BigFoot Truck Campers

[Bigfootchevy]

Has anyone bought a 2011 or newer Bigfoot Truck Camper since the new company started up? Was wondering if they have had any concerns or issues? I called the Bigfoot Company and it seems like the same good bunch of people running the company today as it was in the past .

The insurance company has now wrote off my Bigfoot truck camper. I didn't know it but I guess I had replacement insurance so I get to order a new 2014 to replace my 2009 Bigfoot. So the insurance company is paying me what a 2014 Bigfoot Camper with the same options is worth today. Cannot beat that deal.

I am seriously thinking of ordering a new Bigfoot 25C10.4 or 25C10.6 truck camper. I personally like the 25C10.4 model better but still have time to change my mind. Never had a dry bath before or a dually with a long box to haul it around.

Tomorrow if I get time, I am planning to take a look at the Lance and Northern Lite campers. I found a dealer 2 hours away with several campers. Bigfoot doesn't have any models with slides and I keep thinking a slide would be nice.

Paul

[Bigfootchevy]

70GTO wrote:
Paul,

Just wondering how the shopping for your new truck camper was going? I plan to retire in a couple of years & will be buying a new truck camper too. I'm very very interested to hear what you bought & why, plus what all you have learned.

Thanks, Bruce

I believe its down to 3 campers now, Lance, Arctic Fox, and Bigfoot.

I finally got a best price quote from all 3 dealers now so I will share that will you over the weekend.

Paul

[70GTO]

Paul,

Just wondering how the shopping for your new truck camper was going? I plan to retire in a couple of years & will be buying a new truck camper too. I'm very very interested to hear what you bought & why, plus what all you have learned.

Thanks, Bruce

[woodhog]

Not true about the CSA thing its not a trailer which has to be inspected I know this because we bought our 08 1181 over there.At the border we declared it and the agent said thanks for being honest we would have never know that you didn't buy it in Canada.I paid the tax on the purchase amount and that was it.A&S in Auburn Hills Mich will deliver to the border so you only pay Canadian tax and you save thousands of $ these dealers in Ontario are very very over priced for whatever reason so don't feel bad about buying in the USA Canada still gets the big tax from you.

It was the same situation here, I paid only GST amount at the border.
They said it did not need to be registered so no Provincial sales tax charged.
I came out after paying and getting my receipt ( I wanted that to carry with me for future border crossings into Canada in case they tried to say I bought it in the USA on a future trip).

Anyway, on the way out of the office I bumped into the nice young agent from our booth stop on the way across, he was going on his break...
I asked him if he would have asked about the camper maybe being purchased on that trip, he said we rarely ever do that, only if it is really bright and shiny new looking !!!!..

It is worth the trip to Truck Camper Warehouse just to talk truck campers with the Pennys, they are probably the most informed TC sales/service people in Eastern North America...its a nice experience.
They are passionate about TC's...
I learned more there in one day about truck campers than years of looking on my own, well except for Sleepy.....:)

[Gary3]

Not true about the CSA thing its not a trailer which has to be inspected I know this because we bought our 08 1181 over there.At the border we declared it and the agent said thanks for being honest we would have never know that you didn't buy it in Canada.I paid the tax on the purchase amount and that was it.A&S in Auburn Hills Mich will deliver to the border so you only pay Canadian tax and you save thousands of $ these dealers in Ontario are very very over priced for whatever reason so don't feel bad about buying in the USA Canada still gets the big tax from you.

[Bigfootchevy]

woodhog wrote:

Therefore in closing I read all your suggestions and look up everything you think I should be interested in. If possible I go see it. In fact to see the Lance I drove 3 1/2 hours just to get to the dealership. On Monday I may drive 5 hours to Montreal to see the Artic Fox.

Two Hundred more miles south and you could look at a large selection at Truck Camper Warehouse in N.H.

Finding a truck camper in Eastern Canada is not easy...

I was warned about going to the States to buy a truck Camper because in Canada your camper has to be CSA approved if you ever need someone to work on your propane. I have no idea if this is true or not. But the idea of going across the border and buying a camper and coming home with it has crossed my mind.

Paul

[Reddog1]

Opinions can be very valuable, and provide directions to investigate something.

Attitudes contribute very little, if anything at all. They do discourage open discussion. Attitudes are often seen as Trolls or Flaming, which can result in deleted posts.


Wayne
Moderator

[woodhog]

Therefore in closing I read all your suggestions and look up everything you think I should be interested in. If possible I go see it. In fact to see the Lance I drove 3 1/2 hours just to get to the dealership. On Monday I may drive 5 hours to Montreal to see the Artic Fox.

Two Hundred more miles south and you could look at a large selection at Truck Camper Warehouse in N.H.

Finding a truck camper in Eastern Canada is not easy...

[HMS_Beagle]

54suds wrote:
"!Can't (and didn't) say they all have problems. "

1 your post implies that having a slide will give anyone having one nothing but proplems in my experience this is completely false
,what facts do you base your opinion on ????
2 "The ones I have owned did (not BF). The ones my friends have owned did. Even if completely reliable, there can be no doubt that they add weight. "
So they add some weight ????????


"In most cases make the camper nearly unusable with them in "

really ?
do you have any stats to back that opinion up ????
I have owned 3 diffrerent campers with slides and all three were 100 %usable with the slides in and it appears that that the majority of tc's sold with slides are in fact usable with their slides not deployed

"that (matters to me, may not matter to you)."

honest provable facts matter to me ,not questionable ,possibly misleading opinions

Do you sell camper slides? I ask because you seem to be getting your knickers in a twist over just about nothing.

My original post said that slides have "reliability problems". Go to a large RV repair facility and ask them. They keep very busy and make a lot of money repairing slides. That doesn't imply every single one is going to fail every single minute. Nevertheless they are a high failure rate item on RVs. That is a fact.

A camper with slides will weigh more that a similar one without. Lance 855 vs. Lance 855S, 250 lbs more for one small slide, moving the CG back. That is a fact. Lighter weight is generally considered to be better in a camper (that is an opinion).

I have been in most Lance, AF, SR, Host, etc recent camper models at various shows. The vast majority of them are not very usable (yes that is my opinion, I have already allowed that you might have your own) with the slides retracted. Many of them you can't even enter without climbing over stuff. There is a reason most of them have the slide switches right at the door. "Usability" is an opinion, not a fact, and not provable one way or the other.

You love your slides and that is great. I'm not trying to outlaw them. I was just pointing out that there are those who don't like them, for the reasons stated.

[MikeJinCO]

I'm the person with Bigfoot slide out issues. On our 2008 30C1002 the slide end support roller wore into the floor structure. After several hours of panic as we were supposed to leave for Mexico in two weeks with advice and construction pictures from Grant at the new factory I was able to resolve the problem for about $30. I jacked up each side, filled the groove with some thickened epoxy and then slipped a sheet of 16 ga sheet metal under the roller as a wear plate. With some screws and butyl caulk the problem was solved. That has been three years now.

Bought an older 2500 9.6 a month ago and am modifying it to go to South America right now. We also prefer the center bath of the 9.4 and 30C, but this is what was available and didn't care for the non-slide Lance units we saw. Peru is not the place to be taking a slide as parts are a long distance and time away and our 30C is irreplaceable. JM2C.

Having poked one hole in the roof on our original 9.4 which was easily repaired with fiberglass and then having a mule deer take off both jacks on one side again easily repaired by the local body shop I really like the clam shell construction.

[Tamnative]

I have had 2 Lance's and now have a 2008 Bigfoot 10.4E. The first Lance was a used one that I really liked but put more money into it than it was worth but sure had fun doing it,I had to get rid of it because it had major water damage,which was likely there when I bought it but didn't know at the time. We traded it in on a new Lance 835 which was a great camper but the holding tanks are tiny. We then decided to upgrade to a larger unit and fell in love with the 1055 but could not find one anywhere. We happened to see the Bigfoot and took a look at it and that was that. One thing to consider,and as I found out with my first camper is the roof construction and maintenance. The Bigfoot's design requires very little were as the aluminum or rubber does. The Bigfoot is built like a boat with very few places for water to enter and very few places that need to be caulked unlike some of the others. That was the main selling point for me. The outside of the camper is "continuous" no "corners or edges" that have to be checked all the time and can with stand the rigors of rough roads better than it's "framed and sheathed cousins" but I am not a fan of anything that relies souly on a caulked joint. This will most likely be our last truck camper and hopefully we will have it for some time to come.

[54suds]

"!Can't (and didn't) say they all have problems. "

1 your post implies that having a slide will give anyone having one nothing but proplems in my experience this is completely false
,what facts do you base your opinion on ????
2 "The ones I have owned did (not BF). The ones my friends have owned did. Even if completely reliable, there can be no doubt that they add weight. "
So they add some weight ????????


"In most cases make the camper nearly unusable with them in "

really ?
do you have any stats to back that opinion up ????
I have owned 3 diffrerent campers with slides and all three were 100 %usable with the slides in and it appears that that the majority of tc's sold with slides are in fact usable with their slides not deployed

"that (matters to me, may not matter to you)."

honest provable facts matter to me ,not questionable ,possibly misleading opinions




Bigfoot 10.5E, '99 F350 7.3L DRW 2WD

[billtex]

It is too bad what you had to go through; a camper you liked ruined by forces outside of your control..oh well...at least no one got hurt.

If we were looking at non-slides it would be Bigfoot and Northern Lite.Maybe Adventurer, Northstar.

If slide-outs; Eagle Cap, Arctic Fox, and Adventurer were the nicest we looked at.

I know camping season is here...but as you said; you will live with your decision for ~ 10 years.
Take your time.
Good luck,
Bill

[Bigfootchevy]

Reddog1 wrote:

woodhog wrote:
... I always like to count the number of posters promoting the type of camper they already own...

That can be interesting. Why would posters do that?

1 Justify their purchase.

2 They never had anything else.

3 It does in fact serve its purpose for them and they truly like what they have.

I think it could be real tough in buying a new TC. Personally, I never had the experience. I have always bought used, and really have liked every TC/RV I have owned. My preference is no slides, and no filon siding. I prefer a fiberglass or aluminum roof. Buying used, I can install my own upgrades. It took me about ten years to find a fiberglass TC at a price I was willing to pay. I am very pleased with the overall build, floor plan and weight. For me, number 3 applies.

It is in fact very hard to purchase a new truck camper. They come in all different sizes, options, some just seem better than others. It does not mean they are, its just your first opinion in the 10 minutes you spent looking at it.

Yesterday we looked at 4 fully loaded large Lance truck campers, all had a least one slide and the Wife fell in love with them all but especially the Model 1181. I really liked the new Lance model 1052 with the new back deck. Both at $50,000.00 plus tax. They also had the Northern Lite camper which were nice but after seeing the Lance models a few minutes earlier they just didn't compare and most other campers would not either. We left the dealership without buying one and went to see a Bigfoot.

At the Bigfoot dealership they had a new 25C10.4 which was very nice but still didn't compare to the Lance. Mainly because of no slides. Later we looked at a new 2012 25C9.4 which was in rough shape for new but they said they would fix everything. It a good deal and exactly what we had.

Today I have been talking to a dealership in Quebec about the Artic Fox which looks like a very nice camper.

I personally like it when people tell me what they have and why the like or don't like it. I have only had a Bigfoot and rely heavily on what I am told about other campers. A lot of people today seem interested in the roof material more than the camper itself.

I am still no closer to purchasing a camper today than I was two weeks ago and have drove to several dealerships to look.

On other note today, the company came to pick up my old Bigfoot. They dragged it up on a flat bed truck and broke just about everything that was not already broke. Its 100% junk now between what happen today and the water and roof damage. We didn't expect to say this but we are glad it gone. Hard to look at everyday.

Therefore in closing I read all your suggestions and look up everything you think I should be interested in. If possible I go see it. In fact to see the Lance I drove 3 1/2 hours just to get to the dealership. On Monday I may drive 5 hours to Montreal to see the Artic Fox.

I see this camper as a 10 year investment and although it cost a lot of money today, I can justify it because I am turning 60 this year and by the time I am 70 year old I will hopefully think it was a good deal.

I do know that their is a lot of very nice campers out there by different names and models and sooner or later I will find the perfect one for us. Its not as simple as just ordering another Bigfoot and being happy with it. Hopefully within the next two weeks.

Thanks

Paul

[HMS_Beagle]

54suds wrote:


1. I challenge you to show even one (1) instance of a Bigfoot 3000 sl having any slide out related problem

2 Bob M. ( Snowriver ) designed the first slide outs in tc 's and to my knowledge his systems were 100% trouble fee

Can't (and didn't) say they all have problems. The ones I have owned did (not BF). The ones my friends have owned did. Even if completely reliable, there can be no doubt that they add weight. In most cases make the camper nearly unusable with them in (matters to me, may not matter to you).

If you are in the market for a new camper, the Bigfoot 3000 is irrelevant, being no longer made.

[Reddog1]

woodhog wrote:
... I always like to count the number of posters promoting the type of camper they already own...

That can be interesting. Why would posters do that?

1 Justify their purchase.

2 They never had anything else.

3 It does in fact serve its purpose for them and they truly like what they have.

I think it could be real tough in buying a new TC. Personally, I never had the experience. I have always bought used, and really have liked every TC/RV I have owned. My preference is no slides, and no filon siding. I prefer a fiberglass or aluminum roof. Buying used, I can install my own upgrades. It took me about ten years to find a fiberglass TC at a price I was willing to pay. I am very pleased with the overall build, floor plan and weight. For me, number 3 applies.