Hi there, owner of a khaya 4 sleeper for almost a year now, so thought I'd share some thoughts. Feel free to reach out to bounce ideas off. BTW, I love my camper!
First off, truck considerations, I'm in a short bed Tacoma, this helps with departure angle clearance on some of the trails where I've rubbed the hitch in the dirt. I have the usual 3/2 Icon lift, swapped into the dobinson 800-1200 LB leaf springs and air bags for the weight of the camper. I too am waiting on more info on the Trailhunter as it has many of the upgrades I'm thinking about. Namely, I run 33" KO2's E load but still stock gearing and no Tuner upgrade. This leaves me a little sluggish on the pull away, but I can do 83 on Interstate, I'd consider regearing, but hear many lose top speed and don't really gain fuel economy, though they do get more immediate power. Fuel economy is 11-14 (miles divided by gallons, not the dash info), and compared with another khaya owner, that seems typical. If I keep my truck, I'd consider a long range fuel tank, as your safe tank distance is about 200 miles, and if you run to the end, 240 miles... that's not much margin. I'd consider the long bed so that I get my hitch use back, currently I don't have a good recovery point on the back, so with the short bed, I need to upgrade the bumper to gain recovery points, (probably weld on tie in points for the khaya so I can get use of the hitch back for the occasional uhaul trailer needs. Everything is a compromise, so decide what fits you. If I go trailhunter, I may gain fuel economy with the hybrid, interested to see stats when they publish it. I get the correct gearing for 33" tires, and I get the upgraded brakes that I may add to my current truck, however, it will be some time before long range fuel tanks come out for the trailhunter. I've also bent my rear rims twice, so upgraded to the Icon beadlocks, airing down to 25 to leave some protection, but that's probably more a factor of the rims I put on from 4WP when I first started on a tighter budget.
So the camper: I much prefer the khaya over the canopy, I like that it's more sealed than glueing on a camper, I prefer the weight going straight to the floor, not the walls of the bed, and while the top sits higher over the cab, that's a good compromise as it gives better living space inside for that extra height. The 4 sleeper is better than the 2 in my opinion, as you get the larger fridge freezer, and reasonably comfortable inside seating on cold windy wet nights, for little loss in storage. You lose the inside cooking, and the built in sink is a waste of space, I use a folding sink outside which is much easier to wash dishes with and doesn't dump water by the back door when your done. There is open space under the front storage, under the water tank, where you could mount an invertor. I installed mine in the kitchen cupboard as I wanted access from outside, but if I did it again, I would hide it under there, use a remote switch and and power outlets to where I wanted it. Incidentally, it's a 20 gallon water tank, but no way to measure your remaining amount, so you never know just how much you have left...
I installed a 135AH Dakota Lithium battery, expensive but worth it for 11 year warranty. Note, the battery monitor that the khaya ships with can't monitor lithium, so I recommend the Victron Energy BMV-712 so you can track usage. It's well worth it. I also have two solar panels on top, so battery is topped off whenever I'm parked up, so I don't worry about the power drain of the fridge freezer (I did the dometic and love it).
Two
REI Co-opFlexlite Camp Boss Chair fit inside each chair storage area, with the lids down, so you don't need to deal with bulky front runner style chairs if you don't want to.
The diesel heater is excellent, though the fuel cap with built in vent leaked fuel from top of the tank. I swapped it with another khaya cap and it still leaked but threading and diameter are same as the rotopax, so I glued a cap into a rotopax threaded cap and swap them out when I use it. I ran the heater one 8 hour night in the snow, at max temp, and it went through about a third of a tank, so I was quite impressed by that. The control panel is functional but awful to work, but there are a few good youtube videos that explain the menu, far better than the instructions provided in manual.
I use a dometic chemical toilet, the 876, which fits well into the footwell of the camper, and you can buy screw down clips to secure it. The floor is plywood so readily takes the screws. While it's a little annoying having the clips in the floor, it's well worth it for the convenience of a sit down toilet that goes in it's own tent when we're camping.
Anyway, the wife is calling me to cut bread for dinner, feel free to ask anything else.
Stuart.
