New Member Introduction - First Time TC Buyer

[NGaMountains]

Hello, everyone. I am a soon to be first time truck camper buyer. We live in North Georgia, which unfortunately for visiting dealers, events and clubs to learn about truck camping and our purchasing options, seems to be about as far from the hub of the truck camper universe as one can get.

After visiting Alaska 5 times so far, my wife really wants to make the trip all the way to Prudhoe Bay and take the whole summer doing it up and back along the ALCAN highway, so that's the primary driver of our interest. That said, we'll likely do a lot more truck camping once we're up and running.

I currently have a 2012 Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel engine, but it has two issues that limit it for our TC use. One, it has the G56 manual transmission, which my wife can't drive as she suffered a stroke and no longer has much use of her right arm. Secondly, it has just over 2300# of payload per the door sticker, and that just seems too marginal for any kind of reasonable camper and gear for what we're talking about doing.

That being the case, we just special ordered a 2017 Ford F-350 configured for truck camping. The truck will be 4WD, DRW with the 6.2L V8 gas engine. The cab configuration we chose is the "Supercab", which has the smaller back seat with rear-opening doors, as we have some limited rear seat need, especially until our 14 year old daughter leaves for college, but long-term this will be primarily a two-person rig along with our 50 pound dog. We chose this configuration for payload reasons, and won't know until it comes in, but as this configuration has a maximum of 6780 pounds of payload, I'm hoping for around 6500 on the door sticker as the truck will be a fairly basic "XL" model that avoids all the towing-related items that are typically on in-stock units and can get heavy, like fifth-wheel prep, etc.

We ordered this truck, after also considering the Ram 3500 6.4L Hemi, to hopefully have the capability to go in just about any direction we might decide to go truck camper-wise, from weight-carrying and stability standpoints. The search for a camper won't start in earnest until after we take delivery of the truck, but in one dealer visit on an earlier out of town trip my wife REALLY liked the Cirrus 820, so we're hoping to learn something soon about what Cirrus might do for an 8 foot bed, which supposedly they're working on something. We also looked at a Livin' Lite Camp Lite 9.2, which we were not as impressed with. Given our likely usage to stay in out of the way places vs. camping for extended periods with hookups, we're thinking we'd prefer a hard-side camper, although something with a slide would not be out of the question.

Anyhow, that's enough for now, but if anyone has thoughts for us as first-timers, or might be in the north Georgia area with their TC and would be willing to connect and share thoughts, we'd much appreciate the input!

Randy
Cumming, GA

[Grit_dog]

Welcome aboard and good luck in your search and travels!

[sbryan]

NGaMountains wrote:
Thanks for the comparison pics, Bedlam and sbryan. This is a great group here!

sbryan, excuse my ignorance, but in a configuration like yours where you're basically standing on the truck bed when standing on the camper floor, where does that put the holding tanks, which I assume are in the "basement" on a configuration like Bedlam's above? Is there any usage of the space fore/aft of the wheelhouses below the bedrails, or are the tanks above the wheelhouses or even the bed rails on the sides, which I suppose then raises the camper CG?

There is storage in the wheel wells we can access through doors on the inside of the camper. We don't have (and having had both black water and cassette toilets) and don't want a black water tank. The cassette toilet allows us to dump almost anywhere. The cassette has less storage than a black water tank but it has yet to be an issue - any portapotty, gas station, McDonald's or other public accommodation can take our cassette.

Fresh water is under the step up to the bed. Gray water is under the rear bumper on the camper. The CG and weight distribution on the Igloo is about as ideal as you can get for a rig with this much room. Of course I am biased so take my enthusiasm for what it is worth.:W

[thedavidzoo]

In the Northstar configuration, the freshwater tank is on the truck bed level beneath the step up to the cabover (underneath the passsthrough window). So CG/weight is as forward and low as you an go. This means you can also see your tank and the water level at all times if you just open a cabinet. We have the longer overhang in the back. Gray tank mostly "hangs" out under there beneath floor level. We have the cassette toilet, so no black tank.

There is a little access door on each side at floor level that allows you to get into the truck bed wheel well area for storage. There is quite a bit of space forward of the wheel that we use. Although nothing could fall out the back on ours, we haven't put anything behind the wheel. Great for "dirty" stuff, shoes, laundry, extra bottles of stuff. Our wheel area has stayed completely dry so far in rains.

[work2much]

Looks to me like you have done your homework. Plenty of truck you have for almost any TC. The ones you mention are well within specs for the F350.

We travel with myself, wife and 2 50 pound dogs. We had a non slide camper (bigfoot 10.6) and it was a bit small for extended trips. Otherwise a fantastic camper.

If I were in the market for a new TC I would be looking at Lance, Arctic Fox and Host. And at this point I don't think I could go back to the small interior of a non slide camper unless it was just myself.

As I type this we are heading into Canada in 2 days and on to Alaska for the summer. I think a TC is the ultimate RV for the trip!

[NGaMountains]

Thanks for the comparison pics, Bedlam and sbryan. This is a great group here!

Bedlam, I see your point about the floor width and slides on both sides. At the same time, you end up with a lot of storage under the floor, but having the entire living space above the bed rails seems to really raise the CG of the camper and truck/camper unit, so I suppose you'd need to be pretty stout on the suspension side of things to tolerate such a setup. With close to 6500 pounds payload on the gas F-350 I'd like to think we will be, so something with a slide may be in our wheelhouse, although not knowing more than I know I do worry about the slides from mechanism and leakage standpoints, and someone earlier mentioned more difficulty heating.

sbryan, excuse my ignorance, but in a configuration like yours where you're basically standing on the truck bed when standing on the camper floor, where does that put the holding tanks, which I assume are in the "basement" on a configuration like Bedlam's above? Is there any usage of the space fore/aft of the wheelhouses below the bedrails, or are the tanks above the wheelhouses or even the bed rails on the sides, which I suppose then raises the camper CG?

Regarding storage, I like to think maybe we will be able to get away with a little on the lesser side in the camper, having the Super Cab configuration and most of the time a largely empty (and folded up) rear seat.

On another note, do you guys recommend considering any used campers, or with the number of ways that things can go wrong, especially it seems with lack of maintenance and water leakage, that used campers just be avoided entirely? I'm sure there's no "right" answer on this one, but would be curious what you think, what you would advise to look out for/check very thoroughly, and/or what your past experiences might have been.

Lastly I'm very jealous seeing you guys talking about heading to Alaska! Enjoy the trips!!!

[sbryan]

thedavidzoo wrote:
Our non-slide, no basement, side entrance Northstar STC has an obscene amount if inside cabinet storage, smallish outside storage though.

As does our Igloo on the inside. Probably too much - it encourages you to bring the kitchen sink.:D

When do you head to AK? We depart May 22 - only 2 weeks to go.

[thedavidzoo]

Our non-slide, no basement, side entrance Northstar STC has an obscene amount if inside cabinet storage, smallish outside storage though.

[MORSNOW]

I've noticed that the big difference with most dinette single slide units is that you lose a ton of overhead storage cabinet space versus a non slide model. I feel you can never have enough storage.

[sbryan]

And since I have a no basement model Northstar Igloo 9.5, here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few shots of what that looks like:


The aisle is fairly narrow with the toilet/wet bath on the right and storage and the fridge on the left. The Lagun table is one option that makes the small space a lot more comfortable because it can be configured in almost any direction and height without any pedestals in the way. The bed is a full size queen Frohli, more comfortable than our king memory foam at home.

Hope this helps.

[Bedlam]

I never have a truck camper without basement, so I don't have pictures of that setup. You would have a 4' wide floor and at least two steps to get into the cab over.

Here you can see the climb into bed if the floor sits on top of the wheel wells. The step is where the fresh water tank is located in most campers. This was my Arctic Fox that had a right side slide for the fridge and dinette.



Here you can see the lower climb into bed if the floor sits above the truck bed rails like in my Host or a an Eagle Cap. You will also see the that the slide out sections are almost flush with the floor verses having to step up into slide out seating.





You can also see how much more width you get with an above rail floor and a slide on both sides. Even though I have a shower and pantry behind that 3' wide center TV wall, there is a 2.5' wide aisle to either side of the bed.

[NGaMountains]

Thanks for the basement input, Bedlam. As a newbie to TCs, this distinction was something I was not yet significantly aware of, though I am certainly aware of both the need to have adequate space inside to stand up (but I'm only 6', so that shouldn't be too big an issue), while also minimizing overall height and CG for stability purposes. The climb into bed is important with my wife having her mobility somewhat limited after her stroke.

Certainly the buying public has voted the Crew Cab the most popular Super Duty configuration, judging by what sells and is for sale on lots; I think there are probably 50 Crew Cab ads for every 1 Super Cab. That said, the Super Cab seemed like a good compromise for us with our 14 year old along for a few years, and with the Crew Cab being 2" too long to fit in our garage. The Super Cab is 12" shorter in OAL and WB vs. the Crew Cab, which should help maneuverability somewhat.

So far as towing, no plans yet, but I can certainly see the wisdom in having another vehicle along for use once in an area you want to explore. Maybe this will be my chance to get the Miata back, which I sold in 2014 when we moved from IL to GA. Part of the reason I sold that was that it wouldn't seat three, but once our daughter is off to college that excuse is gone!

[Bedlam]

Prior to my triple-slide Mammoth with a 8x11.5 floor, I had an Arctic Fox short bed camper with a single full wall slide - This also helped give that 6x9 floor some more room. Obviously, it was not enough for my camping style but did make it livable for 50,000 miles of travel.

Weight and size limited what camper I could choose on which truck. Your style of camping and location will also determine what rig works best for you. I camp regardless of weather which might mean snuggling up in the camper at night to watch a movie instead of sitting out at a campfire.

A hard side with 2' of overhang and not more than one slide would be a good compromise of size and agility for long trips. Look for one with a basement that only goes up to the wheel wells instead of the bed rails like my Mammoth to reduce your height yet still have some storage. Most modern day campers are 4' from the camper bottom to cab over bottom - This height is to clear Ford's tall cab. How tall the manufacturer wants to make the cab over and amount of headroom from the floor is the real differentiation between models. Where the interior camper floor sits will determine how much of a climb you have into bed and much can be tucked under the floor instead of into the sides. Think about what you want to take with you and where will it fit. If you have to add exterior storage to haul your gear, are you better off with a larger camper model that has more built in storage? Do you want amenities like a generator or awning part of your camper or will you pack these individual items? The Super Cab Ford is my favorite cab configuration and I only own a crew cab because Ram did not offer one. It is a little tight for extended trips with an adult in the rear, but I found the suicide doors allow you to stow gear in the back of Ford's flat load floor easier than than a crew.

If you plan on towing something behind your truck/camper combination, your mobility will be reduced, but the your flexibility will be increased. Disregard my advise on a 2' rear overhang and get a camper with a side door instead. The additional overhang will matter less since you are already towing and camper access will be easier than climbing over a trailer tongue. I have toys that allow me to explore off-road areas or towns rather than drive the camper there. My setup is much more of mobile home base than single mode of transportation.

[sbryan]

Bedlam wrote:
Slides add considerable amount of room to a truck camper. Our current triple slide requires locator badges on visitors so we do not lose them inside.

No question you have a mammoth!:B

Having been in a couple when we were on the hunt for a TC I'm not sure I'd get lost but they are roomy. If you can afford the weight and the cost Host makes a nice rig, just not my cup of tea. Variety is what makes the world go 'round.

[NGaMountains]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

As was noted, there really isn't a "perfect" solution, otherwise everyone would have the same truck and camper. As was also noted, we intend that the direction in which we go will be a solution for an extended period, so we are going to do our best in researching the TC solution, as we have been doing for the last few months on the truck. Unlike the truck, however, researching TCs first-hand from Metro Atlanta seems to be quite the challenge, so we'll have to make sure to roll some dealer and possibly manufacturer visits into other trips we're taking.

Bedlam, I read through the 32 pages on the Mammoth and I agree it would be possible to get lost in there. It's amazing seeing your photos that all that happens on the back of a truck. Like I said, time will tell and we're hoping for ~6500 pounds of payload once the F-350 gets delivered, but even at that a Mammoth may be a little more than our truck will be ready for. But for us likely wanting to spend quite a bit of time in out of the way places like rural Canada and Alaska, a camper oriented more toward maximum ability to be off the grid is probably our priority vs. ultimate luxury.

Thanks again everyone and happy camping.