prob because many of us TC'ers bought them to boonie-bash beyond where one can go w/ class C/trailer/5th.
someone posted 2 pages back w/ requesting clarification as to what you want to do w/ the camper (off road wise).
this is a good idea, maybe you can mention some of the trails you have and wish to travel and we can chime in as to whether we have done them and in what rig.
re hardside or softside, you said you only occasionally use 4wd low.
lots of smaller/lighter hardsides can boonie-bash quite well.
although the pop-ups are definitely the call for trail like white rim, utah.
i just got back from Titus canyon in death valley in my NL 8-11 where i was in 4lo quite a bit.
no probs whatsoever but if it got ~30% tougher i would think twice about taking it.
re extra latches on cabinets, i had problems with doors flying open till i put everything in the cabinets into velcroed plastic bins and now the contents never force the door open. sometime the doors fly open, but at least nothing comes out.
re steel or alluminum frame vs. wood, i would consider a 3rd option: composite fibergalss (earthroamer, bigfoot, northern-lite, etc.).
very tough.
i think re boonie-bashing, discussions of the truck are as important as the camper. SWB > LWB. SRW > DRW. leveled, no steps, no excessive overhang. jacks not hanging down too far. i assume you already have this handled.
re mounting, my TL long arms are spring loaded and i have a load/centering sys like Spott (see TC university thread). i leave the fastguns loose and have beefed up the frt rail of my bed, added custom rubber bumpers to the frt of the camper and stainless sliders to the edges where it meets the Spott style centering guides. this allows for lots of movement of the TC separate from the truck. not as much as a 3 point, but works fine at low speeds.
How about something like the Turtle V expedition vehicle. Someone mentioned Earthroamer. The site also has a photo of Turtle V next to an Earthroamer. The site also shows their previous expedition vehicles.
I'm the one who posted that list of questions. Forgot to put the washboard issue on the list. That can really beat up a rig.
I find that size is often a limitation more than the ground clearance or 4x4 issues that folks usually consider. My Tiger CX is just over 9 feet tall (deleted roof A/C and railing) and 87 inches wide, smaller than many TC's and with a bit lower center of gravity. My old 4x4 RV was 81 inches wide and sometimes next to that the Tiger feels like a whale when I try to put it through an overgrown/brushy dirt road area.
Tiger4x4RV wrote: I'm the one who posted that list of questions. Forgot to put the washboard issue on the list. That can really beat up a rig.
I didn't answer your questions because they were really too specific. For the same reasons I'd buy a Toyota 4Runner instead of a Toyota Highlander, I'd rather buy a camper made for the more serious off-road adventures than the occasional dirt road. I'm surprised to hear that manufactures would think it's an esoteric group of people that would want such a camper, but I guess that's the reality of the business.
Am I the only one here who dreams of a camper that goes WAY beyond the hard sided popup idea to a point where the camper looks like just a rectangular piece of cargo sitting in the bed of the truck, no higher than the cab of the truck? You hop out of the truck and hit a button, and pieces raise up and slide out and tilt and slide and scoot and raise...and about 30 seconds later you've got something the size of a Class A land yacht standing before you with acres of space inside?
It just really seems to me that a popup camper and/or a TC with some slide-outs only scratches the surface of what could be done to make a compact and very portable piece of "cargo" transform itself into a really full featured large living space.
Call me a dreamer, but I say this can be done to an extent that anything we've seen so far would be laughable by comparison. Some day when I retire...
JeffPritchard wrote: Am I the only one here who dreams of a camper that goes WAY beyond the hard sided popup idea to a point where the camper looks like just a rectangular piece of cargo sitting in the bed of the truck, no higher than the cab of the truck? You hop out of the truck and hit a button, and pieces raise up and slide out and tilt and slide and scoot and raise...and about 30 seconds later you've got something the size of a Class A land yacht standing before you with acres of space inside?
It just really seems to me that a popup camper and/or a TC with some slide-outs only scratches the surface of what could be done to make a compact and very portable piece of "cargo" transform itself into a really full featured large living space.
Call me a dreamer, but I say this can be done to an extent that anything we've seen so far would be laughable by comparison. Some day when I retire...
jp
Sounds like you're thinking of the XPCamper. But I've been informed it will cost about $60K, not including the truck.
-K
We all dream about it Jeff, that's why these threads go so far! I hope to someday be able to build something as I think that is the only way the result would ever be anywhere close to what I want at a aprice I could afford. The closest thing to what I'd like would be a Unicat, but unless I hit the lotto it'll never happen. So I'll keep dreaming about building a custom box and sitting it on a chassis like the one I have and build a poor-mans Unicat. But first, I'll use my current rig, see how it works out and keep on dreamin' about the next steps.
Sounds like you're thinking of the XPCamper. But I've been informed it will cost about $60K, not including the truck.
-K
Nope, this is fine for what it is, an extension of previous popup camper schemes, with some specific "improvements" requested by off-roaders, like no propane, etc.
I'm talking about something that would look right at home in a "Transformers" movie. When not deployed, it would just look like a 4foot by 4 foot by 8foot painted box sitting in the bed of a truck (with the tailgate in place and keeping the box from falling out of the truck.)
There would be no need for tie downs, as it would fill the whole bed of the truck, and would not stick out in any direction. It's center of gravity would be below the truck rails. We're just talking about a rectangular box sitting proudly in the bed of the truck like cargo.
It would not look (or act) anything like a camper...until after you push the button.
I haven't figured out how to load and unload the cargo yet, but I'm working on it!
WOW! What a tread, I mean thread...just got back from a week long off road trip and here we go again. Every body's right here as far as I can tell. I, however, cannot see a hard side camper as truly 4 wheel. My Outfitter is even a bit high for true 4wheeling. As I found out this last week 4wheeling up the southern side of Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Utah. The junipers ate me up and I'm now going back to the post on buffing out fiberglass LOL! HOWEVER, I believe outside of the extreme money spent on extreme 4 wheel campers, a pop-top camper is a must for true 4 wheeling in all circumstances. And as for the "mods" done by "other" Outfitter owners, well that's their time and effort and money spent to make themselves happy. So far I feel to have put my GMC and Outfitter thru the ringer and come out the other side happy with very little time and effort spent on my part. I'm still working on keeping the generator in the cabinet on serious 4wheel roads but I'm about there, with nothing spent and very few minutes time invested. And some of the things you do to your camper will be fun and make it "yours."
You will be happy with what you buy as everyone wishes to have this or not have that. Perfect is only a word. Now go buy a camper and send us all pictures!! You'll see more of mine in about a week, you've been warned haha.
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