Selecting a truck camper-help please

[pirlbeck]

My wife and I are long time campers and have owned a number of travel trailers and 5th wheels, so we are not new to the camping experience, but have never been around any truck campers. Most all of our outings are within 125 miles from home, so we don't have a lot of experience with longer distance travel with any type of RV. As we get older ( I just turned 62) we would like to do some longer trips, one of which is driving to Alaska. I have been looking for a truck camper to use with our 2006 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab Diesel short box (6.5ft) but am starting to wonder if it is going to be possible to find a truck camper equipped like we would want it without way exceeding the GVWR of our truck. The GVWR of the truck is 9000lb and I drove it across the local scale to today and with only me in it and full of fuel it weights 7600. It did have the BW companion hitch in it and a few other things that would come out, but I was very surprised at how much it weighed. I bought this truck new and it has less then 50,000 miles and I really don't want to replace it with a heavier truck. I am not opposed to beefing the suspension up with air bags, sway bar, better shocks and tires, but I wonder if that will be enough.

We would like this truck camper to have a kitchen with range and fridge, AC, toilet, shower and possibly a generator.

We really don't want a pop-up style truck camper either..........we wonder about the safety on them in bear country when you are cooking and storing food inside, but maybe this is not a valid concern.

Anyway, are there any truck campers out there that would have the features we want and not grossly exceed our weight limits. We would like to stay in the $10,000 range if possible, so we are talking used.

Make and model recommendations would be a big help.

Thanks!!

[bcbouy]

take a look on page 63 of the truck camper pic sticky.my ram 2500 and northstar with the boat near the bottom.i look like that every weekend and have put on 60k since july of '14 and it's only mod was supersprings.we've almost made it as far as alaska during our wanderings like that.full disclosure,i put 3500 levelling springs on the front to bring the nose up 4 inches to level when the camper is off this last spring and then needed to add airbags to the rear to level out the truck when the camper is on as it was really nose high.as for bears? mossberg 5oo.

[Steve_in_29]

Bleugoat wrote:
Your post brings back memories. I went through almost the same thought process as you when I retired and planned a trip to Alaska in 2005. I too had a lot of experience with travel trailer camping but decided a truck camper would be best for the Alaska trip. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I bought the Outfitter popup in my signature, made the trip, and enjoyed the freedom of truck camping so much that I never went back to travel trailer camping.

I have enjoyed my Outfitter, but if I had it to do over again, I would get a hard side camper. It is a bit of inconvenience to put up the top, especially after you get to be an old fart like me.

By all means, take the trip. Alaska is the trip of a lifetime.

Good Luck.

Perhaps you could talk to Bob about the cost to retrofit your camper with the electric lift top. I have had both the manual (in our 2004) and the electric (in our 2007) and with the power lift it is a one finger job to raise the top. Even with a roof full of solar panels and items in the rooftop storage box.

With the power lift there is also no real need to climb up and use the clamps as the mechanism holds the roof down.

[Grit_dog]

You mentioned not going over the gvw, which won't happen with pretty much any TC due to the class2 weight limits imposed on your truck classification.
You however have a very stout and capable truck that, as mentioned above, is the same truck as a 3500 srw with slightly lighter spring rate and same as a 3500drw minus the extra tires and springs.
Plenty of us hauling around 3000-4000lb+ TCs on short bed 3rd gen Dodge 2500s. Safely I might add. Yes you'll need to beef up the rear suspension, no question, and for heavy campers or additional safety factor in the tire and wheel dept, upgrade to 19.5s.
I'm not condoning it to anyone else, but I've got about 20kmi hauling that heavy camper in my sig or one just like it on 2 different types of OE Dodge wheels. The original 17" alloys with 3950lb toyos took us to AK and all over the state with the camper. Now have 20" takeoff wheels from a 4th gen ram and the OE Firestone tires, and just punched out about 6000mi this summer.
Your wish list is not too far off Imo.
Minus a built in generator, I picked up the camper in my sig, good condition, for $10k last year. Gave $12500 for an 05 Arctic Fox in good shape a few years ago also.
Gotta search and look in the areas where TCs are more popular imo, to find a deal and not wait years for one to pop up.
Good luck in your search.

[Vinsil]

My gvwr is 9000 lbs. My truck is 8200 with a full tank and just me in it.

It's a joke.

[sonuvabug]

pirlbeck wrote:
... snipped ... I have been looking for a truck camper to use with our 2006 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab Diesel short box (6.5ft) but am starting to wonder if it is going to be possible to find a truck camper equipped like we would want it without way exceeding the GVWR of our truck.

The GVWR of the truck is 9000lb and I drove it across the local scale to today and with only me in it and full of fuel it weights 7600.

We would like this truck camper to have a kitchen with range and fridge, AC, toilet, shower and possibly a generator.

Anyway, are there any truck campers out there that would have the features we want and not grossly exceed our weight limits. We would like to stay in the $10,000 range if possible, so we are talking used. Make and model recommendations would be a big help.
Thanks!!

Your budget may be doable if you are patient enough. However, with only 1400 lbs. to work with (plus a little more so you're not "grossly overweight"), my opinion is you are out of luck.

[Yukoners]

Most campers with a slide are going to be pretty heavy for your requirements...here is one example of a non slide that might work:Northern Lite
There are used Northern Lites out there but not many in your price range.
Rule of thumb is to add at least 1000 lbs or more to factory weights as shown there.
Our most expensive upgrade were the 19.5 rims and tires, and it was our best move.
Best of luck with your research.

[pirlbeck]

Bleugoat wrote:
Your post brings back memories. I went through almost the same thought process as you when I retired and planned a trip to Alaska in 2005. I too had a lot of experience with travel trailer camping but decided a truck camper would be best for the Alaska trip. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I bought the Outfitter popup in my signature, made the trip, and enjoyed the freedom of truck camping so much that I never went back to travel trailer camping.

I have enjoyed my Outfitter, but if I had it to do over again, I would get a hard side camper. It is a bit of inconvenience to put up the top, especially after you get to be an old fart like me.

By all means, take the trip. Alaska is the trip of a lifetime.

Good Luck.

About ten years ago we did the inside passage, north bound cruise with a group of friends and while we had a great time, I always felt like we never saw the "real" Alaska.

I can see us keeping the pickup camper (along with the 5th wheel) just for longer trips with just my wife and maybe one grand-kid at a time, at least once they get a little older.

Thanks for ever ones help.

[woodhog]

Don't forget the weight of your "stuff" probably have to shave 500 to 1000 pounds off your payload figure for that.

Not much left for the camper after that...

We have the 1 ton version of your truck, always amazed me how little weight it could really carry.

2x on the previous post for the sway bar, and then turn it into a one ton with top overload springs ( they are the only difference between a one ton and a 3/4 during those years)

Best mods we did were sway bar, 19.5 wheels/tires and stable loads...

However we are on a lot of off roads, I think the extra weight of the
19.5 wheels and tires will increase the wear on the weak front end components of this series Dodge.. ( this will also allow you to get into tires with a straight sidewall, to help prevent rock damage)

At times there is some really harsh banging and crashing going on under there...

Good Luck

[Bleugoat]

Your post brings back memories. I went through almost the same thought process as you when I retired and planned a trip to Alaska in 2005. I too had a lot of experience with travel trailer camping but decided a truck camper would be best for the Alaska trip. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.

I bought the Outfitter popup in my signature, made the trip, and enjoyed the freedom of truck camping so much that I never went back to travel trailer camping.

I have enjoyed my Outfitter, but if I had it to do over again, I would get a hard side camper. It is a bit of inconvenience to put up the top, especially after you get to be an old fart like me.

By all means, take the trip. Alaska is the trip of a lifetime.

Good Luck.

[noteven]

http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-chooser/

A tool for scouting models and floor plans before looking at the used market...

[Rbertalotto]

I have the exact same truck. Had a Bronco 1200 pop up truck camper. Needed air bags, Helwig Big Wig say bar, Rancho shocks, E rated tires.... And fully loaded I was nearly 1500 pounds over weight. No AC, no shower.... Only 20 g fresh water....Bare bones camping.

Sold it anc bought a 20' travel trailer. Couldn't be more happy! Everytime I leave the camp ground I don't need to take the camp.

Thousands of folks haul TT to Alaska. No big deal nowadays.

[Steve_in_29]

pirlbeck wrote:
Hey, cut me some slack, we don't have bears here in Iowa. So now that I know we don't have to worry about bears in Alaska, maybe I can talk my wife into just pitching a tent. 🙂

I do have a copy of the "milepost" and I am very aware of the distance to AK, I figure it will be around 10,000 miles or more round trip. I know I am just a hick from Iowa and all, but we have traveled a fair amount, just never was wild about pulling a camper very far, so we either drove a car or took a flight.

Thanks for the helpful replies!

I never said, "you didn't need to worry about bears". Just that if they really want to get at the creamy filling inside it isn't going to matter what kind of TC you are in. They have been known to rip car doors right off the vehicle. They also break into houses, which are built a lot stronger then any RV.

[jmtandem]

"Hey, cut me some slack, we don't have bears here in Iowa. So now that I know we don't have to worry about bears in Alaska, maybe I can talk my wife into just pitching a tent."


Nobody here is saying you don't have to worry about bears in Alaska. What is being said is that if a bear wants to visit you it will not matter whether you are in a pop up cabover camper or a hard side. There is no difference to a bear. It simply won't matter.

[TxGearhead]

Maybe look around in here: capricampers.com