Campers under $10K
Hello forum. My name is Corey and this is my first post. I've been researching the past few months on here and trying to figure out what camper I should buy. Unfortunitly reading about others exper...
Forum Discussion
Wow thanks for the all the replies. The off road camper link looked interesting if I was after a trailer. Maybe they will build a camper soon?
Steer clear of palomino, got it! I think I will steer clear of any wood frame camper at all.
Pastime campers, would be a good option at a time, in the past. Apparently no longer making campers. Or bought out by another company. Honestly at this point I'm really liking the looks of the panther campers. They seem well built, well sealed, fully customizable (why do I need anything on the roof?), and a very attractive price. Although I wish I heard from more people that have them. I'm thinking you've all helped me narrow it down to that or a used northern lite.
You asked why the need to narrow a bigfoot? Apparently older trucks, 93 and older dodges, 98 and older fords and ? on chevy's were built with 65" wide beds. They changed that to make the bed tapered and my bed on my 06 is 65" wide by the cab and 61.5" wide at the tailgate. Pre 94 alot of campers, bigfoot included made them 62" wide. So a pre 94 will not fit. Pre 94's also appear to be a bargain because of the limited people driving old trucks that can buy them. It sucks seeing a bargain camper for a great price and not being able to buy it. I even thought about doing some welding and grinding on my truck bed, but the tailgate bolts are the narrowest part! So it's either $2400 or let the bargain be.
Northern lite and bigfoot not being good off road. This is where I really wish I had more engineering knowledge of how construction methods of campers work. I don't know if the 2 piece construction method would lend itself to be more durable off road or developing more cracks in the fiberglass and long term problems down the road. I've also heard you don't want aluminum frame off road you want wood, or you want aluminum and not wood. Speculation, experience and BS camper manufacturers tell you is all you can really have to go on. The place I read about Northern lites and bigfoot was an off roading forum. A few people weighed in, two with personal experience of them coming apart. But maybe it was a situation where they knew they were built stout, so they took them full on off roading and it lasted 3 times longer than anything else. My own speculation is they probably do the best facing the rigors of off road, being slouched around and even just 30 years of speed bumps. I'm guessing caulked seems of most campers come apart a lot easier than fiberglass cracking..........My best bet will be email bigfoot and nothern lite and ask them why their camper is better for off road. They are the experts and if they feed me a line of BS I'm usually pretty good at picking through that. I will report back when I do. Thanks again everybody.
Steer clear of palomino, got it! I think I will steer clear of any wood frame camper at all.
Pastime campers, would be a good option at a time, in the past. Apparently no longer making campers. Or bought out by another company. Honestly at this point I'm really liking the looks of the panther campers. They seem well built, well sealed, fully customizable (why do I need anything on the roof?), and a very attractive price. Although I wish I heard from more people that have them. I'm thinking you've all helped me narrow it down to that or a used northern lite.
You asked why the need to narrow a bigfoot? Apparently older trucks, 93 and older dodges, 98 and older fords and ? on chevy's were built with 65" wide beds. They changed that to make the bed tapered and my bed on my 06 is 65" wide by the cab and 61.5" wide at the tailgate. Pre 94 alot of campers, bigfoot included made them 62" wide. So a pre 94 will not fit. Pre 94's also appear to be a bargain because of the limited people driving old trucks that can buy them. It sucks seeing a bargain camper for a great price and not being able to buy it. I even thought about doing some welding and grinding on my truck bed, but the tailgate bolts are the narrowest part! So it's either $2400 or let the bargain be.
Northern lite and bigfoot not being good off road. This is where I really wish I had more engineering knowledge of how construction methods of campers work. I don't know if the 2 piece construction method would lend itself to be more durable off road or developing more cracks in the fiberglass and long term problems down the road. I've also heard you don't want aluminum frame off road you want wood, or you want aluminum and not wood. Speculation, experience and BS camper manufacturers tell you is all you can really have to go on. The place I read about Northern lites and bigfoot was an off roading forum. A few people weighed in, two with personal experience of them coming apart. But maybe it was a situation where they knew they were built stout, so they took them full on off roading and it lasted 3 times longer than anything else. My own speculation is they probably do the best facing the rigors of off road, being slouched around and even just 30 years of speed bumps. I'm guessing caulked seems of most campers come apart a lot easier than fiberglass cracking..........My best bet will be email bigfoot and nothern lite and ask them why their camper is better for off road. They are the experts and if they feed me a line of BS I'm usually pretty good at picking through that. I will report back when I do. Thanks again everybody.
