If you want to have a regular style truck camper, I guess i would recommend putting a camper body on your pickup. Then you can put whatever kind of heavy duty tiedown that you want. http://www.douglasstruckbodies.com/ makes a camper body. They are heavier than your truck box. the body is made to fit your camper so you could really tiedown the corners of your camper. Actually I'm sure they could build the box so that you can attach your camper anyway you want. Cost is an issue. I think they start at around 13grand to build. Just a thought.
DonCurley wrote: ..... (and if I may be so bold to say, considerably more than Hallmark will ever entertain).
I would agree that would be a bold statement Given the opportunity I believe Hallmark would also modify their product to the customers specification- within reason and without loss of integrity to the product
Note really such a bold statement when hallmark has in fact told several recent prospective buyers that they WOULDN'T do some of the same mods that Outfitter is known for.
BiGG wrote: A true off road slide-in? Several wannabes have been mentioned but nobody mentioned the Alaskan? Alaskan’s are built to order and I haven’t seen a name here yet that would compare … I would start there.
As I have posted before, we seriously considered an Alaskan during our decision making phase but found that while Alaskans are unarguably the best built pop-up TC, they are VERY spartan for what you get for the high price.
They are relatively heavy, have very limited storage, no gray water holding tank and a bathroom with an indoor shower is a VERY pricey option for them. To that add the fact that the cabover bed is exposed to the elements while the top is being raised/lowered until the side panels are manually raised into place. Anything on those panels WILL find its way into the bed since the panels rest directly on the bedding when lowered.
2007 F350,SC,LB,4x4,6.0/Auto,35" tires,16.5 Warn,Buckstop bumpers
2007 Outfitter Apex9.5,270W solar,SolarBoost2000e,2 H2K's,2KW inverter,2 20lb LP on slide out tray,4 Lifeline AGM bats,Tundra fridge
95 Bounder 28' ClassA sold
91 Jamboree 21' ClassC sold
There are a couple of other possibilities for the OP. One is a 4wd van such as the ones made by Sportsmobile (www. Sportsmobile.com - see the 4by4 section.) or the tiger 4by4 setups which are actually a very small class C on a pickup body. (http://www.tigermotorhomes.com/overview.htm)
JeffPritchard wrote: ...OTOH, whenever the rear of the unit experiences a sudden up/down motion (like a speed bump), the forces that would normally be spread out at least across the whole back edge of the camper (if not across the whole floor), will be applied to the wimpy frame of the camper at the center of the rear edge. I would expect that to twist the camper about that rear connection point, and possibly to bend the frame piece that goes along that back bottom edge. All of those forces are now concentrated at that one point of the frame....
Attaching a 3-point system directly to a standard TC would quickly result in a destroyed TC. Those systems are designed to be used with an appropriately reinforced sub-structure such as a frame or flatbed. When used that way the forces are still spread out and NOT concentrated at one point on the camper. Of course the pivot points do need to be built strong enough to handle the stress.
SoCalDesertRider wrote: The Callen campers are built strong and good for off road use. They use a welded steel square tube frame instead of 2x2 sticks and plywood. I have an old Callen shell that I took all the interior out of and found it to be very well built.
Check them out, they're not far from you, in El Cajon.
It seems like the OP is more interested in a pop-up style versus a hard-sided TC (which I personally think is a potentially wiser choice for more difficult off-road conditions). Unless I missed it on their website, Callen apparently makes only hard-sided campers. Additionally, while I completely agree with you that a welded metal tube frame is a better choice for strength and rigidity over wood, I prefer the use of aluminum tube over steel tube for weight saving considerations.
It was my understanding the original poster wanted a camper that was built for off-roading. It didn't appear to me from what he said that a pop-up type was a 'must'. Excuse me if I read it wrong.
A steel frame can be made just as light as an aluminum frame by using larger diamter thinner wall tube.
The OP owns a Northstar pop-up, and in his third paragraph he talks about a Four-Wheel camper and an All Terrain camper ... both which are also pop-ups. He additionally talks about an Outfitter pop-up in his original post as well as in subsequent posts in the thread. I did not indicate he said that a pop-up was a "must" as you contend. I simply said that it seemed like the OP was more interested in a pop-up versus a hard-sided style TC. Perhaps I am incorrect.
Whatever. I am not interested in arguing about it. If you wanted to 'win', you 'won'. I am done.
Shearwater wrote: There are a couple of other possibilities for the OP. One is a 4wd van such as the ones made by Sportsmobile (www. Sportsmobile.com - see the 4by4 section.) or the tiger 4by4 setups which are actually a very small class C on a pickup body. (http://www.tigermotorhomes.com/overview.htm)
These may be somewhat pricey, however.
I've looked into both quite a bit, and I visited the Sportsmobile factory. The Sportsmobile is really too small for our family (2 adults and a child), and while the Tiger is pricy, it's still a lot less than the Earth Roamer. But I can't help but wonder if the Tiger's frame can handle as much off-road use as a truck with a TC can. Plus there's the height of the Tiger compared to a popup TC. Decisions, decisions.
Been looking for the same thing for years. There just isn't one being made today that will stand up to hard off roading. You pretty much have three options. Buy cheap campers, modify as needed then replace often as you destroy them. Buy expensive campers, modify as needed then replace often as you destroy them. Or build your own. Which can be cheaper then you might think but you'll be doing a lot of the work yourself. Sorry, that's just the way it is. There just isn't enough market for the camper manufactures to build these and make money doing it. There are some compromises you can do to a few campers to make them hold up reasonably well but you will be tearing them up every time you use them. Good luck!
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Given the opportunity I believe Hallmark would also modify their product to the customers specification- within reason and without loss of integrity to the product
