The Lightest & Least Expensive Production Truck Camper

[Travels_with_Yo]

Picked up our new truck camper this week and getting ready to customize much of the interior. At 1220 lbs on the Cat scale and a base model price of about $7500 it opens lots of door in a specialized niche market.

The Lightest and Least Expensive Production Truck Camper on the Planet !

[K_Mac]

Any concerns about cab clearance ? Nice Camper, I can see myself going this route down the road. Congrats and Enjoy.

[3_tons]

A ‘not too many frills’ approach, but very well concieved, well executed and includes most of the basic necessaries and essentials...Personalizing to one’s remaining needs (e.g. a buddy heater, or extra water tank) should complete the bill for a happy get away camper!!...I’m certain a solid market niche exist for this offering...

3 tons

[jimh406]

Do you have a text version of why it is the lightest and least expensive and what you are comparing it to?

[Travels_with_Yo]

joerg68 wrote:
Happened to me before. I was not happy. I understand the sentiment 😉

I did watch the video later on today and also spent some time on the manufacturer's site. they have an interesting product. Some of their solutions look very homemade. But as Silversand said, they appear to be open for customization, and I can see how the basic shell could appeal to many people.

Thanks for sharing, and please enjoy your new camper regardless of internet comments!

This is our 8th camper and 4th truck camper. We've traveled 10,000 miles a year for the last 8 years so we have experience with a variety of equipment and have had deluxe rigs and minimal rigs. Pros and cons to both, but I like the reliability and ease that comes with simplicity. We are in a downsizing phase of our travel and this little rig will do everything we need it to do and still be comfortable. When I get all the upgrades and modifications done I'll make another video and post a link here. FYI ... I did not make this video as a promotional video for the manufacturer but rather simply to chronicle the experience on our YouTube travel channel. Thank you for your reply.

[joerg68]

Happened to me before. I was not happy. I understand the sentiment 😉

I did watch the video later on today and also spent some time on the manufacturer's site. they have an interesting product. Some of their solutions look very homemade. But as Silversand said, they appear to be open for customization, and I can see how the basic shell could appeal to many people.

Thanks for sharing, and please enjoy your new camper regardless of internet comments!

[Travels_with_Yo]

I just spent about 45 minutes replying to each comment above and then after posting received an error message and all was lost !

Thanks for watching the video and providing feed-back. I'm not able to regurgitate all that over again !

[silversand]

....I like it. A lot. I think that there will be a good market for this truck camper.

Customization seems to be very welcome at the factory.

If they have block foam insulation between the welded aluminum frame that would be a real plus. If the camper tub is made from Azdel sheets over aluminum framing with block foam between the aluminum, that would be exceptional.

I looked carefully at all the manufacturing steps (illustrated in the video), and I would guestimate that the exterior lamilux FRP, the aluminum framing pieces, rubber roof, interior cladding, RV windows, roof vents, RV door, wiring, electrical components (not many, but there are a few items) and converter, the 4 corner jacks and finally, the interior cabinetry would cost appx $5000 ~ $5600. One would have to be one heck of an accomplished welder of aluminum to even attempt a do-it-yourself build like this (how many people know how to weld aluminum professionally and practiced? What, one in 20,000? One in 5000?).

To me, it would be worth my while to just buy this item brand new from the factory for $2000 and pretend I built it, rather than spending 200+ hours and $5000 in one-off full cost ordered parts from Elixir Industries, building it in my garage; but YMMV 🙂

....on edit: I like the Danby wall-mount aircon; nice touch! I know the family that founded that appliance company. Good value for the dollar, and not a fortune to replace if needed.

[monkey44]

Not much more than a hard-side tent - once you get it operational for any kind of self-contained camping, it probably cost just as much as some other brands.

However, if you are handy, and can put the basics in yourself, it gives you a custom truck camper set up exactly the way you want it. AND, you know it's done right, no short-cuts.

I do agree tho, if you are that handy, you can probably build it for much less than $7500 ...

Good luck with it, and happy camping !!! M44 and Genie

[ppine]

I would rather have a used version of the best built camper on the market.

[valhalla360]

Looks like a production version of a very simple home built pickup camper.

At that level of simplicity, I would seriously think about just building it myself and probably cut the cost by 75%.

[joerg68]

First, congrats for the new camper! I wish you all the best with it, and many years of successful use and wonderful travel! Thanks for sharing - I did not know about EUREKA campers before.

Having said that...

This is the homepage of the manufacturer:
https://www.eurekacamper.com/camper-models/slideinn-truck-camper/

It *is* a very bare-bones camper. They sell the Porta-Potti as a "self contained flushing toilet", and ain't that the truth... No LPG system, no furnace, no water heater. Looking at the pictures, I see they cut so many corners, the thing should be as round as a UFO. And still I wonder how they can offer a product at that price.

The use of a power strip for the "electrical system" in some of the pictures strikes me as creative.

A small side note on the format of the presentation: I appreciate all the work that went into making the video presentation. I really do. And it is well done. But I think it makes it very time consuming and difficult to effectively get to know the camper. What was wrong with posting a few pictures, some text, and some link to the manufacturer's site? I see this trend in the web recently, and maybe I am just old, but I'd rather take in information at my own speed rather than be spoon fed.

[jefe_4x4]

Interesting bare bones camper. Is there a battery or a bathroom, black tank or cassette toilet? Dual pane windows? Insulation? At 1200 pounds this would work on almost any truck.
Good luck.
jefe

[burningman]

5 gallon fresh water? Ok...