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Pickups Pickups - Archived Discussions Cabover Campers & Camper Trailers (pickups) 
1377 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2003 at 1:43 PM
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Mike, I saw a smaller hardside trailer with pop out canvas beds at each end for sale near Terri's house a while back. I'll ask her if it's still around.
Here is some Wildwood info
manufacturer is Forest River
Some dealer info
http://www.countrytimerv.com/Wildwoodpage.asp |
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We will pass on anything with canvas popouts. Dorothy is still afraid a bear will come through and eat us. Hardside has some advantages when it comes to cold weather camping. Speaking of cold weather Vince, you guys up to some snow camping in a couple of months? Or another Death Valley adventure? Another choice that is almost as far as DV is the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest just east of Bishop (and you can get the Original Sheepherder's Bread in Bishop). For now, the plan is to keep the 2500/Phoenix popup for the shorter trips and off road adventures (like snow camping or DV) and come up with another tow vehicle (maybe a Van) for the trailer (if we ever actually put the money where our mouths are). Mike L |
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| Havent been here for a while and trying to catch up. Mike--We got a GMC 15 pasangere van (at work) and had it converted to 4 wheel drive this summer. Van with conversion was under 40k. It is a great pulling vehicle. I have had no problems pulling our boats on the soft sand this summer with it. The conversion did not affect the GM warrenty and the 4 wheel drive is also covered by GM (3yrs.-30k miles). We ordered the van from a local dealer and they had it drop-shiped to PA for the conversion and then delivered it to us.The conversion people also made a winch bumper for it and installed a winch. | |
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We've looked at a couple of those 15 passenger 'commuter' vans. Wife says they are toooooo long! Some of the converted vans with popup sections look very inviting. Biggest problem is limited ventilation. You can't open a door without inviting the skeeters in. Real RV's have screens for all the doors and windows. Went to another RV show this weekend. Looked at about a zillion trailers, campers, RV's, etc. As we walked out, we asked ourselves 'What was our favorite?' and we both agreed it was the Airstream 22'. Anybody just win the lottery and want to buy us a $35K trailer??? Tough decision....... Mike L |
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Finally I remembered to add up my mileage for the trip to Newfoundland. Looks like we totaled 11344.4 miles, 801.57 gallons, for an average of 14.15mpg for the trip. Not bad for 6.0L and almost 7500#. For the life of the truck we have averaged 14.12 mpg. Looks like the numbers are starting to stabilize now the the warranty is worn out (over 36K). Mike L |
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| My 6.0L now has 31,000 miles and still gets about 12.5 with the sun-lite. Best I've done empty is about 14.5 so your lucky. Made a 2 day trip last week to look at a new hard-side sunlite. Hope to go to Delaware soon to look at a Lance hard side. That will be a 3 day trip.It sure is a lot of money to get a bathroom!! | |
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You can get a Sun-Lite popup with a toilet and/or a shower, depending on the model. We saw them at the Sacramento RV show. My wife liked them because they (and most other popups) the Heyco?? roof lift system. Withe that system, she can put the roof up. Because of our bed layout we can't use that system. And she can't lift our roof into position.
I don't remember the exact models, but they should be on the website:
http://sunliteinc.com/folding.htm
Or, are you planning on deserting the popup ranks for even less gas mileage? Mike L |
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| The current Sunlite popup with the toilet/shower layout is similar to our '95 model except that the bath is now on the same side as the kitchen. This must make the plumbing layout more efficient. Plumbing has been a headache for us in our camper. I note that the current Eagle model has a black/gray water holding tank of small capacity. If I were buying again I would be careful to find out how the holding tank was constructed. Our gray water tank is fine except that it prevents the use of our trailer hitch unless we get an extension. Our blackwater tank was constructed by joining the lower portion to the plastic floor of the bathroom under the toilet. It was this join that was imperfect in ours and too bad that we didn't figure this out while still under warrantee. The putty job I did with silicone, mirrors and heater is still holding but is unlikely to represent a permanent fix. A really good repair is not worth the effort/cost. | |
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When you put a slide in, in the bed of a truck that is 1400lbs wet and you are allowed 1600lbs payload, is the full 1400lbs actually considered payload since all of the weight isnt in the bed? I mean that the cabover part is so far forward, I am sure that the front axle is taking some of the 1400lbs right? I want to make sure that I load my truck right and I would think that payload is whats over the rear axle. The reason I ask is that I am looking at these hard sided campers for compact trucks but they are all over 1000lbs and when they are wet, they will probably come out to 1400lbs or more. That sure is close when some of these compact trucks only allow up to 1500lbs payload, and the manufacturers advertise that these units are for them. My truck is allowed 1600lbs payload and one camper advertised to fit my truck is over 1400lbs dry. Its so confusing. Any advice with this is greatly appreciated. You guys have really helped me alot and it is greatly appreciated more than you know. Thanks for your patience. Robert |
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When you are allowed 1600# payload, that includes everything, driver, passenger, food, clothers, camper, firewood, options from the base model truck, etc. With a 1600# payload, you'll be lucky if you can carry a 1200# camper. More likely a 1000# camper, driver, passenger, full tank of gas, food, gear, AC, etc. will put you at or over the GVWR.
Our first Silverado had a 2000# payload and we got a 1400# camper. We were 50# over the GVWR. And we had to install Air-Lifts to keep the back from riding on the bumpstops. In my glovebox was a rating for a slide in camper - 1400#! You may find a similar rating on your ratings plate, or in the owner's manual.
Don't believe the camper manufacturer's when they tell you a camper is 1/2 ton compatible. Maybe somewhere they found a '1/2 ton' truck rated to carry the weight. But clearly, all trucks in that class cannot carry the same weight.
The only slide in campers that I've found suitable for a typical 1500 series ext. cab truck are the lighter weight popup campers. See Vince's list:
HARDSIDE:
Good Luck, Mike L |
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