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PancakeBill

PancakeBill

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2005
Posts
6,769
Location
Benson , AZ.
Jo and I have been around the forum back to Compuserve, so not new, but our new news is we are coming almost full circle, don't really want to complete it. We started out in 72 with a tent trailer we crossed country with when we got married and out of Air Force, Later when kids came we bought a travel trailer, detoured to camping on the water for a bunch of years but still did some tenting, then into truck campers for a decade or more. That brought us to fulltiming in 3 different motorhomes, and the last one, a Beautiful Country Coach formerly owned by the Brewers. Fulltiming has come to an end, and couldn't bear to see the Queen just stored and waiting for a trip or two, so we sold hr and bought a 24 travel trailer. Well, we weren't getting enough in the trip department done, so decided to sell that one (she left today), and we are now looking again at the slide in truck campers.

Have to adjust our sigline. We also decided we didn't want to add all the running around miles to the truck and bought a fun little car. Our PT Cruiser convertible. Today we did about 150 mile r/t to look at a truck camper. It was older, but I don't mind fixinf and modiifying our gear, but dang that was a load of something. I think they used pics from about 8 years ago.If it had been anout 1/2 what they were asking I may have considered.

Hint, Clean your stuff before you show it!

Anyway, we will likely have something before too long.
 
Clearly you know RV's well but I will mention that you need to look closely at weights on truck campers, as many are too much weight when loaded, for a 2500 series truck. I was considering them but I am limited to about 3000 lbs and you would be surprised how many truck campers will, when full of water, food and clothes are pushing that.

And yes, the TC I looked at were all in rough shape. People don't seem to take care of them, at least not down here in the south.

Shop carefully, and have fun!

Charles
 
It's amazing what junk folks will put up for sale looking like it sat on the back 40 for the last 40 years and will advertise it as "hardly used"

Even dealerships often will not clean a traded-in RV and show it and try to sell it without any effort to make it presentable. When we traded in our first RV I spent a good week cleaning the outside, including all of the basement storage, washing it, and a deep interior clean. A couple of weeks later stopped back at the dealer, I ran into our salesman, and asked how'd the rig sell. He told me because of the way the rig was brought in by my wife and me, it was gone in three days. Then, when we traded that RV for our current rig they not only gave us top dollar on the trade-in, it was sold before we even brought it in on the exchange.
 
Welcome PancakeBill to the forums. It sounds like, by your story, that you've been "around the campground" a time or two. So, use your past knowledge and you'll eventually find the "ideal" camper that will work for you. We're all "rooting" for you! Good luck!
 
PancakeBill said:
Jo and I have been around the forum back to Compuserve, so not new, but our new news is we are coming almost full circle, don't really want to complete it. We started out in 72 with a tent trailer we crossed country with when we got married and out of Air Force, Later when kids came we bought a travel trailer, detoured to camping on the water for a bunch of years but still did some tenting, then into truck campers for a decade or more. That brought us to fulltiming in 3 different motorhomes, and the last one, a Beautiful Country Coach formerly owned by the Brewers. Fulltiming has come to an end, and couldn't bear to see the Queen just stored and waiting for a trip or two, so we sold hr and bought a 24 travel trailer. Well, we weren't getting enough in the trip department done, so decided to sell that one (she left today), and we are now looking again at the slide in truck campers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update Bill. Reminds me of a friend who had a similar history in boating. He named his last boat "Full Circle". Good luck with the search.
 
DutchmenSport said:
Welcome PancakeBill to the forums. It sounds like, by your story, that you've been "around the campground" a time or two. So, use your past knowledge and you'll eventually find the "ideal" camper that will work for you. We're all "rooting" for you! Good luck!
Click to expand...
Not exactly new to the forum. Started with the Compuserve forum in mid 90's but thanks.
 
CharlesinGA said:
Clearly you know RV's well but I will mention that you need to look closely at weights on truck campers, as many are too much weight when loaded, for a 2500 series truck. I was considering them but I am limited to about 3000 lbs and you would be surprised how many truck campers will, when full of water, food and clothes are pushing that.

And yes, the TC I looked at were all in rough shape. People don't seem to take care of them, at least not down here in the south.

Shop carefully, and have fun!

Charles
Click to expand...
Believe me I know those posted numbers are just suggestions. :cool: As I mentioned, been thru 4 and 2 other trucks over the years. There are some tricks that do not increase the capacity but improve the handling. BTW. way back I was (forget the term)but moderating the truck camper section. I think it was before CS vanished.

My payload is 3458 camper, water etc plus wife and I. One we are looking at has dry wt of 2200 lbs.
 
Good luck. Hope it turns out to be a good find. My 1st camper after retiring from the military was a camper on a 1 ton. The kind that extends up the last 4 feet. It was ok but sold it a few years later. The new truck campers these days are a lot different and big. Thought about getting one for long distance camping instead of pulling the 5th wheel. Not sure though. Did see one advertised that actually replaced the bed. A lot of storage and looked real good inside. But over $100,000 for it. Way out of my budget. Think I would have bumped up to a 5500 truck if I went that route.
 
Really relate to your history. We also had a truck camper (back in the 90's) and really enjoyed it...especially with a young family. I could see going back to a truck camper in the future for shorter trips. As mentioned above the new prices for some of these units are very high and seems like too much for me. Can't see spending that much on a truck camper. Like ur thought on getting something older/used and putting some work into it to bring it up to speed.
 
We had purchased one a few years ago with the intentions of going to Alaska. We did go to Nova Scotia to try it out. The only issue we had was DW had trouble getting up and down from the bed. So we sold it. Guess we won’t ever make it to Alaska.
 
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