Thanks for all the great info and videos! My wife and I were looking for a truck camper that is big enough to be comfortable but not too big - something we could put on an F250 or 350 SRW with a Crew Cab, Short Bed, and 4X4. We wanted a full size Queen N/S bed, bathroom with shower&toilet, a functional kitchen and a face to face dinette with a decent view. We wanted moderate off-road/rough road capability but are not planning any serious 4WD adventures.
We ruled out pop-ups and anything with slide-outs, as well as anything that was heavy enough to require a Dually, or long enough to require a long bed. Which doesn’t leave a whole lot of choices! We looked at the used market and found very little available that fit our criteria.
Initially we were looking at the Wolf Creek 890, which seems pretty similar on paper to the Laredo, and about a month ago we almost pulled the trigger on one. All these truck campers are hard to get right now - people are buying them sight unseen from dealers, custom orders are 6-18 months out depending on the manufacturer, supply chains are messed up so they can't get parts, covid outbreaks in the factories etc - long story short demand is through the roof and the manufacturers can’t keep up or scale up production to meet it.
So we found a dealer near Denver that had a Wolf Creek 890 and we almost bought it - but when we really dove into the actual weight we found that it's a lot heavier than the advertised base weight, making it borderline too heavy for even an F-350 CCSB 4X4 when fully loaded. On top of that the COG was too far back to safely put it on a 6.75' bed (42” back, putting it at least 3-4” behind the rear axle and maybe more with a spacer in front). Talked to a dealer sales rep and a designer at Northwoods and ended up with bad vibes - both of them acting like these were no big deal, combined with the deceptive marketing on the weight issue. So we bailed and started looking at other options.
We thought about Cirrus 620 but no inside shower was a dealbreaker. Scout Kenai looked intriguing but they are pretty basic and have no storage, a chintzy stove and shower, etc and end up nearly as expensive as a Liberty when you add some options that we considered critical like a stove, heater, toilet, and jacks. They are brand new so durability is a question mark. Plus they are way backordered as well so we were looking at waiting till September to get one at the earliest. Wanting to use it extensively this spring/summer that was a dealbreaker as well.
We then found Northstar and your videos of the Laredo and Liberty, decided we liked the company and the build, they seemed a lot more straightforward/honest with a great reputation for quality and service and the campers seemed really functional and well thought out. We thought about ordering a custom Northstar - but after talking to the rep and a couple dealers it turns out they are also way behind - custom orders are at least 6-9 months out, maybe more. So we found a dealer about 4 hours away (Holiday RV in Poncha Springs CO - highly recommend them, Joy is great) that had just gotten a Liberty and 2 Laredo SC's in stock and went to check them out the next day. The Liberty seemed a bit too small and one of the Laredos had sold already - the one they had left wasn't perfect, had a few options that we didn't really want (Microwave, TV etc) but we really liked the layout and the feel of it, and it seemed just big enough but not too big. So we put a deposit on it, and the same day we found the truck we wanted (F350 with camper package, FX4, 7.3L gas engine, Lariat package, etc) - again it had a few options we didn't want/need but trucks are in short supply as well so we negotiated the price down a bit and bought it. We picked up the Laredo a few days ago.
We like that the Laredo has the U shaped dinette so we can face each other but also seats 4-5 people so once the pandemic is over we can have a couple friends in there with us to eat dinner and chat. I like the 7' width too, seems much more stable and nimble than the wider campers we looked at. Basically it checked all the boxes for us with a minimum of compromises - the Liberty seemed just a bit too small but the Laredo seems perfect. This is our first camper of any kind, after years of tent camping and backpacking it seems super luxurious and functional without being over the top. We are just getting it set up to camp in, haven't taken it out yet aside from driving it back from the dealer but it seemed really easy to drive with it, the F350 hardly noticed it was there.
A few notes:
1. We have the fold down overhead bunk/cabinet option since we don’t have any little people who would sleep there - but I tested it out and it turns out it’s the perfect place to carry skis. So I took out the pads and the net and we’ll use it for extra cabinet space in the summer and skis in the winter.
2. Not sure if we’ll keep or remove the microwave and TV. This is our first camper so I guess we’ll use if for a while and then decide. More storage might be nice and we don't plan to stay at RV parks with hookups much/ever. Same for adding solar - maybe down the road but will see how it goes without it first.
3. I’ve been going back and forth about bike storage - we have 2 mountain bikes we want to be able to carry, initially I was going to put a hitch rack on the back but that would require a 3” to 2.5” reducer, 18” hitch extension, and a rack that swings out so we can access the back door. Seems complicated, expensive, and I don’t like the idea of a long lever arm with 100 lbs of bikes and rack bouncing around on it. I then started thinking about putting fork mounts on the back or a ladder rack, but in the end I think we are just going to carry the bikes in the back of the cab like you do. I tested it out today, with the rear seats folded up both bikes fit perfectly and I don’t think we need to build a platform as they don’t have much room to move around anyway. I don’t want to remove the rear seats as we will use them for passengers occasionally and I don’t have a good place to store them.
4. It appears that with the tailgate down, we can load up the camper and it will go almost to the end of the tailgate. I’ve measured but not tested this yet, waiting for the new bedliner to cure. This seems ideal since we should not have to remove and store the tailgate when using the camper, and put it back on when using the truck around town. It also means that we can use the retractable step that is built into the tailgate as a step to get into the camper and not have to buy/carry another set of steps. Am I missing something here? Any reason not to leave the tailgate on?
5. The model we got is designed for longbed trucks so it has the rear wings with lights but no storage boxes. I wonder if it is possible to remove the wings so we can access the truck bed storage the way you can. Or add storage boxes later...
6. In summary, the Liberty you customized looks awesome , but for us seemed a bit small and we found the Laredo SC to be just right. The Laredo SC and F-250/350 seem to be a great combo - we went with the 350 to avoid any mandatory suspension upgrades and really just to be safe as this is our first foray into both trucks and campers. I found your videos really helpful and also got a lot of good advice on the truck at the Ford Super Duty forum. Thank you!!!!
Keep up the good work, there isn’t a lot of great info out there on these campers and yours is really helpful.
