What would You Order?

[70GTO]

In the next year or so, my wife & I are planning to order a new truck camper. Since I live in Illinois, I will probably be ordering it, then making the trek west to pick it up "probably to the dealer that I can get the best deal from". It has been tough to decide, but I think the Eagle Cap 995 has won over an Arctic Fox "I do have a 2013 crew cab dually".

The questions that seem to give me grief are,
1- Do I go microwave delete to gain the extra cabinet space?
2- Do I go generator delete for the same reason? One can always get a small Honda generator that will do the same. Looks like for some of my longer excursions I may have to pull a very small enclosed trailer behind to have room for other things like a fold up dining fly, lawn chairs, fishing poles & coolers to name a few & finding a home for a portable generator in there wont be a problem.

What do you folk's think? I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Thanks, Bruce

[lonegunman]

Looking at my Onan, it is four bolts and it slides out, it should not take a genius to remove the thing. All of the service work can be done from the front of the thing.

I ended up with an Arctic Fox 865 with genset, a/c and a tad more of everything for much less than a poorly optioned Adventurer. The AF was deeply discounted off sticker.

I've noticed any conversation on campers ends up with people harping about how brilliant they are for buying a Honda generator and building a rack to haul it around on in lieu of a built in unit. You got a Honda, good for you. The actual question is, "What would you order?"

An oven can be handy, but I see it being hardly used for most trips. If deleting it saves you money and you never want to make cookies, pizza or biscuits then skip the oven.

A microwave makes a great bread and cereal cabinet and if you have one it makes an awesome microwave when you need it. I would not refuse one or refuse to buy a camper because it had one.

I think Eagle Cap is as nice as Arctic Fox, the only real difference might be hand flush vs. foot flush toilet and head room over the bed. With the rounded nose, AF has about 4 more inches of headroom which is great for tall guys.

Before I ordered one especially for me, I'd shop every dealer in the region for an in stock model with everything I wanted for less money. Unless you want to be that guy that pays retail and is **** glad to do it.

[wvabeer]

The honda 3000 is heavy. The two 2000 are a good way to go. Why not get a 9000 btu ac and try to run on one 2000 generator. Get the convection microwave. You can make anything in those and store stuff in them when not in use. Remote start is a good idea.

[Bedlam]

Get a remote start 3000 from Honda and you pay almost the same as an Onan but it still will not be built in. Unless you specify your TC with low power draw AC, you will be buying two companion 2000's plus the additional interconnection cord. There are options for everyone...

I really liked my Marquis 5500 which could power 220VAC welders and compressors. I think if I still had that capability, my enclosed trailer would look more like a shop than a garage. Only about half the mileage and third of the trips do we take the trailer along, so going with something that is still contained within the TC is better for us than a trailered powerplant.

[campn4walleye]

billtex wrote:

campn4walleye wrote:
We haven't missed a generator except once when we were low on battery and had a tough time running the jacks. DH ended up switching out the batteries with the boat.

I have to ask; why didn't you just start the truck? Surely that would have provided the 12v needed to run the jacks?

the site was tight and we couldn't maneuver the truck close enough because of trees. The site was really tight.

[Vinsil]

When I bought my camper they wanted $2500 for the built in onan. Had great luck with my onan in my toyhauler, but I can buy almost 3 Hondas for the price of the built in! I'll go outside for the savings.

[Bedlam]

I found the local Cummins shop also has all my Onan parts. My Marquis 5500 had annual oil, fuel and air filter changes and still ran on the same plug its entire life (I did clean it annually and checked gap). My little LPG model does not have an oil or fuel filter and burns cleaner than my gasser did, but I still do the same. At some point, I would expect these engines need a valve adjustment but never got to that point.

Major repair would require dropping the generator out of the compartment, but regular maintenance is easy.

[Reddog1]

I really have no idea if they are troublesome or not, but I have bought Onan parts in the past, and they are very pricey. Onan repair shops are not on every corner either. From what I read, I am led to believe most repairs require dropping the Onan out of the compartment. I am not very confident the average person can do the general maintenance on the Onan, and would have to take it to a dealer for service. There is no question the Onan has its conveniences, plug and play for sure.

[Bedlam]

I'm not sure why people feel the Onan is so troublesome. I am on my second RV with a built in Onan and have not had issues with either one. We frequently use our generator and it does not sit for more than a couple weeks before it is fired up and used. Although I do feel they should be quieter, I will not give up the convenience of having a single TC fuel source and the push button start/stop of my built-in without having to string cables or step outside (we do many more rainy day trips than sunshine in my area).

[Reddog1]

70GTO wrote:
In the next year or so, my wife & I are planning to order a new truck camper. Since I live in Illinois, I will probably be ordering it, then making the trek west to pick it up "probably to the dealer that I can get the best deal from". It has been tough to decide, but I think the Eagle Cap 995 has won over an Arctic Fox "I do have a 2013 crew cab dually".

The questions that seem to give me grief are,
1- Do I go microwave delete to gain the extra cabinet space?
2- Do I go generator delete for the same reason? One can always get a small Honda generator that will do the same. Looks like for some of my longer excursions I may have to pull a very small enclosed trailer behind to have room for other things like a fold up dining fly, lawn chairs, fishing poles & coolers to name a few & finding a home for a portable generator in there wont be a problem.

What do you folk's think? I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Thanks, Bruce

As I am sure you have read by now, it is all about how much you are willing to spend, what you want to take camping, and where you camp. I think no mater what you get, you will wish you had got something and not have got something else.

You have experience camping with your TT and tent. Probably the extremes with taking "stuff" and not taking lots of "stuff".

Keep in mind, with the initial purchase of the built in generator you are not through. If you are lucky you will not have repairs. A Honda will be much easier. cheaper and convenient to repair than a built in generator. You can drop the Honda off at the shop. Do you want to do that with a built in? I will point out, if you decide on a Honda, make sure the specks on the TC A/C will allow it to be ran with the Honda. Very important with a Honda 2000.

The Microwave is no big deal. You will always have something stored in it, use it or not.

[lonegunman]

I did about a year of looking before I pulled the trigger last summer. A microwave and an oven are both storage. We like them both and have them, they are also perfect for holding bread, rolls, canned coffee and boxed foods when not in use or planned use for any length of time.

We went with an onboard Onan gen set because we did not want to haul cans of gas into the forest. I have a diesel truck and Arctic Fox has 2x30lb propane tanks. We do not plan on sitting in the camper watching TV, so a constantly running genie is not in the plans. When we need it, you simply hold down the start switch and off it goes. No problems so far. We have spent several days in the woods with onboard propane and water with no problems.

I side awning and solar panel are the only two real additions I want. The rear awning is great for keeping the steps dry and only mildly useful for shade. Any camper mounted awning is going to be 11 feet in the air when on the truck. They are only moderately useful for rainy days. That being said, they are pre-installed and require no packing, a big plus to me.

[tmartin000]

add micro
remove oven
buy the factory genset

Genset is giving you the option to have fun without the bs of carrying a small gasoline unit that someone gets to get out of their camper to start and setup. Forget that ****! Camping is for fun, not more **** to do. RESALE!

[billtex]

campn4walleye wrote:
We haven't missed a generator except once when we were low on battery and had a tough time running the jacks. DH ended up switching out the batteries with the boat.

I have to ask; why didn't you just start the truck? Surely that would have provided the 12v needed to run the jacks?

[Vinsil]

Doing solar in ours...will still buy a small inverter genset.

[campn4walleye]

We use the microwave every now and then if we have AC and it makes a great place to store the bread and toaster.

We negated the genny and use that real estate for the grill. We haven't missed a generator except once when we were low on battery and had a tough time running the jacks. DH ended up switching out the batteries with the boat.