Who is a Full Timer with a Camper?

[wildman4x4]

It's been some interesting conversations on other RV forums with people who DO NOT think people in truck campers are also full timers in the RV world.
Now I know 2-3 people who full time in a truck camper but they are all single.
I'm just curious who out here fit into this group as I have plans to hopefully become a semi-full timer to start in about 2-3 years.
I am currently looking at campers right now and my one MAIN requirement is that it needs to be a side entry camper.
Next it needs to have extra room in the bathroom. Or I should say for the commode. I do not care if it is a dry or wet bathroom (I don't think) since I've never had a wet bath that I've used.

A little back history. I am a disabled veteran and a lower right leg amputee. I lost my leg due to injuries I received in Iraq in 2004. So my getting around can be a challenge somedays but I don't let that stop me. But because of this I need a camper that has a taller floor so that the height into the cabover bunk area isn't a high as it was in older campers.
The side entry is becasue I will be towing about 90% of the time while the camper is on my truck. My other BIG requirement is that I have room to put in a recliner/couch setup. Becasue of this I am looking at something like the Chalet TS116 or other used campers with a minimum of 2 slides. I need to have a true recliner so that I can elevate my leg some of the time. I'm sure as I gather experiance I will find other features that are important to me but these are the things I know of now.

I've owned 2 TC's be for this. One was a S&S short bed unit and the other was a late 1990's Adventurer single slide dry bath unit. Ex talked me into getting a motorhome instead and IMHO it was my worst mistake of my RV life. I'll never own another MH in my foreseeable future. But I learned to never say never.

[JoeChiOhki]

I did it for several years, though I didn't travel around all the time with it, though it usually just stayed parked at my space in an RV park when I wasn't taking it out traveling.

My now wife was staying with her mom because my work during those years was transitory, and so putting down permanent roots wasn't practical. So, I lived in the area with the camper while my work contract lasted, then hung onto the space at the park and spent my time back staying with family if I wasn't wandering around on saved up money between contracts traveling with her or by myself with our dog.

Now, we have a giant fifth wheel in the same park as the one I had used during those years working as a contractor as our permanent home and the campers went back to being the traveling rigs.

[woodworker414]

AS i mentioned in a post above. The Lance 1172 that we have now, is my 4th tc. Years ago I had a couple of ReaLite 1200 with side entry. I knew I would always have a side entry.

[woodworker414]

We have a 2020 Lance 1172 , 2 slides. WE are getting ready to become almost full timers. Wandering the country. Well that is the plan.
This is my 4th tc. This is Brenda's first tc. We have been together for 4 1/ 2 years now. I am 77, Brenda is 70. Having the time of our lives. Brenda found ours on rvtrader. Used one time. Previous owner said they thought it was not big enough. So they said they were going to replace it with a 43' class A diesel pusher. Do you think that will be enough BIG?
We chose the Lance 1172 because of the two slides. The rear slide has a couch, which was a must. Not recliners tho. It does have the piece that come our and up to hold your calf. For Brenda it is a recliner because she is so short. I use a foot rest out past the leg lift and I am comfortable. The bed is not to high for us. And I have bad knees.. We really like it.
Good luck on your hunt. You will find what is perfect for you
Thank You for your service.
Brenda and Bill
2014 Silverado 3500 HD CC 4x4 8' bed Duals Dura Max 6 speed Allison LTZ
2020Lance 1172
The old signature below is so outdated
I have tried several times to delete it but the site won't change it.
Safe Travels

[n0arp]

My wife and I, and our three dogs, full-time in two rigs, a 39' fifth wheel and an AF1140. We've spent the last ten months straight in the AF1140 with the fifth wheel sitting in storage. We've been part time since 2014 and full time since 2019.

[Grit_dog]

csh_2088 wrote:
I just started full timing and have a Capri truck camper on a 6.75 truck bed. The Capri are well made and great for cross country trips and camping off of back roads but there lack of storage space makes it tough to fulltime. I learned a valuable lesson and that's full timing is more than just a long camping trip.

Interesting!
Are you retired? Can work remotely?
While it sounds like an adventure I can’t imagine full timing in a glorified camper shell.

[csh_2088]

I just started full timing and have a Capri truck camper on a 6.75 truck bed. The Capri are well made and great for cross country trips and camping off of back roads but there lack of storage space makes it tough to fulltime. I learned a valuable lesson and that's full timing is more than just a long camping trip.

[Camp_woof]

I started fulltimimg Sept. 2019, just before this *"#:! Covid stuff. Fulltimimg in a truck camper is even better than I thought, I'm having a blast!I'm in a 2019 ram dually and bigfoot 10.4 truck camper. I carry a couple bicycles, inflatable kayak, 12lb dog ... And have tons of room. So much room that where I thought I'd be at 13,200 lbs max weight, I ran just over 14k on a cat scale. Embarrassing, I tossed stuff out this past Christmas. Now I have even more storage room inside. I primarily boondock in the west. what I've learned... I never take the camper off (easy to drive rig with camper on), don't need 4wd mode much, but do like the ground clearance, and don't like how slow you have to driver over rough roads, easy to take 2 gallon or less showers ... Oh, and both I and the dog love my catalytic propane heater. Dave

[3_tons]

Well, I’m beginning to think that they way things seem to be going, we might all end up full timing it - lol !

3 tons

[notsobigjoe]

Good luck with your travels and your dreams. many years ago we bought a patio room. It is a completely closable room that hangs from the awning. Although at times it can be a major pain! It has certainly come in handy on other occasions. My sister has slept in it a few times and it's a great place for the mutts when you need them out of the way. Also when my nieces and nephews were small we zipped them inside with their toys. Please post your travels or even better start a YouTube page.
Joe

https://www.rvpartscountry.com/Dometic-Patty-O-Room-Stand-Starter-Kit.html

[brholt]

I guess we qualify. We are now beginning our full time travels in a truck camper (F350 DRW, AF1150). The house is empty, the house contents have been reduced to valuable or sentimental items and packed into a container which gets picked up Friday to go into storage until it’s shipped to where we decide to settle in a number of years. We are in the process of selling the house, and we moved in the camper 3 nights ago. We means my wife and I, two Golden Retrievers, and two cats.

Although one never knows for sure we have taken a number of multi-month trips that gives us confidence we know what to expect. We had an AF1150 for the past 9 years in doing these trips and last year looked at upgrading our TC in anticipation of going full-time. I might note that we looked but never seriously considered other kinds of RV’s because we liked the size and flexibility the TC’s offer.

We looked at Host, Lance, and Eagle Cap but kept coming back to AF and their 1150.
We had never felt cramped with the full wall slide of the AF1150 before and with the changes Northwood made (more ceiling room in the bedroom, cathedral ceiling everywhere else) it felt even more roomy. We ordered a new 1150 in March and finally got it in October, We took a 7,000+ mile trip from 12/2/20 to 2/3/21 as a shake down trip. Things went very well and we really liked the more roomy feeling of our new AF.

Some examples of our system we have developed over the years.

In the truck in the backseat we have Fords underseat and behind seat storage, “footwell” storage boxes (Orvis) and then another layer of boxes (Frontrunner Wolf and Cub packs) over the rear seat and footwell boxes. There is then a cover and dog beds allowing the dogs to ride on top (with “seatbelt” straps to their harnesses). They get a good view and we get a lot of a storage. Downside is some digging to get at stuff but if you think about it there is a lot of stuff that is “seasonal” or used only rarely, e.g. an 18 volt power drill). And we still have the ability to use the rear seat with some work.

The truck has an armored storage “vault” in the center console to allow us to keep valuables reasonably safe.

Speaking of tools, tape, glue and repair and emergency stuff we have a small selection of the most commonly used in the camper and a wider selection of less commonly used, e.g. sockets, in the truck.

We use Eagle Creek medium packing cubes for clothes in the “hampers” Northwood puts beside the beds. You can get 12 cubes in those storage hampers so one cube for socks, one for underwear, one for .... you get the idea. Very convenient and easy to use as you can see what is in the cubes and we have multiple colors cubes as well. The smaller packing cubes work great in the overhead rack above the “hampers”.

In the rear hitch we have an aluminum storage rack where we carry a Clam Quickset screen room with wall panels as well as a outdoor mat and assorted other things.

I could go on but it is pretty amazing how much “stuff” you can pack into a truck and the AF1150 and not fell cramped. One more example. Our cats are older and one is in early kidney failure so he gets fluids inserted under his skin everyday. So we are carrying 15 bags of one litter saline solution for him.

I could go on but we think A TC is an ideal full time set up for us. We are small so we fit everywhere. No worries about parking or getting into a gas station. Campground may be full for the 40 ft fifth wheel but it amazing how many places can squeeze in our 25 ft unit. With 4 wheel drive and decent ground clearance we can get into and out of lots of places other RV’s can’t (and the Autosocks we carry let us handle snow and ice like a champ as we experienced this January in the mountains of California). Between the truck and the camper we have plenty of storage. 385 watts of solar and a built in generator give us all the power we need, Tanks are big enough to give us good self contained capacity. And when we stay somewhere for awhile we can just drop the camper and run around with the truck.

Who knows, maybe a year from know we will be singing a different tune, but at the moment we are excited and looking forward to traveling a North American with our truck camper,

[Longshore]

Wildman, there is a youtube couple who full time in a Lance 1025, I believe, with a little dog, and seem to love it. Destination Open Road. I think they are looking to upsize though.

You might find some of their stuff interesting. Thank you for answering the call.

[EYEMLOST]

Yes; rock crawlers are pretty imaginative when it come to hauling their stuff. 😉 :C

[notsobigjoe]

wildman4x4 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
This forum build it wisdom (or not) over the years and you want to come to easy conclusion in matter of minutes?.
20 years ago triple slides did not exist.
First TC slides come around year 2001 and were single slides only.
So far you only answer the 6' question.
So will 8' with no slide satisfy you? even they don't come with side entry.
How about 8' with single slide? (even if they exist)

I've answered a lot of these questions already I thought.
But to recap my experiance with TC again.

First camper I owned was in 2005. It was a short bed S&S model with a wet bath. I never used the shower in that camper but camped a lot with it and figured out quickly that I would like more room.

I still had a short bed truck and trying to find a decent sized camper for a SB truck is HARD. So I came up with another idea.

I bought a Adventurer camper with a single slide. But it was made for a long bed truck. Instead of buying a new truck I decided to build myself a Red Neck Toy Hauler (RNTH).

I mounted the camper on the nose of a gooseneck trailer.







So based on my experiance with this I have made my choices in a new camper. I no longer own my RNTH as I listened to a ex-wife who wanted a MH instead. Never again.

I know that a camper with no slides won't be comfortable for me and I also know that other than one model of a single slide camper would it be comfortable for me.

So I want a camper with 2 or more slides and either come with some type of recliner or have a spot where I can install a recliner.
I am not going into any of this blind nor do I not have any experiance with campers and other forms of RV's.
My choices are based upon some knowledge.

But what does my choice in campers have to do with asking for others experiance with full timing in a camper?

I have 2 friends who full time in a TC and both of them have single slide campers with a rear door entrance.
I know from my experiance that I want a camper with a side entrance and a minimum of 2 slides.

Wildman, Does one have to be a redneck to own something like this? Was it longer than 54 feet? Have you ever been turned away from a campground with this rig? I LOVE IT. I could put my little bay liner right in back there and it would work perfect. Thanks for the Pics, Joe

[StirCrazy]

just coming in to this post, I would recomend you build another RNTH. and I would also say if you do that stay with a rear exit. the reason for this is when you unload the bike and jeep, you will have a wonderfull deck you can sit on with your lawn chairs and such. realy a nice long flatdeck with a nice double slide or even tripple slide rear entey camper mounted on it. that would be a pretty nice size apartment with a deck area for one or two people. depending on the hight of the flat deck you could probably even undersling a few extra tanks for fresh,black and grey water to extend outings. plus if you do it with a 5th wheel hitch it is simple as heck to disconect when you need the truck.

Steve