What else does your truck do?

burningman wrote:
I’ve always thought part of the reason to have a truck camper is because you already have a truck anyway.
From reading here I’ve gotten the impression a lot of people buy a truck to do nothing but carry a camper.
Is that really common? Seems like a heck of an expensive way to have an RV!

Everyone has their own reasons. I would tend to agree, from my perspective, with your line of thought. Barring what I would call fringe cases like the extreme 4x4 RV, personally I would think if you only used the truck for the camper, one could do better with a class C both for cost and layout. I've never owned a truck camper and likely never will. But everyone sees things from a different perspective. I'm not sure, again barring special circumstances, how common it is to buy a truck just to mount a truck camper.

burningman wrote:
Question Two is about the ol’ hot topic, payload rating numbers.... it’s just a fundamental one; why is it that only camper hauling people are so concerned about payload sticker ratings, when it seems no one else is?

I think the operative word here is seems. It's an essential characteristic of towing and much of the forums is devoted to towing. If you finnd a forum unrelated to RVs focused on towing, you will likely see lots of discussion regarding payloads and tow ratings. If you go to rent a trailer from U-Haul, they will definitely ask you what vehicle you are towing with and will refuse to rent to you if your vehicle isn't "up to the task".

As to why it seems others aren't concerned in every day life, if you've spent much time on the forums, as it appears from the question you have, you're no doubt aware that many of the posters here don't really consider ratings to mean much. Many get away with driving grossly overloaded vehicles every day. Some don't. I won't tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do with respect to weight ratings. I will say it's a bad day when you don't get away with it. Not "getting away" with it can mean anything from getting a ticket to causing a fatal accident. I'm not at all suggesting that 1, 100, or even 1000 pounds over weight will necessarily lead to loss of control or any other specific consequences. I will say that there is a point of overload that will lead to those consequences and I don't have the data or skill set to determine what that point of overload is.

burningman wrote:
What else does your truck do?

Getting back to the central question of your topic. I've owned several pickups. Only the most recent was bought with any thought of towing. All but my first pickup, including my current one, have been my daily drivers. To me, that's one of the advantages of trailer vs motor home. The investment in the pickup is something I use every day. Will the pickup have a shorter life than a motor home? Probably, but again I use it every day. Our motor home sat in the driveway around 9-10 months out of the year, unfortunately. My truck definitely doesn't. As for what do I use it for that I couldn't use a car or SUV for, that's a different question. I do my own handy work / repairs / projects. I use the truck with some regularity to haul wood/supplies, but 90% of the time I could get by with a car or SUV. After my last truck, I owned an SUV for several years and I missed my truck.