Camper Living

[VanLifeCrisis]

If i get this truck im interested in, im building my own out of wood Seems to be the cheapest option and i can make it just how i like it. If it needs repairs or mods, i go to the home depot lumber section.

 

[masterplumber]

If you're serious about building a camper, and you can learn fiberglassing, then I would suggest looking at a product called "Nidacore". It is a honeycomb sheet product with good insulation properties, light weight, and surprising strength when fiberglassed together. If you search "Supercamper" you should find a camper built out of it by a top surfer and her then boyfriend. The Turtle V from the Turtle Expedition is also built out of that material, and I think it now has over 200,000 miles of world travel on it. Both removed the pickup beds and built around a 3 point mounting system that allowed the chassis to flex without transferring the stress to the camper. I've been in the Turtle V several times and it is by far the best laid out, most comfortable small camper I've ever seen. It looks big, but in reality it's almost exactly the same size as an extended high top van.

 

[Canine]

Oh, and watch on used TC's for the notorious "leaking front window on the overhang" issue. It's like a class C, they (front windows) often leak and subsequently rot out the framing and plywood floor. Having had both TC's (2) and an old class C, ask me how I know...

 

[Ballenxj]

ask me how I know...  

OK, I won't. Thanks for the heads up.  ;-)

 

[Canine]

Something like this...

 

[Canine]

I hadn't ever had this issue because I often emptied my holding tanks but for the many who don't:

From "fulltimefamilies.com", 9-10-2011, entitled: "Our Camper Was Made to Leak!":

"Let me elaborate. Two weeks ago, we were camping without hookup in an otherwise well appointed campground. You may be one of the lucky few that has working tank gauge sensors, but we do not (nor have we on any of the four campers we owned – now there’s a design flaw) so we have to “guesstimate” how full our tanks are. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don’t and we have to make an emergency pilgrimage to the dump station.

This story centers on the later situation. We came out of our camper, ready for a day of exploring and noticed water pouring out between the axles. Hmmmm… our first impression… this is not good. As the scent of gray water smacked us in the face, we were able to discern that our kitchen holding tank (we have two gray water tanks and they do smell differently) was leaking torrentially saturating the campsite.

Pull in the antennae, wind down the slides, put up the kids and throw the stairs in the truck– we need to get to the dump station stat!

After we “relieved” our camper. We headed back to our site and decided to pretend it didn’t happen. Sweet denial – it may get you through the day, but the payment is hefty.

Flash forward to today. For two weeks now, we’ve had an awful odor in the camper. We stopped feeding the husband beans and cleared the rig of all the unlucky “pets” the kids have been keeping in hopes they may finally wake up, but still the smell persisted.

Like bloodhounds, we tracked the offensive stench down to the cabinet under the sink, but found nothing there that would be causing it. We dug deeper and found ourselves under the camper, staring up at our sealed underbelly. The husband cut away the covering and we discovered sopping wet insulation (never a good sign) but no leaking water (a silver lining).

We closed the kitchen gray water tank, and started filling it up with fresh water. After 30 minutes, the sinks filled up and we knew we were filled to max capacity.

Then we heard it. A bubbling sound. We went back into the camper to find the sink was empty. Water was going somewhere. Back and forth, filling the sink, laying under the camper, we repeated this process for over an hour.

Then we saw it. A puddle under the camper. The leak was coming from a rubber fitting on the gray holding tank inlet (the pipe that connects the sink to the holding tank).

Ok, time to caulk! But what caulk to use? The regular one we use for the windows, or the heavy duty one we use for the roof? It’s time to call in the specialist. We phoned an RV Tech we met in Oregon and explained the situation. And that’s when we learned about the “leak design”.

The rubber fitting was placed on this pipe to release water when the tanks are full so the water will not back up into the camper and cause a flood. This is a great design… if you don’t have a sealed / insulated underbelly.

The RV tech told us he did not recommend we seal it because then we would defeat the purpose of this “fail safe”. So we replaced the insulation and sealed the underbelly back up.

The moral of the story is… don’t let your tanks fill to capacity. Otherwise you’ll find yourself under your camper with a face full of sopping wet insulation at best, and potentially severe water damage at worst."

About the Author:

Kimberly Travaglino is the Editor of Fulltime Families Magazine a monthly multimedia e-mag for families who are interested in the full time rv lifestyle and experiencing these adventures with their children.

 

[Ballenxj]

I hadn't ever had this issue because I often emptied my holding tanks but for the many who don't:

From "fulltimefamilies.com", 9-10-2011, entitled: "Our Camper Was Made to Leak!":

WOW! That was quite a story! I will have to remember to never top off the fresh water tank.
I would never have thought about that, thanks.

 

[highdesertranger]

if you look at the pic dusty posted on post 45 you can see the construction type I was talking about when I said typical RV. this is the way they are built and it's all stapled together. they will literally come to pieces if you try to off road with them. the sandwich fiberglass panels that units like mockturttle's Tiger uses is much better and is made for off road, I am not familiar with Jesse's so I can't comment. highdesertranger

 

[ZoNiE]

I never heard of the "failsafe seal". Sounds like total RV tech bullshit to me. It is a cheap way to "seal" a pipe when you try to slap an RV together in 30 seconds. Pop grommet into hole, shove in pipe while lifting tank into place, hope it "went in", done.

Drop the tank and have a pipe welded to it and use a rubber coupling with Hose clamps to connect to the pipe from the sink(s) if you have room. You may need to open the floor some more.

Another way is to have a threaded fitting spun onto the tank. Spinning heats up both the tank and fitting and melts them together, but this usually works best with both being the same plastic (usually PE). Then thread in a pipe coupler.

I replaced all my fittings on my '77 GMC motorhome by threading in couplings (My tanks had threads) and then connected with rubber couplings. Never had a leak after that. Most GMC'ers did this when repairing plumbing.

 

[Ballenxj]

I never heard of the "failsafe seal". Sounds like total RV tech bullshit to me. It is a cheap way to "seal" a pipe when you try to slap an RV together in 30 seconds. Pop grommet into hole, shove in pipe while lifting tank into place, hope it "went in", done.
<----  snip ------->
I replaced all my fittings on my '77 GMC motorhome by threading in couplings (My tanks had threads) and then connected with rubber couplings. Never had a leak after that. Most GMC'ers did this when repairing plumbing.

Techy BS eh. That does sound more like it.  You have a GMC motorhome? MAN, those are NICE! Which engine do you have?

 

[LoupGarou]

Here's is an example of a torque free mount. The design permits the camper body to lift and separate from the truck chassis as it flexes. The design also restricts forward, backward and side-to-side movement of the camper body on the truck chassis.

 

[Canine]

Chalet brand TS116 triple slide camper.  Big.   :s   Heavy.   :s   Spendy. Has a built in washer and dryer though!



:huh:

From "Truck Camper Magazine.com article:

"Wait! No really, we need to talk about weight.

Let there be no doubt that the Chalet TS116 Prototype is a very big and heavy truck camper. Don and Pat estimated the camper at 4,700 dry, but they had not yet run the camper across the scales. Based on our experience, this camper will likely weigh close to 6,000 pounds wet, with options, and loaded up with you and your stuff.

This is not a, “My dually can handle it” camper. You must run the numbers and match this camper with the right truck, preferably one with at least 6,000 pounds of payload. Match this camper correctly with the right truck, and it will stop, steer, and handle beautifully. Match it incorrectly, and it would not be a fun rig to drive. Please follow our article, "Matching a Truck and Camper" no matter what truck and camper you assemble."

 

[highdesertranger]

yikes that thing is a monster. highdesertranger

 

[Ballenxj]

Let there be no doubt that the Chalet TS116 Prototype is a very big and heavy truck camper.  Don and Pat estimated the camper at 4,700 dry, but they had not yet run the camper across the scales.  Based on our experience, this camper will likely weigh close to 6,000 pounds wet, with options, and loaded up with you and your stuff.

This is not a, “My dually can handle it” camper.  You must run the numbers and match this camper with the right truck, preferably one with at least 6,000 pounds of payload.  Match this camper correctly with the right truck, and it will stop, steer, and handle beautifully.  Match it incorrectly, and it would not be a fun rig to drive.

WOW! That's a bit out of my weight range. I mean, what at that point, would prevent one from getting a well appointed Class A motorhome?
I'm still teetering between a C class MH, and a decent camper. :-/ Both used, of course.

 

[akrvbob]

Everything is a trade-off so the first thing to do is set your priorities. What's most important to you:

comfort/room
fuel mileage
initial price
driveability
simplicity and reliability
back-road ability
stealth

Most of these are opposites of each other so you have to know what you want most our of a vehicle home and be willing to give up it's opposite. By far the best compromise of them is a van. Of you want more comfort then a Class B. If you want off-road then a very small camper on a 4x4 truck. The more comfort it gives you, the less off-road and fuel economy and reliability.

Everything is a trade-off!
Bob

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on what Bob said. highdesertranger

 

[psytechguy]

Been living in this for the past 15 months.
2003 Capri Rodeo Deluxe.

You'll notice it's a short bed camper in a long bed truck.
I sorta put the cart before the horse, so to speak.
I got a heck of a deal on the camper and then had to find a truck.

The Cummins hauls it around like it's not even on there.
My biggest problem is clearance on some of the forest roads I go down.
It's 10.5 ft at the top of the AC unit.

It's do-able for a single person, although I do find myself wishing I had more room sometimes.
That's when it's time to get out of the camper and explore!

 

[Ballenxj]

Been living in this for the past 15 months.
2003 Capri Rodeo Deluxe.

That looks very doable. Right now I'm doing an awful lot of thinking, looking, and picking peoples brains on the subject.

 

[akrvbob]

I'm a big fan of the Capri Rodeo campers. I'd want one as an empty shell, nothing in it, and make it exactly what I want it to be.
Bob

 

[DannyB1954]

Years back I had a late 60's 3/4 ton Ford pickup 390 V8 with a camper on it. It got 6 mpg. I took the camper off, it got 6 MPG.
It is easy to overload a 1/2 ton van with water, batteries, fuel, generator, camping stuff etc. and you already have a shell to sleep in. With a Pickup, The added shell by itself empty weighs a lot. Even the smallest of the Class B's or C's are not built on a 1/2 ton frame.

My present situation is I have a 1/2 ton 4x4 pickup. I took the original bed off and made a flatbed out of it. This gives me a 7'X7' floor plan to work with. I am not going to full time with this, and I am a single guy with a dog, so I am going the minimalist approach with whatever I build for it. Porta potti, 5 gallon jugs for water, (no holding tanks), 5 gallon buckets for washing dishes, with a little bit of bleach in the buckets both wash and rinse.
Insulated walls, and a comfortable bed is all I really need. I use a twin size hide a bed at the house in the spare bedroom and I sleep well. Shower outside with a Hudson sprayer. Anything more, and I would go with a larger truck. Stealth camping is out with a truck anyway, so I may get a trailer later as well. It having it's own suspension and brakes makes towing a real possibility with a 1/2 ton with a V8.