Just a couple of thoughts for the TC industry on the sad demise of Livin Lite TC’s and trailers. Since 1981, my wife and I have owned 5 different campers, 3 of which were truck campers, 1 home made and 1 manufactured class C camper. We have had everything from plywood exteriors to the original aluminum siding to the bonded aluminum exterior aluminum. We have had wood frames, basically bulletproof Grumman aluminum(1958 van), aluminum frames sistered with wood, and our current all aluminum frame. We have seen exploded campers on the side of the road, rusted staples popping out of our manufactured campers, bounced on rotted wood floors, sagging ceilings, put on more roof vents than I can count, fixed totally inaccessible water pipes, ruptured hot water tanks, hit stumps while backing up, had 2 camper batteries overcharge while driving, shorted out electrical lines, had a front facing sleeper window explode all over the inside from a birdstrike, several flat tires (always on the rear), had to chase out field mice tip toeing in the ceiling while trying to sleep…the list is always growing. I have learned by reading, drilling, patching, butyling (if that is a word), Thompson water sealing, riveting, spraying truck bed liner on everything, duct taping, plywooding and doing everything that we have all done to keep our rigs on the road. Despite all the surprises, my wife and I have loved all our mis-adventures and travels over the years with all our dubious rigs.
We have gone to most of the New England Camper/RV shows in Boston and local RV shows in Vermont and have seen all of the TC models available in the northeast.
We had always had a used unit of some sort until 2015, when we purchased the Livin Lite 10’ non slide, basic camper. I mean BASIC. The year that our current rig was built, 2013, the Camp lite company had a hatred to all wood products, and our camper was a tribute to the healing power of aluminum, flux, solid insulation, plastic and whatever the heck azdel really is.
We had no stinkin’ graduate of a design school carefully match a gentle matte earth color of a cushion to the interior cabinets. We think the cushions fabric were from a Peruvian train wreck. The wet bath is a little too narrow for the proper spread of knees. Our over the stove cabinet(microwave space) is not a real rectangular 3D shape, but some sort of rhomboid thing. The cotton of the original cushions and bed were salvaged from the packing in the top of aspirin bottles. No Dutch craftsmen hand made tenons and hidden fastenings for the 15 pound cabinet doors. Nobody carefully vacuumed out the aluminum shavings. I think someone named Bubba did the oblong cabinet construction. But………
We have had no leaks, the walls don’t flex, it is very quiet inside, holds 2 gas bottles, has all the necessary appliances to keep you alive in the real wilderness or at Fort Wilderness. It weighs about 700 pounds less than any other 10’ camper we have seen. The Livin Lite 2013 TC required you to participate in the design and comfort process. What, no drawers for spoons and such, well, you just better go out and buy a couple of plastic pull our drawers to attach under the overhead cabinets, oh and by the way, do it yourself. No toilet paper holder, shut up and go to West Marine for a boat tp holder. Big open cabinets and closets with no shelves in them, be happy they put in a clothes rack and go get some plywood and make your own shelves and cubbies in the closets and stop whining. This camper is not the QE2 or even 1. It does exactly what it was intended to do. Make an outstanding camper with no frills. You want a frill, you make one. It was, and is, perfect. Don’t like the interior “refinements”, turn off the lights. You don’t have to be Steve Wozniak to put in the necessary mods, which kept the initial cost reasonable for a basically indestructible camper. You want a Ford F350 turbo diesel King Ranch with 6-7 doors…..go buy some big boy TC that the truck springs would actually feel. This camper is like a Ford F250 XL with roll down windows, vinyl floors and seats. Dog throws up, hose it out!
Thor can spin, and financial experts can shake their heads on why they could not make enough money to keep the Livin Lite division open. Hint….When they replaces the aluminum roof with azdel or whatever, and promoted REAL wood cabinets, they were already sipping the grape cool-aid.
I can’t afford a big ass lounge chair of a truck or the latest Star Trek inspired round door and radius window unit, complete with awning and escalator stairs. But I can appreciate a well built, really well built, basic TC, reasonably priced, and I am glad that my first and last really new camper was our Camp Lite, or Livin’ Lite. Our camper has both decals on it. Bubba must have been in a good mood that day.
