FordGuy1
Adventurer
Its all good right up to the point its not "GOOD"
Market for $80k complete truck and camper - mini earthroamer?
- Thread starter samuelashirley
- Start date
Its all good right up to the point its not "GOOD"
Wait til you have to make an evasive maneuver at 65 mph on the interstate to dodge a load of logs in the middle of the road at night. You will probably change your mind if you live through it. It happened to me and I am glad I wasn't overloaded. Brakes worked perfectly and the steering components did not fail. It performed just like the engineers designed it to. Your truck was not designed for that load so good luck to you.
it s not the same kind of machine. you have a very nice set up but it s very heavily loaded and more of a road set up than a offroad adventure machine. it would definitly not do the job for the kind of camping i imagine doing with a offroad vehicle like a earthroamer or a tune down 150k version.
i would definitly be the person ''in the market'' for a 150k off road worthy class C or tune down F250-350 earthroamer. More than that become too hard to justify with a family of 3 kids!
quickfarms
Adventurer
Neat idea, someone needs to become there US distributor and make a deal to have the campers shipped here, probably 3 to 4 would fit in a container or on a flat rack, and have them installed on the truck here.
bahncamperworks
Member
The $150k complete package is the market that we are in and going after. We build a very complete camper capable of sustained time off the grid using very high quality materials and finishes for $85k-$100k. We also build completely custom interiors, based on where the customer plans to go and what they want to do along the way.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
That's as close a vehicle I've ever seen as to what I want. Perfect.. absolutely perfect. The under-bed hatch into the cab is something I've thought about before and to see it actually implemented is awesome.
A Swiss friend of mine has ordered one. They're very popular the lead time is over 12 months. Once he gets it I will check it out. I looked at one at a fair and I liked it a lot. The cab of the single cab Ranger is a bit small for me (6.2 and 200lbs). In my view it would fit perfectly on a F 150 with a much more comfortable cab.
Interesting videos. I just returned from a 3 week trip out west. There was a large european exped rig parked next to me at Mt. Rushmore. I ended up seeing him many times over the next 2 weeks.
In the Big Horn mountains, Cody, WY. We were at the Rodeo at the same night. He was 7 sites down from me at Fishing bridge in YS. Saw him up at Gardner, MT and he was camped at Gros Ventre
in the Tetons.
It seems like 99% of the time these rigs are driven on the pavement or a dirt road I could run a car down. Full disclosure, I grew up in the country on 70 acres on a dirt road. I own 175 acres now on a dirt road. If you ever run the Alaska HWY you will quickly find out how much mud your 40 foot DP flat towing a car can go through. It's a lot. My question, is it worth it to spend the $$ for a capability that may only get used 1% of the time. I do get buying over built in case you need it. I really do. My wife said no way would she climb the ladder up and down 5 feet everytime you had to get in and out of that rig. Just some thoughts..............Maybe my wife and I travel a little different. We go places to do different things we can't do at home. We like to be active, she likes to shop and we both love new restaurants. Cheers You may have noticed our last MH was 45ft. So we both like to have some room.
In the Big Horn mountains, Cody, WY. We were at the Rodeo at the same night. He was 7 sites down from me at Fishing bridge in YS. Saw him up at Gardner, MT and he was camped at Gros Ventre
in the Tetons.
It seems like 99% of the time these rigs are driven on the pavement or a dirt road I could run a car down. Full disclosure, I grew up in the country on 70 acres on a dirt road. I own 175 acres now on a dirt road. If you ever run the Alaska HWY you will quickly find out how much mud your 40 foot DP flat towing a car can go through. It's a lot. My question, is it worth it to spend the $$ for a capability that may only get used 1% of the time. I do get buying over built in case you need it. I really do. My wife said no way would she climb the ladder up and down 5 feet everytime you had to get in and out of that rig. Just some thoughts..............Maybe my wife and I travel a little different. We go places to do different things we can't do at home. We like to be active, she likes to shop and we both love new restaurants. Cheers You may have noticed our last MH was 45ft. So we both like to have some room.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Topics like this... I cannot help but think about this scene in Independence Day 
But in all honesty, its pretty simple econ.
A business sees an industry they might be able to do profitable business in, and they jump in.
If homework is done right, the actual cost for the products is pretty straight forward.
Each business has to cover expenses AND make a profit.
Add in the potential "market" for such a product, and the profit margin may be artificially inflated.
If it sells, great for them. If it doesnt, they better figure out why, and if it is associated to cost, they better react correctly.
On the consumer side, its pretty simple as well.
Nobody wants to spend more than they have to.
So everyone price shops, kicks tires, etc.
This particular industry is pretty interesting though, as the consumer base is VERY broad.
From the person that hardly spends a dime, to the person that cannot seem to spend enough.
Neither have it figured out more than the other, and often, neither spend more than a few nights a year in "expo" mode.
Most troubling for the "custom" builders like myself is that the VAST amount of would be clients out there buy and sell rigs, literally, like they are going out of style.
Ill argue all day long that the best client for a custom built camper is one that never intends to sell. Those are few and far between.
In your case, it has little to do with capability, and everything to do with capacities.
According to your numbers, you are running a VERY thin margin for tires and axle ratings.
A 300# margin for the tires and axle is a terrible gamble.
IMO, you need more tires and more truck for that load, even for pavement travel.
Sustained off road travel, good luck....
But in all honesty, its pretty simple econ.
A business sees an industry they might be able to do profitable business in, and they jump in.
If homework is done right, the actual cost for the products is pretty straight forward.
Each business has to cover expenses AND make a profit.
Add in the potential "market" for such a product, and the profit margin may be artificially inflated.
If it sells, great for them. If it doesnt, they better figure out why, and if it is associated to cost, they better react correctly.
On the consumer side, its pretty simple as well.
Nobody wants to spend more than they have to.
So everyone price shops, kicks tires, etc.
This particular industry is pretty interesting though, as the consumer base is VERY broad.
From the person that hardly spends a dime, to the person that cannot seem to spend enough.
Neither have it figured out more than the other, and often, neither spend more than a few nights a year in "expo" mode.
Most troubling for the "custom" builders like myself is that the VAST amount of would be clients out there buy and sell rigs, literally, like they are going out of style.
Ill argue all day long that the best client for a custom built camper is one that never intends to sell. Those are few and far between.
In your case, it has little to do with capability, and everything to do with capacities.
According to your numbers, you are running a VERY thin margin for tires and axle ratings.
A 300# margin for the tires and axle is a terrible gamble.
IMO, you need more tires and more truck for that load, even for pavement travel.
Sustained off road travel, good luck....
I guess I should have explained that is loaded to the max for us. We only do that if were going up to the national forrest an hour away. Longer trips are much less loaded or we take the 5th wheel.
Either way after 300k miles in 8 different RV's over 24 years, 49 states, 44 national parks( I need to change my sig) actual national parks also. 60 or so total I think. I've learned a few things.
You guys might want to read some of the in progress adventures. Most are doing it in a way less capable vehicle than I have. MY HAT IS OFF TO EVERYONE OF THEM. They are out doing it while we
type on the computer while we are at work. They travel every where not realizing they don't have a good enough vehicle. In 10 years or so I'll retire. Then I can really travel. I wonder what I will be
driving then. Maybe just a 2 wheel drive van or a car. It sure seems to work for some people.
Either way after 300k miles in 8 different RV's over 24 years, 49 states, 44 national parks( I need to change my sig) actual national parks also. 60 or so total I think. I've learned a few things.
You guys might want to read some of the in progress adventures. Most are doing it in a way less capable vehicle than I have. MY HAT IS OFF TO EVERYONE OF THEM. They are out doing it while we
type on the computer while we are at work. They travel every where not realizing they don't have a good enough vehicle. In 10 years or so I'll retire. Then I can really travel. I wonder what I will be
driving then. Maybe just a 2 wheel drive van or a car. It sure seems to work for some people.
calicamper
Expedition Leader
This is typical in the boat biz too. The world cruisers who are doing it in older not so exciting boats out number the people doing it in huge floating odes to modern convenience. Though the number of really impressive modern yachts rotting at the dock far surpasses the number world cruisers and weekend sailors combined.
One thing I find fascinating is that available site space and vehicle choice seem to be diverging in opposite directions. I love our small foot print set up given we have numerous times found great sites because we were small. While big rigs are limited to rented parking lot spaces.
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
And exactly my point. Your setup is an RV that spends little to no time off the pavement. In the backpacking world you might be considered a "peak bagger". And that's fine.
On the other end of the spectrum, many of us, myself included, can and do spend weeks or months "on the road", only to drive less than a few thousand miles, vast majority of it off the blacktop, never see one park or camp ground, completely off grid and 100% self reliant.