PDA

View Full Version : Cab Over Campers



Red Eye
03-14-2005, 03:35 PM
Has anyone ever bought a cab over camper and used it on a half ton short bed truck? If so, what size, problems, modifications did you have? Thinking about getting a Lance cab over now, but I may have to wait until I get a heavy duty truck depending on feedback. Thanks.

Mandelon
03-14-2005, 03:42 PM
There are a couple of forums that are out there that have answered this quite well. Bottom line is... don't put an overcab on a half ton. They can't handle the weight. The brakes are undersized and the suspension just can't take it.
try www.irv2.net

Mandelon
03-14-2005, 03:43 PM
There are a couple of forums that are out there that have answered this quite well. Bottom line is... don't put an overcab on a half ton. They can't handle the weight. The brakes are undersized and the suspension just can't take it.
I upsized from a F250 to a Chevy 3500 cuz even the 250 was overweight with my 9'5" OC on it, and then towing.......even with airbags it was a handful.
try www.irv2.net

MudPumper
03-14-2005, 03:44 PM
I wouldn't get one. Really small inside. Don't hold much water, can be a pain to load on the truck. I'd opt for a fifth wheel, they are easy to load and unload, drive really stable and have a ton of room inside. Just something to think about.

Flying Tiger
03-14-2005, 03:47 PM
It's an asskicker. You'll feel like the camper is hauling the truck, not vice versa.

Mandelon
03-14-2005, 03:49 PM
I wouldn't get one. Really small inside. Don't hold much water, can be a pain to load on the truck. I'd opt for a fifth wheel, they are easy to load and unload, drive really stable and have a ton of room inside. Just something to think about.
But kinda hard to tow a boat with a TT or 5er on the back.... :supp: OC's are small, but I can get up dirt roads where no trailer would dare go. In order to tow the boat, we do sacrifice some size. Its mostly for sleeping anyway.

Red Eye
03-14-2005, 03:49 PM
It's an asskicker. You'll feel like the camper is hauling the truck, not vice versa.
Do you mean w/ a 1/2 ton or in general?

Dawn Patrol
03-14-2005, 04:03 PM
Check out the link. It is one of the better sites for RV Forums (http://www.rv.net/forum)
Good Luck.

MudPumper
03-14-2005, 05:12 PM
But kinda hard to tow a boat with a TT or 5er on the back.... :supp: OC's are small, but I can get up dirt roads where no trailer would dare go. In order to tow the boat, we do sacrifice some size. Its mostly for sleeping anyway.
I hear ya Mandy. My rig is as big as they come, it has a slide out and I'm still cramped in there. The next rig will definitely be a 5th wheel and I'll wory about towing the boat some other way, probably just do doubles. Then I can drop the trailer and still have the truck to launch and get fuel etc....I go to glamis in the winter and that's where I need the room and bigger holding capacity.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/3033FC_Rig-med.JPG

bohica
03-14-2005, 05:14 PM
For the price of a new Lance camper, you could get a really nice toyhauler. Made the mistake myself a few years back.

MudPumper
03-14-2005, 05:16 PM
Do you mean w/ a 1/2 ton or in general?
In general but definitely with a 1/2 ton. I drive an F-350 dually with airbags and the camper still sways the truck, especially if the wind blows. Sometimes the kick from a passing big rig will put me in the other lane if I'm not paying close attention.

MudPumper
03-14-2005, 05:16 PM
For the price of a new Lance camper, you could get a really nice toyhauler. Made the mistake myself a few years back.
Yep, what Bohica said too. :D

Mandelon
03-14-2005, 05:24 PM
I hear ya Mandy. My rig is as big as they come, it has a slide out and I'm still cramped in there. The next rig will definitely be a 5th wheel and I'll wory about towing the boat some other way, probably just do doubles. Then I can drop the trailer and still have the truck to launch and get fuel etc....I go to glamis in the winter and that's where I need the room and bigger holding capacity.
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/3033FC_Rig-med.JPG
Wow that's a beast! I know what you mean about tank size. We are good for a long weekend, but not much more....

My Man's Sportin' Wood
03-14-2005, 06:28 PM
Red Eye, you bought the wrong truck. If you had a long bed 1/2 ton, you could probably squeak by with an 8' pop up camper. You are out of luck, guy. Get a small tent trailer.
We did like our cabover when we had it. We moved up to a motorhome, sold it, and are getting ready to get another cabover. The kids are at the age when they would rather sleep outside in a tent without mom and dad anyway. :boxingguy

Flying Tiger
03-14-2005, 06:54 PM
Do you mean w/ a 1/2 ton or in general?
With a 1/2 ton.
Even a 3/4 usually need some suspention attention when a cabover is involved.

coolchange
03-14-2005, 07:15 PM
I ran a short bed w/cab over for a while. But it was a small one. Basicaly a box with an ice chest in it. Didn't weigh much and worked for me for a while, just kept the wind out and gave the wife a place to porta potty in the desert. I was fine if I didn't try to drive it like it was a 1 ton, BUT....One trip on the way home towin a small trailer with a light sand rail there was an accident ahead were a truck lost it and went from one side of the fwy to the other and back. Cars were goin everywhere and had I been 200 yards farther down the road I would have been in deep shit. That was the last trip on that rig and I bought a POS crew cab.

SoCal_fun
03-14-2005, 07:35 PM
I've got a new Lance Lite 845. The little driving I've done so far was ok. I traded up from my Tundra to the F250 with the camper in mind as well as more room for the kids in the truck.
It is small, but better than a tent which is what I've been used to. Hopefully in a few years we'll move into a class C to pull the boat/motorcycle trailer.
Good luck.

Red Eye
03-14-2005, 11:57 PM
For the price of a new Lance camper, you could get a really nice toyhauler. Made the mistake myself a few years back.
Yeah... I hear ya. But I don't feel like dropping the trailer off at the lake and then going back and getting the boat. I guess I'm screwed.

lucky
03-15-2005, 07:12 AM
might as welll buy a used motor home - Or just rent one for those trips - it still amazes me about rv'n most peeps finace them - and only use them maybe two months out of the year - has any one done the economics on ANY RV ?
purchase price , gas, storage, maintence, insurance - resale loss ! hell call 1800 go r-v lol tent camping is more fun ! :D

ahhell
03-15-2005, 07:20 AM
We bought a 27 ft 20 y/o motorhome for 10k....50k miles on a 454, tow the boat up baker grade at about 35-45 (depending how many kids we have at the time) not the prettiest but it does the job, lots of room, and its dirt colored so clean up is a breeze... :rollside:

mtndewdrops
03-15-2005, 10:55 AM
I have been full circle. :rolleyes: I owned a Lance 1150 on a CrewCab 1Ton Chevy, GM bought it back from me after Lemon Law Arbitration. We sold the camper and opted for a Class A motorhome, but that sucked because you need a little car to get around and it is a hassle to launch the boat with such a big rig. THEN we bought a toy hauler, to leave at the river at our campground membership. We soon grew tired of that and bought a Havasu Vacation pad. NOW the wife works and we can't take as much vacation as we did before so we are going to sell THAT and probably just go back to Hotelling it. Whew :notam:

Sleek-Jet
03-19-2005, 03:21 AM
Not that it matters one way or the other, but our family had campers until I was about 12 (and my brothers were 9)... and I can honestly say we had more fun at the lake in the Camper than the 34' motor home...
Maybe it was because we were younger, or because we spent more time outside... who knows...
One thing to keep in mind about C/O's is where the water is stored. Some campers store the water high (above the bed rails) and that makes the damn things top heavy.
Personally I'm looking at a short (under 25') 5th wheel so I can double up the boat, just for the convenience of dropping the trailer and having the pick-up to launch and retrieve the boat. AZ doesn't require an additional license to pull double trailers. And the smaller 5th wheels with slide outs are cheap (realatively speaking), I'm still in awe at how much some of the new campers cost...

Sanger D
03-19-2005, 05:22 AM
I just bought a f250 extended cab short bed 4x4 (gas) and want to get a over head for it and went to lance campers in lancaster and a new camper for a SHORT bed was 24,000 :jawdrop: :jawdrop: ,gotta be a cheaper way!!!!!so I thought about getting a small 5th wheel and pulling the flatty behind it but can the 5th wheel frame handle a boat being towed behind it?I too live in arizona and would like this option,I mean shit!!!.......24 grand for a camper?sheeesh!!! :supp:

RiverOtter
03-19-2005, 05:24 AM
Here's a cab over :D Best of both worlds, eh...
http://www.chattanoogaboats.com/truck%20boat.jpg

Sanger D
03-19-2005, 05:26 AM
I just bought a f250 extended cab short bed 4x4 (gas) and want to get a over head for it and went to lance campers in lancaster and a new camper for a SHORT bed was 24,000 :jawdrop: :jawdrop: ,gotta be a cheaper way!!!!!so I thought about getting a small 5th wheel and pulling the flatty behind it but can the 5th wheel frame handle a boat being towed behind it?I too live in arizona and would like this option,I mean shit!!!.......24 grand for a camper?sheeesh!!! :supp: mud pumper,your camper set up is sweet!!!!!thats what I,m looking to do but those things are,nt cheap and my3/4 ton I don,t want to work too hard.it pulls the flatty like its not even there ,you forget about it easy!!!!but a camper too? thats gonna get heavy. I,d rather pull the weight than carry it!!!how do you like it??

Flyinbowtie
03-19-2005, 08:32 AM
We've been around the block on this stuff, too. Started with an old Dodge Truck and a cabover, went to a pull-behind travel trailer and hauled the rail on a rack on the back of the truck.
Then, in 91, we bought a 85 29Ft Southwind Class A, and pulled a 24 toybox behind it. The motorhome had 13,700 miles on it when we bought it.
I put three sets of tires on that coach and pretty much just watched them weather check into junk. Too much work and not enough play, oldest son is grown and in the army, and in 04 I sold it. It had 33,000 miles on it.
It was a Fleetwood product, and I am admittedly anal about maint. and workmanship. My wife used to tease me that I spent three hours working on the thing for every one hour we spent using it. Unfortunately, that is probably closer to true than I would like to admit.
We still like to camp, and though the rail is gone, we still have the quads for the rest of the family. Last year we bought a 2003 Arctic Fox 990S cabover camper with the full wall slide. All the bells and whistles, basement tanks, 60x80 bed over the cab.
I haul it on a diesel F-350 4x4 crewcab dually with airbags, and tow with the Torklift Superhitch and a 32 inch hitch extension. Rancho 9000's all the way around set on 9 when towing.
We love it. Very little maint., no squeaks or rattles, it takes about 10 min to winterize, about 30 min to put on the truck. Cheap insurance, no engine or tires to work on.
And the truck gets about 12.5 MPG with the camper on it's back and the trailer behind it. Compared to the 6 MPG I got (on flat ground) with the motorhome it is a win-win. No we don't have the big stereo in it, and the big parties in it like we did the Southwind, but the trade off is worth it for us, right now, where we are in life.

Sleek-Jet
03-19-2005, 05:38 PM
I just bought a f250 extended cab short bed 4x4 (gas) and want to get a over head for it and went to lance campers in lancaster and a new camper for a SHORT bed was 24,000 :jawdrop: :jawdrop: ,gotta be a cheaper way!!!!!so I thought about getting a small 5th wheel and pulling the flatty behind it but can the 5th wheel frame handle a boat being towed behind it?I too live in arizona and would like this option,I mean shit!!!.......24 grand for a camper?sheeesh!!! :supp:
The small 5th wheels are designed for 1/2 ton trucks, so most of them gross at under 9000 lbs... The salesman look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them what I want to do with it (pull a boat behind the 5th wheel), but from what I've been able to gather, some (I won't say most) are rated to pull trailers. A flatty shouldn't be a problem, and all the trailers will have brakes, so it should be a little easier to pull than having 1 ton of camper on your back...
I figure I'll be just shy of gross weight for my truck when all is said and done though. I don't plan on pulling all of this everytime I go. Once I decide where I'll spend most of my time, I'll find someplace to store the trailer close by and then just pull the boat back down to the house. It'll just be more for an occasional trip to the river or another lake...

JB in so cal
03-19-2005, 06:10 PM
I've got a new Lance Lite 845. The little driving I've done so far was ok. I traded up from my Tundra to the F250 with the camper in mind as well as more room for the kids in the truck.
It is small, but better than a tent which is what I've been used to. Hopefully in a few years we'll move into a class C to pull the boat/motorcycle trailer.
Good luck.
So. I'm thinking you aren't sleeping on those BML motel "taco" beds with the swoop like a saddle!!LOL.
Just plop right down in "A" row and kick it in your own stuff!
Nice!

MudPumper
03-19-2005, 06:14 PM
mud pumper,your camper set up is sweet!!!!!thats what I,m looking to do but those things are,nt cheap and my3/4 ton I don,t want to work too hard.it pulls the flatty like its not even there ,you forget about it easy!!!!but a camper too? thats gonna get heavy. I,d rather pull the weight than carry it!!!how do you like it??
Sanger, you're right it's not cheap. That one is an Alpenlite Santa Fe 1150, top of the line. Slide out, remote controled electric jacks, aluminum frame, gelcoat sides, insulated basement tanks. Dry weight is 3,363. With water and gear it is pushing the limit of the F-350. It really should sit on an F-450 but it works. The truck has airbags and the 6L diesel which is a must for something this big. It's really nice inside but anything more than 2 people and it's too small for me. My biggest issue is interior space, and holding tank capacity. For the cost of that camper, you can get a really nice 5th wheel with way more room and water/gray/black capicity. You live and you learn. Launching the boat is a pain in the ass with the camper. Where I boat at the river you have to pull out every day so I end up borrowing somebodies truck to launch and retrieve which is a hassle. I would much rather have a 5th wheel, tow doubles and be able to drop the 5th wheel and then have the truck free to handle the boat. Everybodies situation is different. I go to Glamis where sometimes the weather requires us to spend a lot of time inside and I need more tank capicity for a long weekend. At the river I need to pull the boat in and out of the water and drive into parker for fuel. Can't use the camper after it's all set up at the campground. Like I said, depends on what your needs are. Weigh all your options and see what works best for you. I'll definitely be going 5th wheel next.

Tahiti350
03-19-2005, 06:53 PM
I started with an 11 1/2 foot camper, but no boat, corners rotted out, so I got a used 22' 5th, used it for 3 years, upgraded to a 28' for 3 years, and bought a brand new 30' Keystone Cougar with a 14' slide in Oct 03. Hadn't really considered traveling with the boat until this year, now I wish I had gone with another big camper. Used to take 30 minutes to load or unload the camper, takes 15 minutes to set the 5th, start to finish.
I have an airbagged '93 Dodge D-350 with the Cummins turned up to 248 hp at the wheels, so there isn't much out there I can't haul or tow, just need to find out what the legal requirements are to tow doubles in Washington and Oregon. I've heard that I will have to get a class B dot ticket, but that's fine. It might open the door for other possibilities when I retire for the Air Force

Mandelon
03-20-2005, 02:57 PM
If you want a camper, look for a newer used one. They drop in value faster than Bayliners.... New ones are insanely expensive, but go a few years old and you will save a bundle.
Ours is great for about three days if bare camping. The tanks fill up and you gotta go and dump. If you stay with hookups, then no problem of course. I always encourage the kids to use the bushes when they can....
We just got back from 3 days and two nights in the desert. Had a great time....still plenty of water, propane and room in the tanks..... ;)

JB in so cal
03-20-2005, 03:17 PM
If you want a camper, look for a newer used one. They drop in value faster than Bayliners.... New ones are insanely expensive, but go a few years old and you will save a bundle.
Ours is great for about three days if bare camping. The tanks fill up and you gotta go and dump. If you stay with hookups, then no problem of course. I always encourage the kids to use the bushes when they can....
We just got back from 3 days and two nights in the desert. Had a great time....still plenty of water, propane and room in the tanks..... ;)
No effin s*** there. I bought a Lance lite and couldn't give it away two years later. Look at a Trader; eventually, you'll find something nice.