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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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slide in truck campers......
I have looked at these in the past and ruled them out in favor of a class c motorhome (20-22 foot)....when I get around to buying something.......
thought I might give them another look as I get closer to making a decision......I like the idea of having 4 wheel drive and LOTS of options for
suspension/tires with the ability to go MANY places where the motorhome can't....and maybe diesel engine for towing dune buggy/trailer also...which
the motorhome can never have.....
was wondering what is best base truck style...3/4 or 1 ton....cab size ect.......?
anybody with pros/cons /personal experience using these?......
give me some ideas.....
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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I would go with the slide in type because it also slides out and then you have a second even more useful vehicle for work or play.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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We have an 86 ford 4x4 diesel with an overcab camper and I wouldnt trade it for anything. We can go where ever we want. It is the perfect size for
two, although I wouldnt want to have to spend too much time inside. But who stays inside here anyway?
We have really high clearance, good tires(goodrich all terrain) and with the diesel no real worries about reliabilty. Heck at 120,000 miles its just
getting broken in. Our mechanico, Mike Quade, has an '85 he swears has almost 1,000,000 on it.
I would get a crew cab but that would be for my 2 dogs. The four of us in the front seat is a little tight.
That is my two pesos worth. We like to get off the beaten path!
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dono
Junior Nomad
Posts: 91
Registered: 9-11-2003
Location: Los Barriles B.C.S. Mex
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We have a 4 wheel drive dodge diesel with a lance camper that wieghs only 1600 #s dry and we can go just about anywhere with it. Also the dodge gets
great mileage, we do mostly dirt roads and this is the perfect rig for us
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
I would go with the slide in type because it also slides out and then you have a second even more useful vehicle for work or play. |
I second that. We had one too....was great! Bruce is righto....the second veh comes in real handy dandy!
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8802
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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We've had lots of trucks...and...
We would never buy a camper, trailer or motorhome.
Get a tent.
For the amount of time used it isn't worth the money invested....
Rooms are about $20-$40 dollars a night and Palapas on the beach $7 a night.
You can get a lot of rooms for the price of these RV's.
Then where do you store the beast?
If you don't take it off you can't use your bed of the truck.
We now have a diesel and it's the very best engine we've had...power WOW!!!...but it's a 4x4 and just too high off the ground to get to the bed
easily. It's toooooBIG!!!
We like lower trucks...we're older...now...
We just bought a trailer for temporary living but we will sell the thing asap.
Just more stuff to go out and fix....
Now boats....that's another story...
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
We've had lots of trucks...and...
We would never buy a camper, trailer or motorhome.
Get a tent.
For the amount of time used it isn't worth the money invested....
Rooms are about $20-$40 dollars a night and Palapas on the beach $7 a night.
You can get a lot of rooms for the price of these RV's.
Then where do you store the beast?
If you don't take it off you can't use your bed of the truck.
We now have a diesel and it's the very best engine we've had...power WOW!!!...but it's a 4x4 and just too high off the ground to get to the bed
easily. It's toooooBIG!!!
We like lower trucks...we're older...now...
We just bought a trailer for temporary living but we will sell the thing asap.
Just more stuff to go out and fix....
Now boats....that's another story... |
Thats the right advice! Note that I said we "had" a pull out! We got tired of all the fussing and preps. Tent rules! We now travel in a Land Rover
that is well equiped with an solar shower (and stall!), kayaks, tents, food...well...you get the picture! Here we are are "Shark Beach"...an old fish
camp alongside of the Sea of Cortez
[Edited on 8-7-2005 by yankeeirishman]
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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I like to go GLAMIS , DUMONT DUNES, OCOTILLO, BARSTOW/LUCERNE VALLEY, and remote baja beaches.....places with no facilities.....both to surf and ride
dune buggy.....been doing it in back of pickup with camper shell....need to step up for longer trips now with more comfort....
have other vehicles and lots of garage storage space ...lucky me!.....
like the slide in/out feature.....but not mandatory.....any special "issues" with these units to consider?.......
any special options worth getting?.....want a/c and generator but what else?....
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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We tent camped for years and the set ups and take downs wore me out. With the camper, you arrive, you get the chairs out, set them up, open the
cooler, get a cold one, sit down and you are set up! Whoopee
Also no more arguments over...does the foot go shiny side up or down? do these poles go in first? where did this lump in the middle of the tent
come from?
As for the high clearance...we have stairs. I am not getting any younger either and that is why I prefer the camper. ...easy!
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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This is our old camping vehicle. We now only use it for trips to the beach with the dogs....the dogmobile
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
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Mood: In love!
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Bajajudy is right. Get a 4X4 Camper of some kind.
You arrive in a remote camp and your room is ready. Does the wind flap the camper sides so you can's sleep? No! (Yes, in a tent).
Do you have to move everything outside to sleep and then can't sit up? No! (Yes in a shell or SUV).
While I require a low PopTop camper because we wander around the Southwest where there are low sticks with fungus on them, (whata you call them,
Trees! Thats it), and get tilty quite a bit, a regular camper will work many places in Baja. You can never go back.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
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Mood: optimistic
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Truck campers-----
I have a 1000 lb Callen camper on my Ford F-250 ext. cab 4x4 and I wish I had sprung for the F-350. It is just more rugged, but the F-250 does ok if
your careful.
The biggest problem with a big camper, even a Lance, is that the torque of the vehicle on the back roads of Baja can really tear the campers up over
time. Callen (steel frame) campers seem to be the only one that can resist falling apart, and CAllen campers are not what you call delux inside, or I
have never seen one that is delux. But, if you are willing to be careful, and drive very slowly on dirt roads, then the standard campers probably
work fine.
Personally I agree with others on this board and prefer to keep it simple, but not quite tent camp----that is why I opted for a custom made CALLEN
camper shell with cab over storage, and boat rack on top, and that I can stand up in. I have had it for 23 years and I still love it, and my wife
does too, but it has no amenities inside as we do everything outside, except sleep.
Just me two cents worth.
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TacoFeliz
Nomad
Posts: 265
Registered: 7-22-2005
Location: Here
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Mood: Exploratory
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Another vote here for slide-ins... We have a 4-Wheeler pop top on our 4x4 V8 Tundra and love it. Quicker camp setup, more creature comforts, goes
everywhere and slides out when you don't need it. (Wife also has declared that she has no further interest in sleeping on the ground.)
BOLT IT DOWN GOOD... First trip with it to Baja backcountry proved that better hold downs were needed (ripped out two of four), but after addressing
that it has been all over the outback in Mexico, the CA Sierras and desert.
After a lifetime of tent camping and twenty years of camping out of a Jeep I'll never go back.
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Tomas Tierra
Super Nomad
Posts: 1281
Registered: 3-23-2005
Location: oxnard, ca
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Mood: Tengo Flojera
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4wheel pop ups are the way to go...Set up in seconds, don't flap, light weight, low center of gravity when traveling, aluminium frames bend not
break..
we bought a used one for $450 8 years ago, ripped the indside out, re did it..Were on our third Toyota with this camper!!
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bajaloco
Nomad
Posts: 159
Registered: 12-5-2002
Location: Huntington Beach, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: wishin I was fishin
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The truck and camper route is the way to go here. Unless you get a very large class A coach, you won't be able to even pull your toys. Check into
towing capacities on all rigs, it's even more important to be able to stop the set up....know your limits.
Also, many campers are equipped with jacks which enable you to remove the camper and still have the normal truck.
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Tomas Tierra
Super Nomad
Posts: 1281
Registered: 3-23-2005
Location: oxnard, ca
Member Is Offline
Mood: Tengo Flojera
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Sweet Rig Neal Johns!!
I saw a picture on one of these threads of you with your pop up camper and a busted up front end...what happened old timer??
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Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
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What happened? Oh, nothing much. 
I ran over a divider in Vegas making a left turn and must have pulled the ball halfway out of the socket in the front suspencion. Not only is this Old
Timer half deaf, but half blind at night.
No worries, I thought, but it came back to bite me in Baja.
New subject: Watch your back, Tom! Old Timer? Just a young 74.
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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Tomas Tierra
Super Nomad
Posts: 1281
Registered: 3-23-2005
Location: oxnard, ca
Member Is Offline
Mood: Tengo Flojera
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Yep, that's the shot..where were you and how did you fix??(I don't need gps #'s:lol
 74 I'm sorry I thought you were older..
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
Member Is Offline
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Just returned from TRAVELAND ? in IRVINE.....saw a Bigfoot truck camper and looks pretty good for what I would need....they have put a lot into a
limited space but it works....top of line priced about $30K....but reminds me of a border salesman...no prices posted but you will get a special
deal....TODAY......
did like to concept of the truck camper so that was part of my shopping....they say go with the 1 ton truck......will be looking on internet for other
manufactures also....
ps. to neal.....what's up with that?.....
[Edited on 8-7-2005 by surfer jim]
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mcgyver
Nomad
Posts: 444
Registered: 8-22-2003
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I have the "Four Wheel "brand pop top camper also, an older model on a 2004 Tacoma that I remodeled on the inside and made about 2000 miles offroad in
Baja last year with it and most of the time pulling a Geo tracker behind that. I take it to Bahia Guadalupe,Punta Remedios,Yubay, Punta Calamajue Las
Animas, San Rafael, San Fransquito, Baja 1000 race course south of El Arco, Maralimmo beach through Queens Camp. Any where I want to go. I too had to
modify the hold downs, now I have the two rears bolted to a chain that goes behind the bumper and lead slightly forward to prevent it from sliding
backward, both front and rear tie downs are reinforced with 1/4" alluminum plates bolted to the camper. We rode out a 70 MPH gale at Maralimmo with no
trouble with the poptop up, thought the Tacoma would roll but the top was holding good.
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