Family Camping Setup

My answer for everything offroad/overland, buy a Defender!
There's even one for sale on AAV!
http://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/fs-1986-land-rover-defender-110-csw-5-door-rhd.3969/


1) Seats 5 (+4 fold down seats in the cargo area in the rear). Plenty of leftover room for storage and roof racks are a popular addition.
2) Rooftop tents are a good option and there's a million kitchen additions for these cars.
3) Could be dedicated for only fun, or driven every day. I DD my 1989 110 every single day.
4) V8 engine popular and plenty capable to tow.
5) Heating always works, A/C comes on some models.
6) Can go anywhere
9) Range can be limitless with options for gas can storage and additional fuel tanks.
10) Winch is an easy addition.
 
The biggest issue with that combo would be the set up and teardown time. A big reason for the new rig is that I want to be able to level the rig and go to sleep or start cooking.

Otherwise, that Defender would be pretty sweet.
 
More thoughts on my potential setup.

I’m probably over analyzing, but trying to make mistakes here on the Internet where it’s cheaper. Looking at money and my goals, I wonder if I wouldn’t be well served to consider a hard sided camper instead of the Four Wheels Camper. Before you break out the pitchforks, let me lay out my reasoning.

Pros of the American Hero by Northstar:

1) The American Hero is just about zero setup. Level the rig and climb in.

2) The American Hero has hard side walls. Therefore no park restrictions.

3) The price is about the same as the Four Wheel Camper Grandby flatbed.

4) North-south mattress. No climbing over the wife in the middle of the night.

5) Permanent shower stall.

6) Camper is designed to be easily dismounted and used off truck.



Cons:

1) Less aerodynamic. Taller and wider than the FWC.

2) About 1000 lbs heavier.

3) Really should be mounted on a dual rear wheel truck. Could also be on a properly converted dual to single wheel setup.

If I’m going to be towing my Jeep, at least for longer trips, then the penalty of dual rear wheels will be less. I think the typical operation would be to drive somewhere with interesting trails, setup camp, and use the Jeep to do the exploring. Much of what I am planning for the rig involves just going slightly off the beaten path.
 
What's this about park restrictions?

The north south sleeping option is available in any FWC. That's why we chose the king size bed option.

1000 lbs heavier? That's double the weight of my FWC amigo. Which equals a big hit against your "off roadability". And fuel efficiency.
 
Dave said:
What's this about park restrictions?

The north south sleeping option is available in any FWC. That's why we chose the king size bed option.

1000 lbs heavier? That's double the weight of my FWC amigo. Which equals a big hit against your "off roadability". And fuel efficiency.
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Some parks impose restrictions on soft-side shelters, primarily tents, when the risk of bear intrusion is heightened. This happens in Yellowstone occasionally over the last few years when some moron (typically) got too close to a bear and got mauled or worse, so the knee jerk reaction is to impose restrictions on everyone.

When I was last there a soft-shelter restriction was imposed on the park campgrounds after a bear attacked some woman who got too close (by all accounts), however when going through the campgrounds there was no mass exodus and plenty of tents on all the sites.
 
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Feedback is why I'm posting my random thoughts on here. If it were just me, I'd slap a Hawk Flatbed on a regular cab 2500 with a Cummins and 6 spd manual. And get gone; a diesel would payoff for me as a single traveler because I like to scoot around. Adding in the rest of the family makes things more complicated. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade my wife or kids for anything, but they do change the logistics a bit.

Part of the issue is that on a square foot basis, a truck camper is way more expensive than any other RV. The upside is that your access with a truck camper is so much better than tugging around some 45 foot long fifth wheel. The sheer cost is making me set back and be sure that I've thought things through.

Still thinking. I've about wore out the Ram Truck build site. Just need to make a decision and make things happen.
 
Nuclear Redneck said:
Why I think I’m going to buy a 6.4 Hemi powered 3500 chassis cab for a dedicated camper vehicle. Here are the pros:

Now there are cons:

1) No exhaust brake. I will get the trailer brake controller and that will help when I am towing things with brakes. Otherwise, I’ll just have to be smart about how I handle down hill grades.

2) Lower tow rating. It looks like the 6.4 has about 1800 lbs or so less tow rating than a similarly equipped 6.7 chassis.

3) Can’t get the dual tanks with the Hemi. But with 52 gallons as standard, that’s over 500 miles even at 10 MPG.

4) MPG will be lower than a diesel.

5) Resell will be lower.

6) All the cool kids will point and laugh at me. I’m a Navy Nuke who was a mathalete in high school; this will not be an unusual thing for me.

List price for a gas powered chassis cab is about $49,000. I’d still go with a 4.10 ratio. According to the GrimJeeper’s gear calculator, I’d be turning about 1850 RPMs at 70 MPH on stock tires. Going to 35 inch tires will drop that down to 1700 or so. Lastly, one of the huge advantages to building this on a chassis cab is the industry standard of the frame rail spacing. If I just hate the gas motor, or I decide that Ford is a better platform, or Isuzu, or Mitsubishi, I can jack up the flatbed and shove another chassis cab under it.
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Are you opposed to buying late model used? Like a 2015 with under 20K miles?

1.) Non-issue, the 6.4 does fine with compression braking and downshifting in tow/haul mode. I imagine the exhaust brake is really nice for heavier loads, but you won't be towing a 22k 5th wheel now will you? ;)

3 & 4.) It gets better mileage than that. Jesus, I get 12.1 towing the Airstream.

I have had the gas motor since March and haven't found a reason to dislike it, or the truck. I think you will be happy.

I have to speak negatively about the Ford Super Duty for a moment. The disadvantage with it, is that because it has a different cab than the F150 it's actually bigger, all around. And less maneuverable. The Ram has the tightest turning radius of the bunch (GM, Ford, Ram).

I noticed this with a friend up in Sandpoint, Idaho how his F250 got increased trail rash and he was making two-point turns to go around a tree without smashing the side of his truck into it, where I just went around the tree.
 
I'm leaning away from a used truck since I'm looking at a chassis cab. Most of the single wheel chassis cabs I've seen on the used market are the derated 10K GVWR models. Normally, the SRW models have 12K GVWR. Also, I'm in the spot of having more money than time. Due to my job, I'll be out of pocket for several months in the next year or so. I just don't have the time to stalk the used car ads looking for a great deal and then snapping it up.

Plus there are features on the chassis cab that I want to be sure I get. Like the voltage monitoring and auto idle adjust, dual alternators, upgraded seats, no chrome package, etc.

As for the turning radius, the crew cab 60CA, chassis cab has a 172 inch wheelbase. That's a few inches longer than the crew cab long bed pickup truck. 54 foot turning radius.

I do appreciate the feedback on the fuel mileage. Yours is 20% better than I was allowing. By either estimate, my bladder will be the limiting factor to travel times.

Right now this is a bit of a pipe dream. I won't commit to seriously pleading my case with the wife until I get told where my next duty station will be. The first time I custom ordered a dream truck, I got 3 year orders to Japan. The next time I bought exactly what I wanted (Tacoma Access cab), my wife got pregnant with our oldest after several years of no luck. I'm a bit scared of what'll happen if I order both a truck and a camper. Additionally, there's a decent chance I'm going to submit my retirement papers sooner rather than later. If that happens, I'm going to do my best to convenience the wife to give full time RVing a shot for a year at least.
 
I really like the Ford SuperDuty as well. But, they were priced higher here AND one look at the "Ram vs Ford frame flex test" on YouTube settled it. The Ford frames are shyte compared to the Ram.

A friend's dad has an EarthRoamer on a late model F-750 chassis IIRC, the frame rail was cracked nearly in half by the time they noticed it was failing...
 
Oh I missed the chassis cab part, that makes sense. I lucked out with the dual alternator setup. It makes a big difference when winching.

I was personally always a chevy guy and thought Ram was crap. But two years ago we bought a Ram, and I have enjoyed them so much I upgraded to the 2500 this March.
 
I'm really trying to get this right the first time. I figure I'll take at least a 25% hit if I buy the truck camper combo I'm thinking about, change my mind/find it doesn't work for me, and then sell it after a year. That's quite a bit of moolah. Much cheaper to shoot the bull on the internet and talk about alternatives.

I've got a buddy who got tired of the Navy and put his papers in and retired in 6 months. 4 Months later he got on the road with his wife and 6 year old son in an Airstream and is now loving life. If I could convince my wife that we would be well suited to traveling for a year, that's what I'd rather do. If she's not down with that, I'll stay in another 5 years and take the next promotion to retire. If I stay in for 5 more years, then the Chassis cab/FWC combo will be my interim plan. I am almost leaning towards getting a 3500 crew cab long bed, set up for the max towing I can with a SRW and putting a slide in Grandby in it just to give myself the option of switching to a travel trailer/5th wheel if I choose.
 
Then spend some time thinking about how you'll want to live if you do retire and decide to travel full-time. How that might look and if it will fit your desires. Will you move from campground to campground? Or do you want to be the kind of person that camps out in the boonies? Maybe a mixture of both? Do you think you need full hookups or are you prepared to live off grid? How often will you move? What will travel days look like? Where will your resources come from, etc.

We came up with an idea of how we wanted to live, which was off grid traveling from place to place on public lands. We rarely ever do private campgrounds. The campgrounds we do stay are usually developed BLM, or National Forest sites with a fee or national park.

I just pictured us having the best views for free with no people around, and we went out there and lived it. For example, so much free beautiful camping near the Grand Tetons in the National Forest, yet everyone is jamming themselves into the overcrowded campgrounds.

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BoldAdventure said:
I just pictured us having the best views for free with no people around, and we went out there and lived it. For example, so much free beautiful camping near the Grand Tetons in the National Forest, yet everyone is jamming themselves into the overcrowded campgrounds.
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Yep. Here's to hoping they keep doing that! :clang
 
BoldAdventure said:
Then spend some time thinking about how you'll want to live if you do retire and decide to travel full-time. How that might look and if it will fit your desires. Will you move from campground to campground? Or do you want to be the kind of person that camps out in the boonies? Maybe a mixture of both? Do you think you need full hookups or are you prepared to live off grid? How often will you move? What will travel days look like? Where will your resources come from, etc.

We came up with an idea of how we wanted to live, which was off grid traveling from place to place on public lands. We rarely ever do private campgrounds. The campgrounds we do stay are usually developed BLM, or National Forest sites with a fee or national park.

I just pictured us having the best views for free with no people around, and we went out there and lived it. For example, so much free beautiful camping near the Grand Tetons in the National Forest, yet everyone is jamming themselves into the overcrowded campgrounds.
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Sorry for the thread drift but we'll be in Yellowstone in about three weeks then Grand Teton. Do you have recommendations for camp sites or areas outside of the campgrounds?
 
Seeing the Hawk sitting on Dave's Torque Wagon build is causing me to head down an alternate path. It looks to me that a Grandby Flatbed would fit on that flatbed. There would be no room for a tunnel box, but the advantage of having a 44 foot turning radius (crew cab shortbed) versus a 54 foot turning radius (crew cab chassis cab) is very appealing to me. If I stayed with the 6.4 Hemi, then I'd have 1000 lbs more payload available in the 2500 as compared to the Cummings. Might even be able to find a slightly used gas truck and save even more money.
 
You've got valid points for the Hemi.

I really think you're going to tax the drivetrain with a heavy truck 24/7. From the GMC dealership side of the fence, I tell my customers if they're going to tow once a month or so, a gas engine will meet their needs perfectly. If they are towing once a week or better, diesel is the way to go. If I was you I'd look into renting one of each for a week. Figure out a way to load them with 1500#'s in the bed, and drive them like you plan on using your dream truck, see what you think.
 
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