Slide in Campers

[wesfromky]

$9k for a 6.5ft bed cab over hard shell with zero in it is a good price?
The $5600 is for a 5ft with no cabover and zero inside. Not even powdercoat on the outside.

LOL.

Harker and Lone Peak are both $6k WITH the tent and side doors. Finished.

The guy's budget was $10k all in.

Heck you can get a brand new 4wc Project M for $12k.

Lone peak is 375+lbs. My moonlander was under 250lbs, with a maxair fan and insulation. Tent material is harder to insulate, and prone to condensation, plus not great to stay in during "weather". No stealth aspect with the popups, where I can be discrete.

Again, different options and priorities for different people.

 

[Marshfly]

Hey, give me a break. I didn’t say it was inexpensive, but 10k doesn’t get much any more.

Haha. Sorry if it came across that way. You're right though. I'm shocked at how some of these manufacturers can put out campers at these prices.

 

[Marshfly]

Lone peak is 375+lbs. My moonlander was under 250lbs, with a maxair fan and insulation. Tent material is harder to insulate, and prone to condensation, plus not great to stay in during "weather". No stealth aspect with the popups, where I can be discrete.

Again, different options and priorities for different people.

The OP has an F250... And needs something to weekend camp with his wife. Comfortably.

It's easy to get off track.

 

[merkedmallard]

I would only be shopping for "clam shell" type campers if it will regularly be used throughout the Fall/Winter.

Northern lite and Bigfoot come to mind.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Had a slide in and a pull behind...sold them both. Maintenance, towing, and storing when not is use were my biggest issues with the pull behind.
Taking the slide camper in and out of the truck is a PIA period. I don't care what fancy system you have. So you either deal with taking it out or batting down the hatches every morning to get to the trail head....plus you still have all the maintenance.
I got a Davis 14'×16' wall tent, doesn't take any longer to set up than a camper, way easier to store when not in use, little to no maintenance and even with the big ass stove it all still fits in the bed of the truck under the bed cover. Its also waay easier to customize your bed system. I will take a a good xl cot and pad over a camper bed any day.
I will take a seperate shitter tent, buddy heater, and a cassette toliet if the wife wants to come.

 

[M1SF1T]

I wouldn't buy a conventionally constructed camper with wood frame or covered plywood sheets. Thermal transfer, condensation, resealing every year... your camper is going to rot. Maybe if you live somewhere dry and only use it in fair weather.

I wanted to get a composite panel camper for 4-season performance and light weight, Total Composites or Cascadia Composites. But all the hipster van-lifers seem to be driving that market and the prices and times have gone crazy. Buying a composite shell only and building out your own isn't cheap either and then you need the time. The Scout campers are a little cheaper and more available in the composite market, but still require resealing every year due to differing expansion and thermal transfer in the aluminum extrusions they use to connect the panels.

So I just ordered a new Northern Lite 610.

There's not much real world info on these yet because the model just launched, but NL has a great reputation and their campers last. This 610 is sold as a 4 season camper under 1500#, 1/2 ton truck capable, with the same build as their large campers, just smaller and more basic. Heater, hot water, solar, cassette toilet, outside shower are standard. I crawled through one and I think it's great, but I don't need much. Anyone that remembers the old NL 610, this new 610 shell is larger.

The bigger NL units (8-11 for shortbox) are very spacious and comfortable, that's what my wife would rather I get, and there are a lot of used ones available... I have a diesel F350 and 4000# payload and could fit it, but I don't want the weight and size of an 8-11 on some of roads we end up on. Maybe in a few years and for a different purpose and with a dually...

Plus with no overhang on the back no extension is needed for towing a trailer for the quads or the boat. My truck is a 6'9" shortbox and the tail gate will close with the camper loaded. Integrated tie downs on this model, no additional tie down system required.

*not my truck but this will be the setup

 

[Phaseolus]

Phaseolus.....I have a 2024 F450 crewcab and 8' box dually.....yeah, it won't be any problem with even the largest units with slide-outs and it will be very stable with the width of the dual rear wheels and that wide-track frontend which is 8" wider than the F250/F350. Turn radius is very tight too. Payload is 5000lbs but realistically it's 6500 (derated to keep it from CDL needs so it's pretty hard to overload it) The 19.5" wheels and 12ply tires helps and that 475HP 6.7 diesel won't have any problem carrying the largest units AND pulling whatever the heck you want behind it. You can also get the 500HP version too if you think you will need it...but, you won't. I hooked it up to a 14K rated 20' tilt-bed equipment trailer with a 10,000 lb Kubota SVL 75-3 trackloader on it and the rear suspension only squatted 1". Even pulling long steep hills with that weight was a nothing-burger. The F450 is an amazing truck. 16mpg around town and 22mpg on the highway and not much less loaded down. I have a motorhome but was thinking about a slide-in camper to travel the western states in and a possible trip to Alaska for a month or 2. Been retired almost 6 years.

We ordered a 450 yesterday, it might be here in April.