Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Truck Camper

You know what. I'm not sure I have the background, experience or the qualifications to provide any insight or advice to this thread. I would delete my post right now if I could. So for your piece of mind and decision making going forward. Please ignore what I wrote. The thoughts on Generators, electric jacks, condensation, insulation, removing from the truck while off road, etc. etc.

Those are things I have learned and experienced. However they do not match up with others here with more experience and time spent with these units. I've only owned one, and used 3 and driven with one of them the lance 815 on my own truck for 7 years. I seriously do not think I'm in any position to provide insight and guidance on this.

Please listen to the folks here with the time spent and the much different results. Also call your insurance and the camper folks who do this for a living. There are things I can help with in other forums and on other topics which I do know a lot about. This subject is not one of them. As I said if I could delete my post now I would. Sorry for the direction and the disruption to this thread.

For my '08 Dodge 2500, the difference in payload between the diesel and gas is about 600lb.

What I did when I bought my camper is I called my insurance company, told them what I bought and asked for additional coverage for it. My insurance company said that since it was seldom used, and only road on the truck a few days a year, my current policy covered it. I gave them the price I paid for it, etc. The agent I talked to made sure of this by discussing this with his supervisors, etc.
There is no wsy I'd own a camper w/o insurance on it. E

Unless my camper was nearly new or extremely valuable (or financed where the bank REQUIRES insurance) there is no way I would carry insurance on a camper. After a few years, call them and ask what the value of your camper is (I.e. how much is the book value of your camper if you totaled it). Then subtract your deductible from that. This is the amount of asset you are paying to insure.

Suppose they will pay $5,000 on your 5 year old camper and you have a $750 deductible. You would get a $4,250 check if your camper was totaled. If your insurance bill is $425 per year, you could drop coverage and afford to replace a totaled camper every 10 years (or more as the bill probably will not decline but the value you are insuring always declines with the passage of time).

Unless you are not financially capable of absorbing a $5000 loss in the extremely unlikely event you total the camper, I would drop the insurance. This is ESPECIALLY true with a camper or other toy (motorcycle) as they depreciate fast and the loss can be absorbed by simply not replacing the item if you cannot afford it. Unlike a car where you HAVE to replace it to get to work, school, stored, etc., no one really has to have a camper, so you can delay repurchase until finances are better.

Even if you feel you have to replace it in the unlikely event of a loss and cannot afford to spend the cash, you can always finance one, thus spreading out the payments. If you were really clever, you would drop, the insurance and make "insurance payments" into a camper savings fund to be used to replace a totaled camper or buy a new camper when you want, or to be used as other emergency savings.

What yo say is quite true. However, in my case, I found I had to pay nothing additional as my camper was covered with the policy I already had. Probably because they do loose value rather quickly.
BTW, mine, when I bought it, was just over $16,000.
The other thing is that I understand the IRS considers them "homes." So, any interest you pay is tax deductible. I just priced a new Lance for a 6 ft. bed, 3/4 ton truck. Equipped like mine, around $30,000.
If I ever buy another one, it will carry insurance, even if I have to pay extra for it. At least for the first few years. E

Your forgetting that when the rubber meets the road and your 45,000 pickup is totaled with the camper on the back the pleasant sounding helpful sales guy is going to be singing a different tune.

They will refuse to pay for the truck because you had it overloaded.

Your mileage may vary, I wish you all well on this and hope that a claim like this never occurs for any of you!

My dad's experience with a camper:
This was back in the 60's. Dad had a '64 3/4 ton Chevy and put a 10' camper on it. He was north of Boise going down a long hill at 60 when a wheel came apart. I don't mean the ring came off the split rim. A dinner plate size piece tore right out of the center of the wheel and the tire and outside rim went down the barrow pit. He never figured out how he kept it on the road other than God's hand holding him on the pavement.
The very next day, literally, he got a recall letter from Chev on those wheels for exactly that problem. He immediately went to Chev and got 5 new wheels. They found another one cracking when they replaced them.
A week after that, he got a 2d letter from Chev saying they were only replacing the ones that showed signed of damage. Good thing Dad didn't wait.

I thought of that JJ. I have the camper listed on the policy and it's uses by me. If they want to refuse to pay any claim, they can always find an excuse not to do so. That's another reason why I documented the camper with them.
In order to win a case like that, they would have to be able to prove in court that I wasn't using it properly. I can find all sorts of good witnesses that could testify that the truck was properly modified to take the extra weight. And I could go after them for punative damages because they refused the claim w/o proof.
It's kinda nice having an extensive legal background, a life long friend who is a retired attorney as well as a daughter that is a member of the bar. E

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and opinions of truck campers. All of you have been beneficial in offering experiences and opinions that I will take seriously as I evaluate my direction. I consider everyone who posted on this thread to be knowlegable on the topic at hand and appreciate your thoughts. As I move forward through this decision process I'll keep you apprised of my positions.
Thanks again for your time.

A lot of good info on here.

I missed seeing this post before. If you have any idea of hauling a camper, don't even think about a 1/2 ton. True, the new 1/2 tons are much stronger than then old ones, but the 1/2 will severely limit what you can put on it. If you have any idea of getting a Tundra, they'll tell you how great it is if you overload it but don't go beyond its rated capacity. They don't make it in a 3/4 ton but I've had dealers try to tell me that it can be used like one.

Also, a truck camper only shines when you pull a trailer. If you don't intend to pull one, go with a camp trailer of some kind. With a truck camper, you're very limited while hunting because your truck is tied up all the time unless you unload it, not to mention the instability of having all that weight up high. You can pull a good sized trailer with a 1/2 ton, too, saving you some money over a 3/4 ton.

If you get happy jack electric jacks loading and unloading is a breeze. Your truck is the free for you to use. Like this..

I've been convinced that if I'm going to buy a hard side truck camper, I'll need to buy a 3/4 ton pickup. If I'm going to buy a 3/4 ton pickup, I'm going to buy a diesel. if I'm going to buy a diesel, I'm going to buy a Super Duty.

This forum can cost you a lot of money.

Me too, and after I totaled it all up, I decided I couldn't afford it.

Isn't that the truth!

When I bought my camper, I had a diesel 3/4 ton for work. Back then, since I was putting 30,000 miles a year on my truck, a diesel made alot of sense.
The other thing about 3/4 ton trucks is they are built really tough. If you do alot of off roading on poorly maintained roads and trails, that's nice to have.
No doubt, trailers and 5th wheels have alot more room. However, trying to find one that will function in really cold weather is tough to do. Hunting seasons tend to be that way.
I really like my setup. I tow a Jeep for hunting. If I break the Jeep on a hunting trip, I can use the truck to tow it into camp and all the way home. E

I have discovered via this thread that there is no ONE perfect solution but many imperfect ones, all with the attendant caveats and consequences. You have all been beneficial in helping me see the ins and outs only experience can speak to. Thank you.

I pack a LanceLite 815 on my 96 Dodge 3/4 Cummins longbed. It's right up there against the total GVWR. The Lance 815 probably weighs in wet at about 1,800 lbs. Air bags help a lot. A lot heavier camper would be dangerous. The truck will pull it no problem. Stopping it coming down a 7% grade like Molas Pass or other steep Colorado pass or any western moiuntains is the problem.

I really like what some of you guys are doing here with your rigs. Maybe when I grow up...

I'm bad to just throw a high rise camper shell on the back of my pickup with a bed in it and light out. I run 2x4's across the truck bed to get my mattress up and have floor space for storage underneath. I can pull over in truck stops and get a great night's sleep back there on my way out West and then hunt from my truck when I get where I'm going. I'll hit a motel or shower every few days or whatever is needed but I sleep like a baby in my truck and stay super mobile.

In fact, I am looking for a new camper shell for my old 1997 Chevy short wheel base if anyone knows where there's one for sale.

Keep up with the posts fellows, this is good stuff!