Im thinking about picking up a slide in truck camper...

[carsonc1974]

So little intro, Ive never had a camper of any kind at all. I've never even slept in a camper, so I am totally and completely ignorant when it comes to these sort of things. Im thinking of picking up and OLD, OLD slide in camper for my OLD truck. I have some health issues that have made tenting it much more difficult, and as such, haven't gotten out the last 2 summers nearly as much as I would like. We are mostly looking for something to sleep in at night, and are not to worried about bathrooms, and showers and stuff like that.

I am not looking to spend thousands this year on one, as I'm not sure this is the direction i want to go yet, so I'm thinking of budgeting around $1000. I know this will only get me into the 70's and 80's era campers, and im OK with that.

Now my questions:

What should one look for when looking to purchase one these antiques?

Should I not even bother with campers this old, and a budget this tight?

Any tips for a first timer?

 

[Kirk]

Not sure if you have a 3/4 ton or long bed? Older slide in cab over campers are kinda heavy for a half ton (IMO). I think you can find them for cheap - my dads friend gave me one for free several years ago - I used it for a couple years, and gave it to someone else. I think water damage is the biggest thing I would look for. Fixing water damage can turn into a big ugly project.

 

[carsonc1974]

Big OLD truck= '92 dodge w250 long bed cummins, Should be able to handle anything out there. I've been told that water damage is the number one thing to look out for. Are the roof and windows the number one culprits?

 

[jeeper]

Big OLD truck= '92 dodge w250 long bed cummins, Should be able to handle anything out there. I've been told that water damage is the number one thing to look out for. Are the roof and windows the number one culprits?

This^

Jacks are also a big deal. A weak corner can bring a whole camper toppling over onto your truck (or you).
bathrooms are nice to have. Usually found in the larger, heavier campers.
Smaller, lighter campers are also fun, as they dont require much for prep, and don't affect the driving and exploring in the truck too much.

They can be found for good deal, especially if you look often and are patient. My wifes favorite camper ever was our slide in.

 

[DAA]

I've owned a slide in camper and used the heck out of it.

I would offer this thought up for consideration... Unless you are going to just leave it on the truck, loading/unloading/maintaining etc. are a lot more work for any given trip than just setting up and taking down a tent!

- DAA

 

[carsonc1974]

That is true. setup time will be longer and more involved. This may be a silly questions but I dont know the answer. do these older campers have any electricity or is it all propane powered?

 

[jeeper]

That is true. setup time will be longer and more involved. This may be a silly questions but I dont know the answer. do these older campers have any electricity or is it all propane powered?

They usually run off a 12v battery and propane. some have 110v plug in ability.

 

[Kirk]

The one I had, had a 3 way fridge - it ran off propane, 12v or 110 - if I remember correctly - that would have probably been the most expensive thing to replace - I think the camper jacks are a little spendy to replace also.....

I have actually thought several times I wanted another one, but my truck is a short bed - so not real feasable.

My dad made a little slide in sleeper type camper - not a cab over (rounded front), and sat probably 3 feet above the cab of the truck - no water etc.. it could sleep 3/4 ish, and had a little two burner stove. We used that a lot growing up. Didn't feel like it was too big/bulky....

 

[Shawn]

Older campers can be a nightmare when it comes to wood rot. I had two and would never but another. Have you thought about a bumper pull trailer? In some cases this is more simple than a camper

 

[Kevin B.]

What's the issue with tenting? Is is the setting up and taking down, or the sleeping on the ground? I'm just saying, a cot and a decent foam mattress would be lots cheaper than a camper, and loading/unloading the camper is a lot more work than setting up a tent, just you do it at home instead of at camp. I like the idea of a trailer too.

 

[Cherokeester]

Look for an 80's Lance, mine has fridge. 12 v, propane or 120 v. It has a hot shower and toilet and sleeps 4 comfortably. It does hook up to shore power and has a built in inverter. There is just no comparison to tents, it's warm, has lots of room and light. I can cook on a 4 burner stove and I have an oven too. Downside is it takes about 1/2 hour to load it and it uses the bed of the truck but I pull my jeeps on a flatbed. This camper fits on my 2004 short bed Ford btw.

 

[carsonc1974]

No, im a pretty healthy pup other then some throat problems that cause some sleeping problems.

 

[carsonc1974]

Look for an 80's Lance, mine has fridge. 12 v, propane or 120 v. It has a hot shower and toilet and sleeps 4 comfortably. It does hook up to shore power and has a built in inverter. There is just no comparison to tents, it's warm, has lots of room and light. I can cook on a 4 burner stove and I have an oven too. Downside is it takes about 1/2 hour to load it and it uses the bed of the truck but I pull my jeeps on a flatbed. This camper fits on my 2004 short bed Ford btw.

That would be an awesome camper... im sure its far outside my Price range for something like that though.

 

[Cherokeester]

I picked it up for $1200 off a poor U of U student. If you add tent and all camping gear cost you would be in the same ball park.

 

[carsonc1974]

$1200 is definitely doable. I will keep my eyes peeled!

 

[wheelewagon]

I would personally never buy A camper. We use to barrow my father in laws for A while. They're A pain like others have get ready and hooked up. They can also do a lot of damage to your truck and the camper if you don't get lined up perfectly when pulling under them. They put all of the wait directly in the bed of your truck and over the top of it, so it really drags your truck down. Plus with the wait being up that high, you become very top heavy and tipy. If you do any dirt road camping where it's not A nice gravel road, they get really beat up and thrown around on the truck. There is very little support for how they mount. You have the 2 chains that go to your back bumper, which just by tightening by hand can bend your bumper. Then 2 chains that you hook to little brackets mounted sticking out of the front of your bed, which surprisingly hold pretty well but you have to drill out your bed and mount that cross bed stiffener bracket thingy for it. Also you have to buy that mounting kit for it which will add to your price. Wind, road conditions, And driving speeds become huge factors when you have one on. They sit high sense the're in the back of your truck so when your using it, you have to climb up quit high into them. Which isn't A huge deal but like you said your getting older and looking for something easier. Are you going to want to climb up that high as you get older? Especially when you wake up in the middle of the night to go see A man about A horse and slip and fall out.

They don't seem very sturdy either, and I believe is because they're trying to keep wait down. I couldn't believe how beat up they get so easily. We built A sub frame thing to put under it to help stiffen up the floor seeing how your truck bed has the grooves in it. We also built some bracket supports to try and help hold it in place. We also bought air bags to help out the suspension and the role factor of it. And after all of that hassle you still have this small cramped living space with no bathroom or anything. Of coarse I'm sure I'm going to hear people freaking out now about how awesome they are and I don't know what I'm talking about.

I would personally just buy A small bumper pull trailer instead. Getting on and off the truck is going to be easier, climbing in and out is easier, pulling it will be nicer, you'll most likely have A bathroom and better amenities, and on and on and on. This is what my grandpa did, and he was able to get it hooked up, moved around and everything by himself. His was even small and light enough that he would put it on this little hitch dolly and move it around where he needed it. Of coarse this is just my opinion, but I think you'd be way happier with A small bumper pull then A camper.

 

[carsonc1974]

FYI, I have some medical conditions that make sleeping arrangements difficult. That is all, I'm not old or frail or anything like that.

All good points. Thanks for your opinion! I will say, im not worried about the truck. Its old and beat up already, and i have started building a flatbed for it. The sway, being top heavy, and not handling rough roads is definitely something I need to consider.

My reason for wanting a slide in camper, is so I can haul my truck on a trailer as well. That puts the pull behind trailer out of the running.

 

[wheelewagon]

FYI, I have some medical conditions that make sleeping arrangements difficult. That is all, I'm not old or frail or anything like that.

Not trying to call you old or anything. I'm 27 and still wouldn't want to climb in and out of one all the time. Especially after having A few LOL. I know A lot of people frown on this also but, if you pull A small bumper pull, you can always hook your utility trailer on the back. Especially if it's not to big. What kind of things are you putting on your trailer to need to haul one? When we were growing up, we'd cram all of our extra stuff inside of our trailer up to camp then unload it. Also with the trailer your camping packing goes down cuz you don't need to bring all of the extra sleeping bags, cooking stuff, etc. Especially if you have cook wear and plates and everything designated to the camper or trailer, even that much less stuff to pack. If you are needing to pull an extra trailer for bikes, you can always get A real small bumper pull toy hauler also, although Highly doubt you'd find one in that price range. My uncle has one that't probably about 12' that works great.

On another point with this. I was just having A discussion with someone else about is, price expense vs item quality. I have A brother in law that will not spend money to buy anything and he's always fixing his broken down stuff. It's like, ok cool you spent $2500 dollars on that car, nice $ save. But it's A huge heap of crap and you're constantly fixing it. Now you've spent another $2500 fixing it, plus all of your time and work fixing it. You could have bought that $5000 dollar car and not had those problems. Not saying this is you or anything so don't get offended. I'm just A firm believer in spending the money once and having something that works, then spending the money multiple times and fixing stuff. Basically what I am saying is, if I was in this situation I'd either suck it up and spend A little more on something that will last, or if I absolutely couldn't, I'd save till I could and figure something else out till then. But not saying either that spending more money is always getting you nicer stuff. A perfect example of it is that camper nice camper we use to use vs that old small trailer my grandpa had. That camper was constantly having problems, and that trailer really never did. Just saying you may be able to up your search price A little and find something that will fit your needs better then compromising. But like I said this is just my opinion and I don't fully know what your needs are.

From my personal experiences though, I wouldn't buy A camper. If you have A dually though, then your stability goes way up and everything else becomes better. I knew an older couple who had A dually with A camper on it. They'd just leave it on all the time and jack the jacks down to take load off of the truck when sitting. They pulled A little trailer behind it as well. He use to have A single axle and the first time they had the camper on and trailer on a trip his wife made him pull over and trade the truck in for A dually lol.

 

[I Lean]

I really love my camper, so I'll have to (naturally) disagree with Wheelewagon. I started with a free 1970's camper...probably similar to what you're talking about. It was nicer than a tent in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't bother with one like it again. It had no fridge, just what amounted to a cooler. No bathroom, small windows so it was kinda dark inside, heavy as can be, and the jack mounting was kinda sketchy. (probably due to rotten wood)

Because of what I learned from owning that one, my current one is a bit different. 1999 Lance Lite...it's larger (9'6", so not huge still), has a bathroom/shower, a fridge, and probably one of the biggest improvements for me, electric jacks. Loading and unloading was always scary with the hydraulic jacks--move one corner at a time, worry about ripping a jack off the corner, it would take 30 minutes to load or unload....not so fun. Now, it's one button to lift or lower the whole thing, and with the quick-release tie downs I have now, it's not even 10 minutes to load or 5 to unload. All my camping stuff stays packed in it, so I just have to pack clothes and food to be ready to go. Propane will last at least a week if I'm just using the stove, fridge, and water heater.

I tow a trailer, and I don't want to bother double-towing, so the camper is the choice for me. I can also get my truck into places I wouldn't necessarily want to take a trailer. Yes it's more top-heavy, but just keep that in mind when you have it on the truck. Also, get a rubber bed mat to go under it--without it, the camper can/will slide around a little in the bed when you go through dips or other things that make your truck rock side to side. It's much more solid with the rubber under it.

 

[DAA]

Does your CPAP run on batteries? Or 12V? If not, make sure whatever you get has a compatible electric system - probably an inverter and enough battery capacity to run your machine for at least one full night.

- DAA