Older Litecraft quality?

[Stereo]

There have been a couple of older (1995-ish) Litecraft popup, slide-in campers on Craigslist of late, probably because the company was located locally (Denver area). The company is now defunct. According to NADA, they made a Summit and a Timberline model in different sizes. I can't find any details; is there any chance one was made with an aluminium frame and the other with a wood frame? One seller said the frame was aluminium and the total weight was only 800 lbs which would be great for my Tacoma but the guy I just called thought the frame was wood which would of course be much heavier, but he didn't know much about the camper. He's selling it for his grandparents. Does anyone have any knowledge about the build quality of Litecraft?

 

[cwm]

I looked at Litecraft years ago. But they were all wood. If any were aluminum framed it would be at the end of their production.

 

[tanglefoot]

Hi Stereo,

I remember the Lite-Crafts--I used to have a product line brochure from them but I haven't been able to find it. I remember when they were still building them--they were just off 58th Ave, near I-25.

I camped next to someone a few months ago who had a Tacoma-sized Lite-Craft and really liked it. It looked amazing. A post I read recently said that the Lite-Crafts were the best combination of strength and light weight that they could find. I really like their interiors, and they seem to use some really nice cushions as well. I do believe they are wood-framed but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Stereo]

I checked out a 96' last night. I did find a spot where I could check on the interior framing and it was wood. I would want to be sure of the dry weight before I purchased one. A guy advertising an earlier '95 said his frame was aluminum which doesn't fit into the progression idea. I'm thinking some owners thought they had aluminum when they really had wood. There are two model names. Maybe one was the aluminum, the other wood? More likely, the two models differ in their layout. I've seen them with a cross-camper dinette set seating arrangement or a typical bench-seat layout.

I did like the interior. I especially liked how they build the back end the full width of the truck bed behind the wheel well. That provides more interior storage; probably enough room in the corner to put a toilet. The tradeoff is that you can't access the area along the sides of the camper. We store our folding chairs and table in there.

The guy who was selling this unit for his grandmother had told me on the phone the bed was a queen - which is what we're looking for - but it was the typical 48" width. I like the Four Wheel Camper lift system that allows for slide rails and easy extension of the bed into a queen. Other lift mechanisms interfere with a setup like that. I created a platform extension for my Skamper that's pretty easy to set up. I intend to someday post about my rebuild... I keep saying that.

The unit I looked at had staining all around the top of the vinyl on the inside. Maybe it was just from packing it damp but it made me nervous that perhaps the roof leaked.