Full timing in a truck camper.

[Superwrench]

The wife retires in 18 months and we are planning on getting a truck camper and living in it full time. Were wondering if others are doing this. we are in the process of clearing out our house and making decisions. We plan on selling our TT a Thor Citation 30T and going to a TC so if something happens to me my wife can drive the truck home. She has trouble hitching the TT (Reese dual cam) and backing. We have been camping since we were children 60 years. We started with tents then ultra light off the back of our BMW motorcycles. We are considering taking my Triumph Truxton with us. I currently have an 04 Ram 3500 Dually regular cab CTD Getrag 6 speed 4x4. We are planning on getting a new Host Mammoth. We can survive with out all the junk one normally has to have. We are open to suggestions.

[discovery4us]

well now you have opened a whole new can of worms. You are going to need to pull a trailer for the JAG. You can't leave it behind, it will feel unloved and we can't do that to a JAG:)

[Superwrench]

More good points. My wife would stay by my side in a cardboard box. Actually the TC is her idea. I was planning on Artic Fox for several years and then I heard of Host. One of the wife's requirements is slides. When my wife wants something I get it. Rarely does the woman want anything. She saw our Jag XK8 convertable and said "have it" I wrote a check. I refuse to stay in cheap motels, Hyatt, or Hilton. Hampton is slumming it. The wife also insist on a dry bath. We won't be staying in cold weather I'm from TN and I can take heat but not cold so moisture build up won't be a problem. We have open windows until mid August. I have towed a TT for 13 years and I'm done towing. I'm not interested in class Cs or As. The only A I liked was $2.5 million. My stepfather Had one of the GMC As that GM built. 455 Olds gas engine with the 425 transaxle used in the Toronado. It always had something broke. I was sick of working on it. We plan on keeping our stuff in our daughters garage. We can switch from cool weather to warm by stopping at her house. If we sell our house we will save the cost property tax, water, electric, and cable. About $1200 a month. Also in TN I can stay in state parks for 1/2 price. My plan is get what I need close to where we will be staying then stay put for 2 weeks. If we are annoyed we can easily move. (loud people, kids). If it were up to me I would build a log cabin in the woods.

[JimK-NY]

While on the road, I had two medical issues. The first time I had a detached retina. An EMT was kind enough to drive our truck camper to the nearest hospital parking lot about an hour away. The next day my wife had to make a long 5 hour drive across mountain roads and then through rush hour city traffic to a major hospital. I am not sure how that would have worked had she not been able to drive the RV.

My next emergency was due to a bee sting in the mouth. I am allergic and used the epipen. An ambulance drove us two hours to the nearest town. Fortunately we were traveling with relatives and they drove the RV while my wife and I went in the ambulance. At a certain point insurance and money are not the issues.

[discovery4us]

Don't let a possibility of a medical issue effect your comfort full timing. I am not saying that you can't full time in a TC. My wife and I had discussed this many times as she will not and has not driven any of our RV combinations.

In the case of an emergency I would be riding in an ambulance and my wife's last concern would be the truck and trailer. After everything calmed down a phone call to a local tow company would get the truck unhooked if needed and the trailer transported to their storage yard. Then in time either I would be in a position to tow the trailer and continue RVing or a freight company would deliver it to the location of our choosing or the wife and her new beau can pick up the trailer and continue:(

All I am saying is pick your RV house based on all the other things other than the worst case scenario.

[tomkaren13]

We had a camper that I(wife) could not hook up nor drive. Bought Good Sam Travel Assist Ins. Made me feel secure that if something happened to DH we would have help getting home.

[Freep]

jimh425 wrote:

Interesting, what TC?

2014 Lance 992

[jimh406]

Freep wrote:
I have read the warnings in my TC manual that says the TC is not designed for full timing and can result in humidity build up, mold, etc...

Thoughts?

Interesting, what TC?

[Reddog1]

I have tried to compare cost of truck/TC to motels, and with out question the truck/TC is much more convenient and cheaper for me. The more I camp, and the more out of the way places I camp the more true it is. I typically use my trucks as my daily drivers, therefor there is no added cost for insurance, maintenance, tires, and related stuff than if I just had a car to drive to a motel.

When traveling in my truck/TC I can stop and spend the night just about anyplace I want for $30 or less. I can camp in the forest or my destination without having to drive many miles from a motel. Did I mention the probability of dirty beds in motels? Look at a mattress with a black light sometime.

When I camp in places where I use my Suzuki Samurai, it can be several miles to a motel, and most likely during 4x4 season no vacancies. Not a problem if you have a truck/TC.

[valhalla360]

Superwrench wrote:
To answer a few replies: known the wife for 58 years, been married 44 years. We have spent two weeks in a 3 man tent for two weeks in the rain. Mostly plan on sitting outside at night and sleeping in the TC during the day. I can't be in the sun. We used to camp off the back of two BMW motorcycles and plan on packing that way. My 3500 Ram dually is an 04 with only 60K miles. I bought it new and maintain it myself. It is a regular cab not a crew cab so I have a greater load capacity. Dodge does not make a pickup in the 4500/5500 class only cab chassis. Besides my truck is paid for. GM and Ford are not an option. In 12 years my wife has not become comfortable hitching or driving our rig. We plan on staying in campgrounds, mostly state parks and federal. We prefer full hook-up but can tolerate water and electric. So we won't be hauling a lot of water. I also plan on skipping most options and some standard like the ladder. After my liver transplant I fell and messed up my back. I can't handle another fall.

I read this as you aren't going off roading or boondocking in tough to get to locations.

This is almost exclusively about hitching up the trailer.

Horses for Courses: Truck campers are great if you are trying to go down rough back roads. For staying in campgrounds with hookups, they work but are a major compromise.

There are some options to making hitching easier. If your truck doesn't have one, you can get an after market backup camera. Aimed at the hitch she can see exactly what she's doing. Or is there some other part of the process, she struggles with.

As others have suggested a small to medium size Class C will have far more room and if you trade in the truck, may be cheaper than a monster truck camper.

Another alternative to consider is a 5th Wheel, especially if you don't want to give up the truck. Not that travel trailers are hard to hitch but with a 5th Wheel it's even easier. You just back up into the pin til it latches on. Lock it in place and you are hitched. No chains or torsion bars and because the hitch is in the truck bed, you can watch it in the rear view mirror to make sure you are lined up. Towing is nicer than a TT (though again a properly set up TT shouldn't tow poorly).

Lots of options and I don't think a truck camper is way down on the list to meet your needs.

[JimK-NY]

When it comes to keeping a camper small and still having conveniences, the issue of wet versus dry bath comes up. Many of the larger campers have huge dry baths. That is great for the few minutes a day when you shower, but otherwise you need a bigger camper and lose lots of living and storage space.

I can only say I was pleasantly surprised at the functionality of our small wet bath. The area under the shower head, the shower curtain, and floor are soaked. Most of the rest of the bath is pretty much dry. After a shower, it literally takes 30 seconds to squeegee the walls and floor to almost total dryness. I open the vent, pull the humidity out of the shower area with the Fantastic fan and that is all that is needed.

I highly recommend a wet bath over the space needed for a dry bath.

[JimK-NY]

Freep wrote:
I have read the warnings in my TC manual that says the TC is not designed for full timing and can result in humidity build up, mold, etc...

Thoughts?

We started out in the winter and used heat pretty much constantly. Humidity can indeed build up. Even in cold weather it is important to have some ventilation especially when cooking or showering. After we moved on to temps which were above freezing, the dampness issue quickly abated. In fact camper air can start to feel too dry due to the furnace.

We never had any serious humidity issues and certainly no mold. At least we were not aware of any issues. Until I lifted the mattress to retrieve a weight lifter belt I had stored there. It was damp and was indeed starting to get moldy. I found under cold, damp conditions I needed to lift the mattress every couple of weeks and make sure it was dry underneath. Since then I sealed and painted the bare plywood that was under the mattress and that made a huge difference.

Campers vary greatly for winter use. Mine is more a 3 season camper. It does great when night time temps drop down to about freezing or a bit below. When the temps drop to the low 20s at night and stay below freezing in the day, it is time to move on. It is too cold for my camper but also too cold for me. I don't like cold anymore. I know people who like to camp in the snow and cold. Again they need to provide ventilation. Even then it is best to give up trying to keep a warm camper. It works better to bundle up and keep the camper in the cool 60 degree range.

[stufarmer]

My wife and I have talked about possibly taking off for a year or so and live in our Lance 1172.
I believe between the campers size and pulling a 7x12 enclosed cargo trailer for the 'stuff' plus
carrying our 2 Honda trail 90's the camper would be quite comfortable. We're not the type that spends all of our time inside the camper. We travel because we want see the country. Additionally, the 1172 has a couch, a dinette, a large dry bath, a queen sized bed with a TV, another TV down by the dinette, a satellite dish and countless conveniences. I don't see the camper as a sacrifice ..

[Freep]

I have read the warnings in my TC manual that says the TC is not designed for full timing and can result in humidity build up, mold, etc...

Thoughts?

[JimK-NY]

mkirsch wrote:
A person should be able to say, "You're nuts" and list some valid reasons why they personally would not want to fulltime in a TC, without being called a naysayer and/or derided for offering their opinion.

Should we all just link arms and parrot, "You'll be fiiiine! Go for it!"

Then in 6 months your wife is filing for divorce after 44 years. Oops.

Maybe differing opinions will give you something to think about that you hadn't? We all tend to run headlong into things with rose-colored glasses on.

It could also be that not everyone is like you and your wife! My wife was happy to set out full time in a truck camper. In fact she pushed me into it a year earlier than we had planned. The space and comforts were never an issue for either of us. We set out as full timers without any RV experience. In fact we had owned the RV for months while selling our house, but did not use it even once. We did an instant transition to fulltime with no serious issues.

[SidecarFlip]

Super 8 is a helluva deal.