Not sure what this means for my van in the long run.

[vandiesel]

Thats a hard to beat rig right there

[bigriver]

Yep... very cool Phil. The side entrance allows a much improved interior layout in my mind. Pop the lid on the toilet cabinet and think you've found the Holy Grail. Gonna be fun - see ya down there.

[JoeH]

Nice rig Phil!

I want to add a composting toilet to my E350. Seems like a good way to go...

[pjpvi]

Thanks guys. It's going to be like night and day compared to the van. It's much larger, much more top heavy, much more cushy interior (truck and camper), much more compliant suspension (wish I had put "real" shocks on the van years ago), smaller fuel tank and worse mileage (that may be a problem), more tail heavy (hopefully that evens out when I fill the water tank and load up for the trip), quieter fridge (that alone is worth it), and on and on .....

see ya down there.

I'll look for you when we pull out on that very special beach! I'm, unfortunately, going to have 3 other vehicles with me at that point (it seemed to happen without my ability to stop it) so hopefully we can find room for all of us. They are friends, but I just don't like traveling in a large pack.

I want to add a composting toilet to my E350. Seems like a good way to go...

I really do lose sleep over having a composting toilet. I have never once used one and am imagining the worse however I hang my hope that all will be OK on all the positive comments from "everyone" on the internet!

[pjpvi]

Figured I would write up a brief overview from my camper shakedown trip. We drove ~3400 miles from the SF Bay area as far south as La Ventana, BCS, MX and back. This included a mixture of CA highways, Mexican highways, dirt roads, rough trails, some 4x4. We camped all but 5 nights out of 32. In general my wife and I both like the livability of the camper compared to the van. Here's a few high level observations for those pondering a move from van life to truck camper life.

Van vs Truck Camper: Like everything in life, there are trade offs. After 17 years with the van I have a good basis for comparison.
- Accessibility: The van wins hands down. With the van you just open the side doors and walk in (or crawl back from the front seats), unlatch the top from inside and push the button to raise the roof. With the truck camper I have to get a step ladder out to unlatch the rear outside latches, stand on running boards to unlatch front latches, get out the camper ladder and attach it, go inside and push the button to raise the roof. If we just need quick access to the camper (roadside toilet break for my wife for instance) we just use a step stool to the tire and inside. We both wonder how many years until we have trouble climbing the ladder and going in and out of the “Hobbit Hole” as she refers to the camper door.

- Overall comfort: The truck camper wins hands down. The dinette is nice to eat at when it’s windy or raining out. The permanently set up and comfortable queen size bed is fantastic. The camper is light years ahead in insulation and being sealed against the elements than the van was.

- Connected with the outdoors: This is one thing I do miss with the van. With the barn doors open I could kick back on the couch of the van and still feel connected with the outdoors. In the truck camper you are either inside or outside.

- Driving comfort: The truck wins. Lots of creature comforts inside and nice suspension setup. That said, I didn’t mind the van as the primary driver but my wife was not a fan of the van. There is a “bounce” that sets up with the camper every now and then that I’m not positive is a “nature of the beast” situation or something I can resolve. It tends to happen most frequently in the 30-40 MPH range. A little annoying but I’ve slowly started to accept it and gotten a little used to it.

- 4-wheeling capability: I have to give this to the van so far. I haven’t pushed the truck camper yet on anything technical but based on the higher center of mass located more to the rear of the vehicle I do not have the confidence (yet) to push it into situations like I did with the van. We’ll see if this changes as my familiarity with the truck is furthered.

That’s a high level summary of van vs truck camper. Now more from a “component” perspective. I bought the camper shell with cabinets installed. I did all of the systems build out which was much more of an effort than I expected but glad I did it.

Bison Camper shell: Overall worked well. A few small leaks around canvas to deal with, actuators lost programming on lower limit, and a pretty intense thermal bridge on the aluminum channel used to attach the canvas at the top and bottom edges. Since getting home I think I have the leaks sealed, and found where there was a missing rivet in the aluminum channel that I have now installed.

Vice Customs cabinets: Layout, construction and quality is all good. Only conflict we both missed during design is that the lower door of the toilet compartment hits the camper door handle when the camper door is closed. Not a big deal at all and doesn’t impact functionality, but just something we both missed during design.

Airhead toilet: Works as advertised. Wife and I are both generally happy with it. All my lost sleep worrying about going to a composting toilet was unnecessary.

Induction cooking: I’m a big fan now! I use a small table top version instead of a built in. It boils my water for morning tea in just over 2 minutes. It is not impacted by wind when cooking outside (which is really the only place I cook) which is awesome. Draws ~170 amps (@ 12volts) on high.

AC Electric water heater: I’m also a big fan. I installed a 1.5 gallon electric water heater. The size & location is working very well (very short runs to faucet and outside shower). It heats to temp in about 7 minutes. I installed a thermostatic mixing valve to the outside shower set at 100 deg F which also worked great. A very short initial burst of cold water until it was at a constant 100 deg.

Water system: The ShureFlow pump is the noisiest pump I’ve ever had!! It was embarrassing when camped near others. Others I have owned haven’t been exactly quiet, but not this bad. I bought a Seaflo pump to replace it and it is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter. My drinking water filter system seemed to work well. The water always tasted great through those filters (cartridge and UV).

Electrical in general: I purchased a complete Victron / Battle Born setup direct from Battle Born Batteries. 4 x 100 amp hour batteries, 3000 watt inverter, solar and DC/DC chargers. 350 watts of Renogy solar panels (from Amazon) on the roof. I never went below 70% capacity. Couldn’t be happier!

Autoterm diesel heater: Unfortunately it had an electrical issue the first night and I didn’t really need it for the trip so just let it be. I checked it out when I returned home and it appears I had a bad 25 amp blade fuse that came with the heater. The fuse melted down but didn’t blow. That concerned me and I just pulled both fuses out for the remainder of the trip to prevent a fire. I’ve never had that happen with a fuse, but I put a new fuse in and ran it through its paces and all seems fine now. The vented fuel cap on my small diesel tank leaks a lot so I have since modified it to be a non-vented cap with an attached hose to a remote vent. No more leaking!

Awning: I love the Taruca 270 awning! It has great coverage and held up very well to some pretty good wind. The built in LED lighting on two of the arms were perfect for cooking or beach parties after dark. It is very well constructed. It is also extremely nice to have the awning very securely attached to the camper. That is something I could never achieve with the gutter mounts on the van.

Bed: The Sedona RV Mattress from Matress Insider combined with the Froli sleep system is a winner. It was so nice to have a permanently set up queen size bed with N/S sleeping arrangement (no crawling over each other to get out of bed).

Fans: While it never got really hot on this trip, we did use the three Caframo Sirocco II fans I installed inside. So nice that you can point them in any direction needed and they move a little or a lot of air depending on speed. It’s “that time of life” for my wife where hot flashes come and go constantly so she really appreciated them. Having a roof vent fan was also very nice. Something I could never easily install in the van roof.

Reading lights: I installed reading lights next to each of our pillows. Just inexpensive Amazon lights but they are great EXCEPT using my HAM radio seems to trigger them on / off / on / off …. Totally bizarre as they are on completely isolated electrical systems. The RF is somehow strobing them. Otherwise, they were great little reading lights with dimming and a red light capability.

The Truck: Overall worked great. So glad I spent the money on the suspension upgrades. Rough trails / off road were quite smooth. I wish my center of mass wasn’t so far back and high, but that’s the nature of the beast. My van was much better balanced in that regard. With ~3400 miles traveled over many types of terrain, different speeds, and different weather / wind I averaged 10.7 MPG which I’m actually pretty happy with (7.3L gas engine).

That’s the highlights. I do miss this forum. The closest alternative I’ve found for being a truck camper guy is one thread on the Tremor Forum. They are good guys there and maybe it will grow into something more resembling this forum in the future. Here’s a few pics from the trip.

[kbeefy]

Thanks for the report back! We like Baja and hope to return someday.

I had alot of the same feelings about truck campers vs vans and mentioned them previously. The permanent bed and N/S sleeping are nice benefits, but accesibility is not as good.

A more modern truck probably would have improved my impression, I love my 2000 F350 diesel, but it does share alot of characteristics with a dump truck.

[Twoxentrix]

I for one have contemplated a 'change' to a truck camper set up over the past several years, but have had no real reason/motivation to pursue it more seriously yet.
Your personal evaluation of the two (especially with extensive prior Van experience) is much appreciated since it has practical merit. It would be difficult for anyone to argue the 'value' of one over the other since it comes down to specific 'emotional attachments and/or expectations' which tend to influence each of us differently.
You did a great job in hitting-on some of those 'key' quirks, so much so I find myself relieved (as in a burden has been lifted in pursuing further investigation). I'm appreciating my Van more now...Thanks Phil !

[marret]

Thanks for updating us and reporting back. As mentioned, you did a great job hitting key observations. Like others I have thought about truck campers and it is great to hear your opinions and experience.

[vandiesel]

Phil, What is your take on the godzilla motor? I'm pretty sure you have the 10 speed transmission. I'm going to have the 6 speed and a bit of a tune but would love to hear what you think of power and drive-ability etc.