AT Habitat, Atlas, & Summit Pictures, ideas, aaand BS

Not sure - may go with an Atlas, Summit, All-Cab, or even a Sprinter. I've thought about a trailer, I like Off-Grid trailers, but hate towing anything.

 

Wife and I would like our next setup to be a Northern-Lite camper. But that'll be requiring a much larger truck.

I tow a lot, so a travel trailer wouldn't bother me, my issue is I want to take my ATVs and SxS along, which means I'd have to choose one or the other. Currently, that makes the Habitat perfect for us, as we have a place to sleep, and room for the toys.

Only reason I was towing that trailer this weekend was a friend had his front diff blow up towing his trailer out to camp. We managed to salvage the camping trip by bringing an extra truck and a trailer to haul the busted rig home. I towed the TT, and honestly it wasn't bad at all, even with the fully loaded Habitat.

 

We're trying to figure out what our best options for what we want to do the next couple years - hate to be the person who keeps buying and selling campers/vehicles all the time. We have an Alaska trip planned for next year, as well as Baja, and the usual Anza and Joshua tree, plus eastern Canada.

I like the idea of a hard sided vehicle that I can go from camper section to driver section. I checked out the Tiger, friend has one, but feels like sleeping in a coffin. Not sure if the sprinter is right either, much prefer driving a truck than a van. I'll never find the perfect option, but would like to get close.

 

I think if I was going for a big camper like that, id definitely put on a tray / flatbed to have a bit more space inside

 

I thought Sprinter would be cool, but once we got in a couple of them they just felt so darn cramped. Our next rig will have at least a wet bath, so the sprinters with that ... didn't like them.

I also like the idea of hard side. Being able to go from the truck cab to the camper without getting outta the truck would be nice, but I'm willing to let that go to keep the price reasonable. We're really liking the idea of a truck bed camper. Goal would be to get something like a Ram 5500, run it with a northern-lite til we get our forest service roads and stealth camping needs outta the way before moving on to something like the Eagle Cap 1600 (100 sq ft floorspace truck bed camper with 3x slides). This is not a short term plan, we still have several years of Habitat use to go for us.

 

Sherptek has a pretty cool way of doing it. This is the setup I'd like, but to start off with the smaller Northern-lite. Then move up to a camper this size down the road when we just have freeways in our future. And my wife is cool with upgrading to Super Singles like we saw on the GXV Adventure Truck when we checked that out

 

Sounds like it’s time for an Earthroamer.

 

At some point I wouldn't mind plopping a small travel trailer on a commercial diesel 4x4 chassis like the fuso or similar. Kind of the poor man's earthroamer.

 

But something like this can be had under $200K (obviously still a lot of money). Started looking into this after we looked into the GXV Adventure Truck at $280K. It lacked storage, and was so spartan. Didn't seem very home-y. And with the truck camper, you could always replace it for something different, or sell it and still have a beefy truck.

 

the adventure truck is pretty sweet. I wish that things weren't so damn expensive though, you could easily have $150k invested in a build

 

We were really disappointed I'm afraid. The thing looks unbelievably badass in person, even more so than pics online. BUT... just so lacking on space. If I'm spending that kinda money, I want at least SOME comforts. Wife would like a dog also, when we start traveling like that, and there'd be next to no space for a pup.

 

you can get those trucks fairly cheap, especially when you compare to something like a f350 or bigger.

 

im really surprised people havent started building houses in 53' semi trailers and hauling them around the country as a home base. you could even leave the end of it open to park your toys in.

its probably more roomy than a lot of these tiny houses people try to live in

 

I've actually seen a few race trailers for sale online that were like this. Had a living quarters up front, then a professional garage in the back half.

I really wish there was a way to cram more into a smaller space... but I think the Flatbed with camper is about the best compromise I could figure. Still huge compared to a Tacoma though. I thought a nice class c would be good, but they can't tow much unless you step up to a Super C, which is about the size of an A. They also have like 0 departure angle. AND I still want to be able to camp out on the sand dunes, so figure a 4wd Chassis Cab was a good bet.

 

Yeah sorry I should have specified. 5ft bed. Also, I am in Colorado.

 

Fives are more common and being out west should make your hunt easier. The Habitat is great, if we were still living in Northern California, we would be keeping ours.

 

Right on. Thanks for the responding. Wife and I were thinking first about getting the drifter, but we have a little one now and want some extra space. I have a campteq on the land cruiser for solo outings.

 

The extra space is what convinced me away from the Summit to the Hab. Being able to take everything in the bed, chuck it up top and bring the dogs into the bed at night has been nothing short of a game changer. Mostly because the dogs are needy... 150 lbs of human killing shepherd, but won't chill and sleep unless they can physically see us...

 

Exactly - concerned about the space with Summit or All-Cab. Every time I open it I marvel at all the room it offers. My wife and killer corgi can stay in bed while I make coffee and easier to get dressed. Maybe I need to get a small trailer for cold weather camping (or maybe go to New Zealand and Australia during the winter)