2020 Overland Explorer Vehicles (OEV) CAMP-X pop-up slide-in pickup camper (renamed "Back Country" as of 2023)

[anthonym]

With that said have a question in regards to truck. I have a 2020 Ram 2500 Cummins. The door sticker says 2250lbs max payload, coil suspension in the back. From everyone's experience should I already order a set of airbags for it or wait and see how it rides with the camper on. What you guys running on your trucks (airbags?) and how is the ride? Enough clearance to get off the beaten path?

We were talking about this in a DM but figured it might be helpful here. We have 2021 Ram 2500 crew cab with 6.4L gas engine + some basic airbags in the rear, door sticker says 3187 lb payload. Plenty of clearance for anything I'm likely to want to drive definitely feels loads more capable than our (well traveled) Outback in the past. I don't think the camper has affected clearance at all.

More details on how it works with the Ram:
We love it but bought the truck (2021 6.4L gas) to put the camper on it so don't have too much experience with the truck alone. I don't notice much difference in driving feel. We did add rear airbags through the camp-x dealer (Boulder Vehicle Outfitters), per their recommendation so I can't speak to how it would ride without those. With the camper on, I do notice a little more side to side sway on the bigger bumps but that's about it. Corners, fast highway driving, etc. is all totally fine. I would guess maybe there'd be more leaning or side-to-side wobble without the airbags.

We've driven it on some rougher roads so far and honestly don't notice the camper (except watching for overhanging branches and trying to avoid scratching that nice big picture window on the passenger side). It flies down gravel/washboard/all of that with 33" A/T tires compared to our Outback. Honestly it's really fun to drive off pavement.

In the gas model, we lost about 3 mpg all around vs without the camper (from 16ish to 13ish), including long highway miles in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado at pretty high speeds (lots of 75+, some 80+). Not too loud, although there is noticeable wind noise at high speeds. We might put some kind of wind deflector or fairing on it.

Between the storage in the camper, hiding some stuff in the wheel well areas around the camper, and the footwells in the crew cab, we've had no issues at all with storage (2 people + dog + usually a bunch of activity gear for bikes, hiking, etc.).

TLDR: I would 100% buy it again, and I think the basic airbags are worthwhile (no need for onboard compressor, adjustment, etc.).

 

[anthonym]

Thanks Chadx and everyone for the great ideas. We too are in line for a Camp X in mid July. I’m toying with the idea of adding a grey water tank along the truck bed rail. Has anyone tried this yet? My Camp X is going on a 2018 Ram Power Wagon as a reference.

Haven't tried but there'd be plenty of room. I'm planning to put a little door or maybe just small cargo net by the turnbuckles to be able to store some extra stuff there. Pretty sure we could fit skis in a ski bag easily, and a lock on the turnbuckle effectively locks anything in place as long as it's too big to fit through the space.

 

[Dunzee]

We were talking about this in a DM but figured it might be helpful here. We have 2021 Ram 2500 crew cab with 6.4L gas engine + some basic airbags in the rear. Plenty of clearance for anything I'm likely to want to drive definitely feels loads more capable than our (well traveled) Outback in the past. I don't think the camper has affected clearance at all.

More details on how it works with the Ram:
We love it but bought the truck (2021 6.4L gas) to put the camper on it so don't have too much experience with the truck alone. I don't notice much difference in driving feel. We did add rear airbags through the camp-x dealer (Boulder Vehicle Outfitters), per their recommendation so I can't speak to how it would ride without those. With the camper on, I do notice a little more side to side sway on the bigger bumps but that's about it. Corners, fast highway driving, etc. is all totally fine. I would guess maybe there'd be more leaning or side-to-side wobble without the airbags.

We've driven it on some rougher roads so far and honestly don't notice the camper (except watching for overhanging branches and trying to avoid scratching that nice big picture window on the passenger side). It flies down gravel/washboard/all of that with 33" A/T tires compared to our Outback. Honestly it's really fun to drive off pavement.

In the gas model, we lost about 3 mpg all around vs without the camper (from 16ish to 13ish), including long highway miles in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado at pretty high speeds (lots of 75+, some 80+). Not too loud, although there is noticeable wind noise at high speeds. We might put some kind of wind deflector or fairing on it.

Between the storage in the camper, hiding some stuff in the wheel well areas around the camper, and the footwells in the crew cab, we've had no issues at all with storage (2 people + dog + usually a bunch of activity gear for bikes, hiking, etc.).

TLDR: I would 100% buy it again, and I think the basic airbags are worthwhile (no need for onboard compressor, adjustment, etc.).

I put Airlift 5000 on our Power Wagon simply because, although it’s a 2500, it has a lower payload than a regular 3/4 ton truck. I plumbed the airbags separately so I have two air valves, one for each air bag. That prevents a lot of side to side motion because each air bag is independent. Not sure if yours is too, but it’s an easy fix if they are not.


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[pkita99]

Hey,

Just wanted to share with the group here that I decided to bite the bullet and picked up the camp X this Monday from AT Overland in Prescott, AZ. Buy once, cry once as they say. So far really liking it. Took about the day to figure out all the equipment valves etc. and how to use everything. Also spent a bit of time with Eric from OEV to go over some of the winterizing stuff and he was extremely helpful. Good group of people up in Red Deer for sure.

Excited to take it out this weekend. So far have not made any suspension upgrades. Have the airbags ordered and will be installing them next week truck drives ok without them though. I have the 2020 Ram 2500 Cummins and got about 17 mpg with the camper on going from Prescott AZ to Flagstaff at about 75mph and mostly uphill.

Would like to thank everyone on here for all the help and answering all the questions. Great group of people.

 

[Crux]

After owning our CAMP-X for about a year, we still have that faint "new car smell". Nothing that bothers us; we actually like it. Likely a sentimental thing for having bought so few new cars or new campers in our lives (we typically buy used). It does air out quickly.
Though it doesn't bother us and we are fond of it, I can see how someone that is sensitive to odors could find it bothersome. A quick air out before each trip should help.

Turns out the smell we were smelling was from the foam mattress.
We pulled it out of the camper and took off the quilted cover.
Hopefully letting it air out for a few weeks will dissipate the chemical odors my wife and I both seem to be sensitive to.

If not, we'll buy a different mattress.

 

[Chadx]

That may explain our less intense "new" smell because we pulled out the factory mattress cushions from day one and used our pieced-together foam/memory foam mattress used in our previous pickup camper.

A good air out should help things off-gas.

 

[Chadx]

If anyone is interested, I just started a thread for the CAMP-HBE since one arrived at BigSkyRV in Bozeman, MT and I stopped up and grabbed some images. Thread is here: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...camp-hbe-pop-up-flatbed-pickup-camper.225285/

 

[DzlToy]

Buy a wool mattress and keep plastic out of your body. Wool is naturally anti-microbial.

Roll-up wool mattresses, covers and toppers, made in the USA: https://shepherdsdream.com/product-category/wool-mattress-toppers

A large bowl of baking soda or vinegar will absorb odors and get rid of the "new car smell" which is essentially all of the plastics off-gassing noxious fumes.

 

[BeaverMan]

Chadx, could you get some measurements of the new battery comparment in the Camp-X. Also a picture or two would help if you have time. We took a trip to look at them right before the new models came out. Thanks for all your info on the Camp-X and Camp-HBE, much better than any other source.

 

[Chadx]

I'll see of I can get access into one. There are three brand new CAMP-X that just arrived at the dealer but all were brought in as sold units.

 

[FunhogKevo]

Definitely getting a noxious fumes / smell from my Camp X. I suspect that it is the foam mattress. I have it airing outdoors for a few days. Has anyone found a good alternative to the foam mattress provided in the Camp X? Thanks, Kevin

 

[Chadx]

We pieced together our own mattress a few years ago. Tried quite a few different things and landed on a combination of a 3" thick memory foam on top of a 2" layer of soft foam. It is very comfortable for us, though everyone likes something different. Back then, we played with egg crate foam topper on stock camper mattress, memory foam topper on stock mattress, etc. I finally evaluated the construction of our home mattress (tempur pedic) and observed that the memory foam is best when on a very low density (read: easily squished) foam base. This made sense because the memory foam on a stock camper mattress spread body weight over too large of an area and it was much too firm. I swapped the stock mattress for very soft foam and the memory foam topper could then sink and do it's thing. Ideally, the foam is a bit thicker than the memory foam on top and we could have gone with a 2" memory foam on top of 3" soft foam base, but we already had the 3" memory foam and at the time we added the 2" of low density foam underneath it, that 5" total was all we could fit in our previous camper. The CAMP-X could handle an even deeper mattress.

 

[FunhogKevo]

We pieced together our own mattress a few years ago. Tried quite a few different things and landed on a combination of a 3" thick memory foam on top of a 2" layer of soft foam. It is very comfortable for us, though everyone likes something different. Back then, we played with egg crate foam topper on stock camper mattress, memory foam topper on stock mattress, etc. I finally evaluated the construction of our home mattress (tempur pedic) and observed that the memory foam is best when on a very low density (read: easily squished) foam base. This made sense because the memory foam on a stock camper mattress spread body weight over too large of an area and it was much too firm. I swapped the stock mattress for very soft foam and the memory foam topper could then sink and do it's thing. Ideally, the foam is a bit thicker than the memory foam on top and we could have gone with a 2" memory foam on top of 3" soft foam base, but we already had the 3" memory foam and at the time we added the 2" of low density foam underneath it, that 5" total was all we could fit in our previous camper. The CAMP-X could handle an even deeper mattress.

Thanks Chad. Good information.

 

[Wavester]

Nice write up, there are many things I really like about the Camp X, the quality construction and the use of high end components. I have been looking for a replacement for my FWC Hawk and seriously considered the Camp X but when I started thinking about where I would put the stuff I have in my Hawk in the Camp X, there is a serious lack of storage in the Camp X. I have spent at least 60 days camping in my Hawk this year and probably camp approx 90 plus nights in a camper per year, conservatively so storage space is a premium. From what I can see the Camp X has 3 compartments for storage, just open areas without shelves and zero drawers. My Hawk has 3 drawers for silver wear, cooking utensil etc. and 3 open cupboards AND huge areas under the roll over couch.
Additionally the Camp X doesn't have an outside storage compartment which comes in handy for your grey water tank, grey water container etc.
IMO the Camper X has a serious lack of storage which is a critical factor when you're spending weeks at a time camping.

 

[Crux]

I've never owned a FWC, but we've been able to fit quite a bit of stuff into the various storage compartments of the Camp-X.
Of course we pack small as if we were backpacking.
We also bought some plastic drawers for under the sink to organize utensils, cooking stuff, etc.
I mounted a trasharoo on the rear molle rack to carry wood, collapsible grey 'tank' (aka bucket), poo bucket, etc.
If you really want more space, a flatbed with side storage compartments would be ideal (but more $$$).