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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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| 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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Mike is correct. "Payload" includes everything down to the optional CD changer, power seats and the bottle of water sitting in the cup holder. If you already have the truck, I agree with Mike again and suggest a pop-up slide in. If, on the other hand, you are looking to buy a truck then the camper, go get a 3/4 or SRW 1 ton if you are set on a 1,400 lb camper. If you think you'd rather have a 2,000+ lb camper, get a 1 ton DRW. All of this may sound like overkill, and to some degree it is. But, trust me on this one, you'll be much more relaxed driving down the road knowing your truck is beefy enough to handle the camper and anything that gets thrown at you. I used to have a slide in that weighed 2,476 lbs dry, according to the manufacturers tag. By the time I added the water, propane tanks, food, clothing, firewood, etc... I was packing well over 3,000 lbs. Well, I have a 1 ton DRW with a GVWR of 11,200 lbs and I estimate that I was about 500 lbs over! But, the truck handled it almost as if it weren't even there! One last thing: Does your truck have FRONT AND REAR sway bars? If not, you need both! When you put that much weight that high up, your truck will roll from side to side as if it were a boat in high seas. |
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I finally weighed my rig on my last long trip. I paid at a Pilot station for the weigh and then noticed later that in Oregon, Idaho, etc. you can pull onto a public scale when they are closed; the scales are always on. Some are just a wide spot in the road. Very different from Calif where the weigh stations are like fortresses. Anyway I had a shock. I expected low to mid 8000's and it came back at 9020 lbs! And that was with 3/4 tank of gas and water. So full up would be about 9150 lbs. This is on a 8600 GVWR truck. The breakdown was 4040 on the front and 4980 on the rear. That includes 2 passengers & 1 dog. The truck axles are rated 4400 front, 6000 rear. The camper has a sticker with a typed value of 2225lbs wet which I assume is correct for that model but doesn't include "optional equipment" like the jacks. The glove box sticker in the truck shows a camper rating of 2805 lbs so I assumed I was fine. In fact, without any air in the airbags the camper only makes the truck sit level so it doesn't seem like an overload. Where is the extra weight? If the truck is 5500 with fuel + 2600 camper + 500 passengers etc. = 8600 lbs. Yet I'm 500 over that. Obviously I'm underestimating somewhere. Mike, do you know how much our trucks weigh? Or anyone else? 2000 Silverado reg cab 4x4 2500. By the way, to you folks worried about a few pounds, I feel very comfortable and safe in this truck even though it's overloaded technically. I did add some suspension helpers but acceleration and braking are fine as is. |
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