Host Rainier

[F350mule]

Hi all, we're currantly looking at an '06 with 2 slides and I like the added room. Allthough our 2001 Lance 1010 is serving us well it can get cramped at times. Just wanting to know opinions of the Host camper in question.. Thanks all

[F350mule]

Hi again, on further scrutiny of the pics it appears it has some delamination going on on the upper left of the front nose. Of course the salesman denies everything. Looks like it is one to pass on. I keep looking..
Later

[Jon_L]

i run a 2007 chev 2500 duramax with a host rainer. say what you will but w/ big sway bars and 19.5s it handles very well. Open roads and back country gravel. I love the set-up. I will admit A DRW would be better but not rqd.

[Dhende3665]

Which tires are you running on the 19.5 wheels?

[Bedlam]

The Hosts really are too heavy for a SRW, but if you must, a 245/70R19.5 LRH PR16 tire is what you want.

[way2roll]

Not sure if you noticed but this thread is 10 years old and Jon_L hasn't been on here in a year. You might have better luck sending them a PM. 

[thejustin]

I've owned two Host campers. A Tahoe 1050 Double Slide and my current camper which is a Everest triple slide. Absolutely love both of them. The only thing I can mention is they are *HEAVY*. Disregard what the weight sticker says because that is bare bones with zero options and most Host campers come decked to the gills.

I recall selling my Tahoe camper to a fella with an early 2000's model F350 DRW and when we lowered the camper onto his bed I thought the pickup bed was going to keep going to the ground. The rear fender was almost touching his tire. IIRC camper weight was about 4700 lbs. Loaded with these campers, you may want a 450/550 class truck, even a 350 is pushing it unless you have a lighter gas engine to give you adequate payload capacity.

[F350mule]

Thanks jimh425, the camper in your sig dosen't look a whole lot taller than mine, maybe a foot? I hope to go physicaly look this one over in a couple weeks if the dealer still has it. It's a four hour drive for me.

[jimh406]

I've had my '06 Host Double Slide fully loaded with respect to options for 8 1/2 years. I haven't had any significant issues other than the decal in the front eventually sun damaged. I removed it and my DW painted on Host in the same place. I do have a project to replace the vinyl insert in the trim. Not a big deal, but that insert has stopped being flexible, so it needs to be replaced as it is coming out of the track. Obviously, not a problem unique to this camper.

However, every RV is individually made, so be sure to inspect that particular one.

As far as handling mountain roads is concerned, that has been a nonissue for me all over the Cascades and Northwest coasts. Mine has been over all of the mountain passes around here and on quite a few of the gravel/dire backroads through the National Forests.

I've carried it on a F350 SRW on it's maiden 1000 mile trip to Montana and back with the truck stock. Since that time, I carried it with various modifications to the SRW including 19.5s, and now I have a F450.

It could very well be heavier and taller than your Lance, so keep that in mind. However, I don't think there is "any" camper that has as much room setup in the same length. We really enjoy the large amount of floor space and kitchen counter space. Since it has some of the biggest grey/black/water holding tanks out there we've never had an issue with that.

[805gregg]

I recently saw a Host at a campground, boy those are tall, go look at your Lance and then add 1.5 feet to the top, I wonder with the floor taller than the truck bed sides how it will handle mountain or winding roads. Check out a Lance with a slide, plenty of room without the extra high center of gravity