Great video of Azalai Campers on various rigs

[1leglance]

I really dig these setups....
now really is there any special reason why one of our great US based camper makers or someone else can't make this happen here?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vv3VvrUrUk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL"]YouTube - Azalai Camper in Tunisia[/ame]

 

[RocKrawler]

My guess is it could easily happen here when there are enough people willing to cut off 2/3 of thier vehicle in order to install a very expensive permanent pod on the back and create the demand

 

[ExpoMike]

Those are exactly the type of rig I want over here. Unfortunately we will never see them as a majority of offroad people in the US are "rock crawler" types with monster lifts and huge tires. It always amazes me how other people in other counteries have realitively small lifts and tires yet drive over areas many in the US would never try.

Oh well, back to dreaming...

 

[slowtwitch]

Man that's cool. Wouldn't want to be in that sand storm with a roof top tent. The Euros have access to some serious terrain.


st

 

[TomH]

I really dig these setups....
now really is there any special reason why one of our great US based camper makers or someone else can't make this happen here?

Yea, too bad Toyota Chinooks aren't available any more. Here's the closest to it that I could find:

http://www.xpcamper.com/index.html

This is a little bigger. I'm seriously considering it:

http://www.tigermotorhomes.com/home.htm

 

[haven]

"any special reason why one of our great US based camper makers or someone else can't make this happen here?"

It's not the camper makers, it's the chassis. There are no LandCruiser 70 series or Land Rover Defender vehicles available here. You could beef up the suspension of a Tacoma, but it's definitely not the same class of vehicle. An F250 would have the same carrying capacity, but it's not as much fun to drive, and its width makes it less capable off-road. (Not that width matters in the sand dunes of the video!).

The chassis that's most similar to the vehicles in the video is the military version of the JK Wrangler, the J8. There's still a small chance that we'll be able to buy one of these.

 

[gchinsr]

The technology is already here. One piece truck bodies, trailer and RV caps, are made the same way. We have a different market, where minimalist campers wouldn't sell well. Problem is set up costs, quite a big nut to crack. There is also the liability issue, with safety certification being paramount. That is why the 80 series they had shown early on was not available, could not get government certs for it. There was talk earlier this year about bringing their demountable model to the USA, but haven't heard any progress on a distributor. Through the French arm, you can order a "built on" with the Toyota pick up now, along with other chassis's as well. Quite sad, how a great product is so difficult to obtain in the USA. It can be done, just not easily, or cheap.
Greg

 

[DKB2GO]

I really dig these setups....
now really is there any special reason why one of our great US based camper makers or someone else can't make this happen here?

I "discovered" the Azalai and its web site, a few weeks ago, and thought the same thing. It appears to be a great, nimble and compact alternative to Earthroamer's XV-LT, Provan Industries' Tiger CX and other turnkey integrated expedition camper upfitters. As I further evaluate my needs (versus wants), a rig of this size would be ideal. Hopefully, we'll see one of the upfitters take notice of these designs and make them available so we can avoid the many hoops and hassles of bringing them here one by one.

Bill Swails make a remark about ER working on a new design for a 3/4 and 1 ton pick up that is different than what is on the market. I don't know, perhaps their new under cover design is something like this?

Cheers,

David