Flatbed truck Camper

[Rafe_Covington]

I am thinking about getting a 4X4 mediun duty truck and either buying or have a flatbed truck camper built. I was wondering if anybody was using a flatbed camper, would appreciate your observations.

Thanks
Rafe

[woodhog]

Custom Flatbed Campers

[Rafe_Covington]

KD4UPL wrote:
I have a flatbed on my dually but use a regular TC. I have tool boxes mounted on the sides for storage. I think the MDT and flatbed are certainly the way to go for the larger campers. Having a custom built flatbed camper would be really nice but also probably really expensive with very little resale value. It would also be very difficult finding an other truck to haul it if yours wasn't available for some reason.
I think it was Chalet that built a huge flatbed camper for on a Ford F-550. It was sort of a one-off, not a production model. Northstar offers a small one for small trucks.
Have you got a builder in mind?

Don't really have a builder in mind yet, just starting to plan. I have a International 7400 4X4 truck, 150 in. cab to end of frame.

Rafe

[rottidawg]

Jfet wrote:
wow...at 6'7" I would not like going in and out of that door very often...

Good point....that does look awful short.
I have a FWC slide in on a full size truck and my door is fine for access and I'm 6'4".
Perhaps a problem with flatbed pop ups?
For comparison:

[Jfet]

wow...at 6'7" I would not like going in and out of that door very often...

[rottidawg]

DanoT wrote:

I think Four Wheel Campers builds one that they have shipped overseas in the past as a special order.

New model out recently:



http://www.fwcjh.com

[DanoT]

msiminoff wrote:

Jfet wrote:
There is a grand total of 1 (one) flatbed camper in production...

Let's not forget XP Camper!
-Mark

I think Four Wheel Campers builds one that they have shipped overseas in the past as a special order.

[msiminoff]

Jfet wrote:
There is a grand total of 1 (one) flatbed camper in production...

Let's not forget XP Camper!
-Mark

[sue_t]

The first fifth wheel we owned had been used by the first owner as a flatbed camper. He had the axles removed so it sat easily on the flatdeck.

It was a short fifth wheel at 17.5', with an interior that was similar to an 11' camper. The fifth wheel also had a back door, just like a camper. Lots of storage too!

Just a thought ... here it is on our truck after having its underside returned to fifth wheel mode.

[ticki2]

There are two long threads on flat bed campers in the TCU sticky .

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/17978710.cfm
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25259431.cfm

[Jfet]

There is a grand total of 1 (one) flatbed camper in production. This is the american hero by Northstar.

We are building a custom flatbed camper (there is a build thread on this forum). It is A LOT of work and not cheap. Some things are cheap, like the steel for the frame, but then we have spent over $1500 just on Sikaflex adhesive and prep materials. I don't think we will come in any cheaper than the Northstar, but we do have things like 8 feet of headroom, which is normally only found in 5th wheels.

[KD4UPL]

I have a flatbed on my dually but use a regular TC. I have tool boxes mounted on the sides for storage. I think the MDT and flatbed are certainly the way to go for the larger campers. Having a custom built flatbed camper would be really nice but also probably really expensive with very little resale value. It would also be very difficult finding an other truck to haul it if yours wasn't available for some reason.
I think it was Chalet that built a huge flatbed camper for on a Ford F-550. It was sort of a one-off, not a production model. Northstar offers a small one for small trucks.
Have you got a builder in mind?