Recent content by gdaut

I know nothing about the situation at EC, but it looks like this may be a re-org, or lead to an asset sale where EC or some similar entity comes back. IIRC, EarthRoamer declared bankruptcy sometime after the 2008 financial crisis; they came back strong. XP Camper more recently went under, and...

Interesting. Why is the BMS and inverter SOC cut-off set at 50%? I understand that is typical for AGM batteries, but as you note, a bid advantage of lithium batteries is they can be regularly discharged to a low SOC. Or at least that is what I understand.

Not true! You don't have to be skinny (ask me how I know). With the top half raised it is easy to jump up in the camper to grab or stow something. We do this often at quick grocery stops for putting things in the fridge.

I have one on a Ram 3500; same camper and flatbed with the storage box/spare tire behind the cab. I have an ARB front bumper that sticks out a fair amount. Overall length is 24 feet and change. I have never had an issue in going to national parks, but I have not been to all of them.

Interesting. A big change form a Tacoma, but I think it makes more sense, payload wise.

What qualifies as "full production" or "off the ground"? I seem to recall seeing somewhere that Truckhouse had produced 10 or 20 of the Tacoma based campers and is now moving to a Tundra chassis. 10 or 20 units is a far cry from the 500+ units Earthroamer seems to have built, but it is not...

That may not be a sign of tough times. I would guess a lot of the pre-owned units that Earthroamer sells are trade ins where the owner bought a new one to replace their previous ER . And looking at the model numbers of the used units, it looks like ER made close to 300 of the LTS version, and...

On my camper (Nimbl), the shore power is on the driver's side, and the water intake is passenger side. Both are at the front of the camper, a "truck camper" style that sits on a flatbed, so they end up mid-way down the vehicle length. I have not found a standard placement of the electric box...

I seem to recall PJ O'Rourke had a good essay on the myriad capabilities of rental cars. Probably in Car and Driver; probably in the late 70s. Re one way rentals, we got a great deal on a one way Denver to Boston rental last year. Company must have needed some cars moved to the East Coast.

I am not sure this raises the bar on lower vehicle weights. A quick google search indicates a RAM 3500 has a curb weight of around 7600 pounds and a GWVR of 19,500 pounds. Unicat says this rig has a payload of 3 - 3.5 tons, so 7000 pounds max. That puts the added weight of the camper and...

Some good points. I have a Nimbl camper on a diesel truck with a diesel webasto air and water heater and stove top. The "one fuel" nature of this is nice; but I think you can get a gasoline air/water heater and modern campers use LiFo batteries and induction cooktops, so I think you could...

What is the attraction of a Sprinter based camper over an apparently otherwise identical Transit based one? I have heard that the maintenance costs on Sprinters is high, and the diesel engine in the Sprinter brings its own complications (DEF, fuel outside the US, etc.).

We have used our Nimbl a lot in the winter, including times where it has snowed quite a bit. never had a problem with things icing up. I know a couple of other owners who do a lot of winter camping and while I have not asked them, I have not heard of any issues. I suppose if you had a windy...

I have a Nimbl, well, really the predecessor XP, now rebranded, but with a similar raising clam shell design. There have been 60+ of those made over the past 10-15 years, and I do not think the gasket has been an issue. And, it is easy to replace, at least on the Nimbl's, and many owners have...

Interesting. I wonder if they are not getting traction with their pop-top rigs on a 1 ton truck. Those smaller units look really nice (on the internet at least); this thing just looks huge.