3? Yes, but then you have additional costs of mismatched lug patterns and gear ratios (if 4wd) and the question of how much actual payload can your pickup frame and bed really handle.

We have been very happy with our Arctic Fox and would give their triple side a serious look if they were in their second year of production. If they are successful, Host and Eagle Cap will have bring their campers up another notch to prevent AF from eating into their sales. For us, EC chose components which we do not want, were less flexible than AF or Host on modifications and had some visible flaws that should not be present in this price level of camper.

We have just completed our last road trip with the AF (like Mike with his truck). This past week between rains, we have been emptying it out so it can go on the market and still are not done. Surprising how much stuff you can get into a TC even if you keep an inventory...

[mike_kellie]

My last trip I was 6,400 loaded up on my gmc 3500. It was probably my last.
I bought a 5500 and having Douglas build a truck bed for camper. Granted most Mammoths are carried initially by 3500, at some point the numbers speak louder than your feel of the road. Bedlam is one of a few who have pre-qualified the truck to their camper while most of us modify, test, modify, test again and then upgrade. Good luck-great camper!

[GeoBoy]

Bedlam wrote:
Contact Randall at Host for an option sheet with MSRP prices. We are getting 3x160w solar, Fantastic Fan instead of Heki, Full wall cab over wardrobe, Prewire only for TV's and some additional modifications to the umbilical connections.

No one other than Lance is using cab over struts - I'm not sure any of the structures from other manufacturers were designed for an underside load. The Host camper height is 9.5' if you include the AC - Do you want store or carry items up that high on the roof? Rearview camera is a $900 MSRP option.

Your F350 will be over GVWR and close to rear axle capacity with the Mammoth. If you also plan to tow behind your setup, you need a bigger truck. I suggest skipping the F450/4500 and going to a F550/5500.

Randal can say what he wants, Bedlam has researched this camper thoroughly and when he tells you that a 550/5500 is what you need to carry this camper safety and comfortably you should listen to him and not your pocketbook.

[zb39]

According to Randell at the factory the weight sticker is VERY close to what the unit weighs. Notice I said there is a base weight and then a weight for the unit as it is equipped. IE all options. I also said it is a dry weight. Not wet and loaded. Everyone is different in that aspect of RVing. If I buy one I will weigh it several times to see how it comes out.

Every unit has the weight sticker. It's by the door. It shows base wight and what the unit weighs with the options on that unit. Again Randell told me most are leaving the factory at 4300 to 4750. The 3 I looked at were all in that range. All had 3 slide outs and 2 had the gen set.

[Bedlam]

Contact Randall at Host for an option sheet with MSRP prices. We are getting 3x160w solar, Fantastic Fan instead of Heki, Full wall cab over wardrobe, Prewire only for TV's and some additional modifications to the umbilical connections.

No one other than Lance is using cab over struts - I'm not sure any of the structures from other manufacturers were designed for an underside load. The Host camper height is 9.5' if you include the AC - Do you want store or carry items up that high on the roof? Rearview camera is a $900 MSRP option.

Your F350 will be over GVWR and close to rear axle capacity with the Mammoth. If you also plan to tow behind your setup, you need a bigger truck. I suggest skipping the F450/4500 and going to a F550/5500.

[Spearfisherman7]

That published weight is without slides and options. Your looking at about 5500-6000 loaded. I added upper and lower stable loads, airbags, and bielstien shocks. All a must in my observation. My truck has factory anti sway bars but may upgrade to thicker ones later. Cargo rack not standard. I got most options except bu camera and solar just because they seemed to way overpriced and wanted to do my homework to install the ones best for my needs.

[zb39]

I looked at 3 in person. They have a weight sticker on them . Base weight and as equipped weight.

most are between 4350 and 4700 as equipped dry. Add about 600 lbs for water and propane if you run with full tanks. Then its food and stuff you bring with you. For my wife and I thats about 350LBS max.

Good luck

[Fastbrit]

Spearfisherman71 wrote:
We just picked our up 3 weeks ago. Did 12 nights in it on the way home and no problems to speak of. Quality is way better than the 5w I had before. The only issue we had was the shower door rubbing on the bath slide going down the road eating away at the metal trim. Couple rubber bumpers should resolve that. The center of gravity I believe is further back behind the axle than I was led to believe. It picks up the front of my truck one inch which going by a previous scale reading takes off about 400lbs. This causes a little porpoising action over large bumps. My truck is an 05 f350 and the bed turns out to not be flat, some of which if not all is from hauling heavy stuff in the back beating it up a bit. A straight edge shows about a one inch crown. With all the weight to the back it flexes the frame even more so it's kinda leaning back in the bed with the front sitting higher than the back. Not sure how I'm going to resolve that yet.

We had the same problem and an aluminum flat bed was the answer.
No more camper bouncing from front to back
Only 2 inches Higher than original truck box
Way more solid than the flimsy original truck bed

[pa_traveler]

Thanks guess im lucky only 4.5 hrs away hearing of others long drives. We have a 2011 Lance 1191 with tent. Thought the dry weight was 3600lbs for mammoth,which is about 400lbs less than 1191? Anyone using the struts to prevent porpoising on host? We have them on our Lance. Will probably delete on board generator since we just bought an eu3000 2 months ago. Any suggestions on add on or deletetions on options? Want to put on a Kryocera 135 watt solar on there,will they install one? Are roof racks standard? How about back up camera standard? I like the volume of the holding tanks. Any info appreciated that you have learned,will go there next week.Will need to use our 2011 F-350 6.7 to haul it thought I read an f-350 is good on their site? Will double check its weight.

[Spearfisherman7]

Also we drove 400 miles originally to look at eagle cap and was disappointed in the workmanship. Found about 6-8 small issues that needed attention and decided against that. When they had a host on the lot when back and was satisfied but not ready to buy. When I was we drove 2500 miles to Oregon to pick it up.

[Spearfisherman7]

We just picked our up 3 weeks ago. Did 12 nights in it on the way home and no problems to speak of. Quality is way better than the 5w I had before. The only issue we had was the shower door rubbing on the bath slide going down the road eating away at the metal trim. Couple rubber bumpers should resolve that. The center of gravity I believe is further back behind the axle than I was led to believe. It picks up the front of my truck one inch which going by a previous scale reading takes off about 400lbs. This causes a little porpoising action over large bumps. My truck is an 05 f350 and the bed turns out to not be flat, some of which if not all is from hauling heavy stuff in the back beating it up a bit. A straight edge shows about a one inch crown. With all the weight to the back it flexes the frame even more so it's kinda leaning back in the bed with the front sitting higher than the back. Not sure how I'm going to resolve that yet.

[Bedlam]

jimh425 wrote:
I have a 2006. It's holding up well. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Host.

I'm sure Bedlam will respond. I believe he's been looking at the same model.

We have one on order, but are waiting for 2018 model year release. Once you decide on published options, post them and we can chime in on customizations Host will do.

[Devocamper]

We looked at the host and were impressed, we just returned home from looking at lance and eagle cap and still feel the host would be our choice . Your post doesn't indicate if you already have a truck camper or like us are new to Truck campers. Just let me say the people here on the truck camper fourm have been great with all my questions mostly about the truck to carry a heavy TC. The eagle cap 1200 we looked at yesterday had a dry weight of 5203 lbs from the factory and the host mammoth will be close to that so if your a experienced TC owner you know this but if not be sure you have or get a truck to handle the mammoths weight. I thought my current 3500 DRW diesel would but it is nowhere close to being able to handle the mammoth or EC 1200 in a way I would be comfortable with good luck
Mike