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

[sg1]

I can't answer your question, but wanted to mention we did an Orcas Island trip in our previous pop-up camper. Ours was our first pickup/camper ferry trip which was neat. It was a rainy Sept. trip and mopping up 1/4" of standing water (condensation; not a leak) from under our mattress was what instigated the sale of that brand camper and purchase of our CAMP-X. We planned to take the CAMP-X to Vancouver Island but then the borders closed.
Would expect crowds in the summer but no first hand knowledge so your trip report will help us plan for next year. Ha.
Just the stuff you've likely already done: Check Ferry schedule as they had some things out of whack/closures last time I checked. And the boarder-crossing requirements are still changing now and then so be prepared to adapt.

I have been to Vancouver Island several times and explored it from Port Hardy to Victoria. It is beautiful like a small version of Canada with every type of landscape you can find in Pacific Canada. In summer it is quite busy especially in the better known tourist destinations. You will find any type of camping from full hook up RV Parks to remote Rec Sites or wilderness camping only accessible by high clearance vehicles when it is dry or 4x4 when it is wet. If you go to Tofino and the Pacific Rim NP or around Victoria you won´t be alone. If you explore the Forestry service Roads between Port Renfrew and Bamfield on the West Coast or the North around Port Hardy, Coal Harbour, San Josef Bay it won´t be busy. The islands between Vancouver Island and the Mainland are nice too. In August we take the ferry from Bella Coola to Port Hardy and then explore Quadra Island and Cortes Island before heading over to Lund and Desolation Sound.
When arriving in Victoria get the Backroad Mapbook https://www.backroadmapbooks.com/ . These Mapbooks are the bible for anyone exploring the Canadian backcountry.
Have fun Stefan

 

[PaulPritchard]

I have been to Vancouver Island several times and explored it from Port Hardy to Victoria. It is beautiful like a small version of Canada with every type of landscape you can find in Pacific Canada. In summer it is quite busy especially in the better known tourist destinations. You will find any type of camping from full hook up RV Parks to remote Rec Sites or wilderness camping only accessible by high clearance vehicles when it is dry or 4x4 when it is wet. If you go to Tofino and the Pacific Rim NP or around Victoria you won´t be alone. If you explore the Forestry service Roads between Port Renfrew and Bamfield on the West Coast or the North around Port Hardy, Coal Harbour, San Josef Bay it won´t be busy. The islands between Vancouver Island and the Mainland are nice too. In August we take the ferry from Bella Coola to Port Hardy and then explore Quadra Island and Cortes Island before heading over to Lund and Desolation Sound.
When arriving in Victoria get the Backroad Mapbook https://www.backroadmapbooks.com/ . These Mapbooks are the bible for anyone exploring the Canadian backcountry.
Have fun Stefan

Thanks. Good information.

 

[PaulPritchard]

I can't answer your question, but wanted to mention we did an Orcas Island trip in our previous pop-up camper. Ours was our first pickup/camper ferry trip which was neat. It was a rainy Sept. trip and mopping up 1/4" of standing water (condensation; not a leak) from under our mattress was what instigated the sale of that brand camper and purchase of our CAMP-X. We planned to take the CAMP-X to Vancouver Island but then the borders closed.
Would expect crowds in the summer but no first hand knowledge so your trip report will help us plan for next year. Ha.
Just the stuff you've likely already done: Check Ferry schedule as they had some things out of whack/closures last time I checked. And the boarder-crossing requirements are still changing now and then so be prepared to adapt.

Thanks!

 

[Ninelitetrip]

....

 

[PaulPritchard]

We just got back from our two week trip in our Camp-X that took us to Vancouver Island and back to the Phoenix area. Of course, I bought a BackRoads MapBook before we left and it was used extensively. Thanks sg1.

We traveled 4,117 miles in total and I hate to tell you what we paid for gas. Earlier in the year I switched from a 2021 Tundra to a 2022 Ram 2500 for a much better payload, but with that better payload comes an 11.1 MPG average.

The Camp-X did great, as usual. We did very little dispersed camping and mostly hit the campgrounds. (we're old).

The likes:

The Camp-X and the Ram truck did great. I only did the Ram truck for the much better payload (3,100 lbs) and it fits in my garage. Otherwise I wasn't a big fan of Ram as I was always a Toyota fanboy. But it did great. As a bonus, I can install and uninstall all four Torklifts on the truck from the outside the camper.​

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The Vancouver Island backroads mapbook. As stated it was invaluable although we didn't explore the island nearly as much as I expected.​

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The campsite at the Lower Campbell Lake outside of Campbell River on Vancouver Island. We got a terrific campsite right off shore with great views. The campground was church-quiet. The people were friendly.​

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The highway to Campbell River, once north of Nanaimo, is very nice and one can go far without having to stop at a light.​

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Visited three US national parks: Olympic in Washington, North Cascades also in Washington, and Great Basin in Nevada. North Cascades was spectacular but very crowded.​

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The weather was mostly very good in the northern parts of the trip.​

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The dislikes:

As much as I really like ferry rides to and from Vancouver Island, the wait to pass through customs in Victoria was well over 90 minutes. Add to that the earlier wait at Port Angeles for the scheduled crossing, the traffic getting through Victoria, and the incessant stop and go of the highway traffic from Victoria through Nanaimo, and most of the day is gone. I got a little frustrated since I wanted to find a good campsite before dark.​

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Coming back the weather got to be fairly warm from southeastern Oregon down to Arizona. Over 100 degrees. Luckily we were still comfortable at night with the two Camp-X ceiling fans.​

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Wanted to spend more time on Vancouver Island, but we didn't plan very well and since it took nearly a week to arrive on the island we were anxious to start back home.​

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Had to give up our refrigerated chicken at the Canadian customs checkpoint. Was looking forward to that dinner. And had to give up our Canadian firewood at the US customs checkpoint coming back. Again, we didn't do our homework.​

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All in all it was a great trip. To date, we've used the Camp-X for about a month total over the past year. We are really enjoying it.

 

[Chadx]

Thanks for the update, Paul! Glad you had such a great trip. How about an image or two?

My next pickup will be an HD as well, whether we stick with the CAMP-X or change to a flatbed camper. I'm due for another truck in a couple years (like to get 9 to 11 years out of my pickups), but in the meantime, our 2013 Tundra with airbags and LT tires has really performed amazing only being a Fullsize pickup and not HD. I don't think you are giving up much on mileage when loaded with the camper. If I'm out on the highway going 65 - 75mph, I'm around 12 - 13mpg with the our Tundra (with the smaller 4.6L V8, which I absolutely love). I can get 14 - 16+mpg+ on slower 45-55mph roadways if I drive for mileage. I get 18 mpg unloaded on long (100+ mile) highway trips going our 80mph Montana speed limit). But, I'm never unloaded. Have the camper on all summer. And summer or winter, almost every weekend I'm towing a fishing boat or 16' enclosed trailer. Not sure what the mileage difference would be, between Fullsize and HD pickups, at 2mph - 15mph trail driving that we mostly do; much of which is in Low Range. Would guess the larger displacement engine would use a bit more fuel there, but probably insignificant.

Main area I'd prefer better handling with Tundra is at highway speeds and on curvy roads. I'd prefer to have more leeway on payload and prefer to not have airbags. Instead, have the pickup sprung for the load, which would give a better ride characteristics and more articulation off road. And not all spring suspension is created equal. For a leaf pack, I'll be looking at aftermarket springs for the HD when the time comes.

On forest service roads and trails, I absolutely love the Tundra. I've had it long enough that I can put the front and rear tires within an inch of where I want/need them (avoiding potholes, rocks, edge of the road drop offs, etc. at will which means a faster trail pace and better ride (threading my way around holes/rocks/bumps). I'll have to re-learn all that on a new truck; particularly a wider HD with less (much less!) over-the-hood visibility and longer wheelbase. (Even if I stick with double cab and standard bed, I'll be about a foot longer on overall length and wheelbase and have a much larger turning radius). But, I'll have a huge gas tank! Ha. I know the Tundra was available with a 38 gallon, but the one I bought used in 2015 was our 2013 and it only has a 24 gallon fuel tank with about 21 useable, so a larger gas tank is going to be another perk of moving to an HD for us.

We've been out quite a bit this summer. I'll post an image to two at some point to give the thread a color injection.

 

[Chadx]

Local overnight trip in late June. About 1/5 of our planned/intended dispersed spots don't work out (occupied, not what I expected from map/research, we took a different route, etc.) and we end up someplace unplanned. I'm a planner by nature, but over the years, have gotten better at just letting a trip unfold if plans don't work out/change. And it does work out.

 

[PaulPritchard]

Nice pictures chadx. Thanks.

I was hoping the new 2022 Tundra model would have better payload numbers, but it doesn't and Toyota will likely never get into the HD market. So, we're stuck with the Big Three 'domestics'. Like I told a fellow camper on our trip, I like to buy American but I have a truck that was built in Mexico and a camper that was built in Canada. He said, "At least they're North American."

I'm also a planner and I like to have a pretty good idea where we'll be camping at night while driving during the day. On this last trip we found a great dispersed camping site in Nevada. You probably already know that Nevada has an unlimited number of places to free-camp. But as you say, finding a suitable campsite usually works out. In fact, we found a really great campsite late in the day near Campbell River by doing a little exploring, referencing the Backroads mapbook, and having a little bit of good luck.

 

[Trail Talk]

I'm a planner by nature, but over the years, have gotten better at just letting a trip unfold if plans don't work out/change.

Hoping to get there too

 

[PaulPritchard]

Has anyone had this problem with their Camp-X truck set up?

After this last trip with our Camp-X I noticed some damage at the lower driver’s side Camp-X corner bracket. It appears to me that the damage was caused by the front, tie-down bracket bolt head on the truck bed.

There are two 'indents' on the camper so this damage may have started on an earlier trip where the camper was mated to the truck in a slightly different position.

The camper installed perfectly before we went on our last trip and we had no driving issues along the way.

The passenger side of the camper is free of any marks, much less any indentations.

The truck is a 2022 Ram 2500. We’ve taken several trips with the truck-camper combo and never had a problem. From the picture it appears the front, driver’s side camper bottom puck sat in between two truck bed ‘ribs’ which would make that side sit a little lower and maybe cause an impact to the bolt head. But I would think the Camp-X folks would take that into account when designing the tie-down setup for the Ram truck.

Big Sky RV in Bozeman originally installed the Camp-X to my Tundra and used a rubber horse stall mat for the truck bed. Subsequently, AT Overland in Prescott AZ installed the same Camp-X on my Ram truck using Ram-specific tie down brackets. They said they no longer use the mat and that the camper can rest right on the truck bed.

The pictures show the Camp-X's driver's side bottom corner bracket, and the truck bed with the front tie-down bracket that spans the width of the truck bed.

I'm assuming the camper can go all the way to the front tie-down bracket with the rubber stops.

Can the Camp-X corner bracket be replaced? I would think it can. If replaced I don't want to cause continued damage to the camper. Maybe it could be remedied by putting a shim on the one side of the truck bed to raise it enough to clear the bolt head. However, for the money we paid for the camper and the installation I would like to have a better and more permanent solution.

I'm waiting to hear back from AT Overland to get their take.

 

[Chadx]

... It appears to me that the damage was caused by the front, tie-down bracket bolt head on the truck bed.
...The passenger side of the camper is free of any marks, much less any indentations.
...driver’s side camper bottom puck sat in between two truck bed ‘ribs’ which would make that side sit a little lower and maybe cause an impact to the bolt head.

Yep, sitting a touch too low to clear that bolt. You mention the buck on the other side may sit on the rib rather than between the rips. You have a picture of the bed floor showing where the passenger side puck sat? If the passenger side puck was on a rib rather than between like on the drivers side, I agree with your assessment that is why the bolt head indented only on the drivers side.

Best solution might be a slightly taller puck. But then, you are moving your center of gravity even taller and the camper further above your bed rails. How close is the camper to your top bedrails currently? And when installed, is the clearance the same between the bedrails on the drivers side and passenger side? If even, the pucks are likely sitting the same, but if different, that is more proof the pucks are situation differently on you bed floor (on vs between bed floor ribs). If that is the case, perhaps a taller puck only on the drivers side to make up for the bed floor rib height? I'd think the bed floor ribs are symmetrical so it's a bit odd that one side's puck would be between and the other on a rib.

I'm still using cut sections of livestock mat since the variable height pucks were introduced in a later version. I outlined that (with images) back in post
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...e-in-pickup-camper.214329/page-2#post-2773760

Since then, I'd added some 6' lengths of L track to my pickup bed for another wintertime use and they situated between the bed floor ribs. The next time I installed the camper, I discovered I then only needed one thickness of 3/4" thick mat rather than two. Previously, one thickness was juuuuuuust two short and the camper lightly touched my bedrails in one spot on each side, so I'd doubled up the mat. The L track sticking up every so slightly above the pickup bed ribs made the 1/8" difference to allow only one thickness of matt. And this lowered the camper almost 3/4" but still situation the camper about 1/4" above my bedrails (a good thing) and an overall lower center of gravity. Happy ending.

 

[PaulPritchard]

Yep, sitting a touch too low to clear that bolt. You mention the buck on the other side may sit on the rib rather than between the rips. You have a picture of the bed floor showing where the passenger side puck sat? If the passenger side puck was on a rib rather than between like on the drivers side, I agree with your assessment that is why the bolt head indented only on the drivers side.

Best solution might be a slightly taller puck. But then, you are moving your center of gravity even taller and the camper further above your bed rails. How close is the camper to your top bedrails currently? And when installed, is the clearance the same between the bedrails on the drivers side and passenger side? If even, the pucks are likely sitting the same, but if different, that is more proof the pucks are situation differently on you bed floor (on vs between bed floor ribs). If that is the case, perhaps a taller puck only on the drivers side to make up for the bed floor rib height? I'd think the bed floor ribs are symmetrical so it's a bit odd that one side's puck would be between and the other on a rib.

I'm still using cut sections of livestock mat since the variable height pucks were introduced in a later version. I outlined that (with images) back in post
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...e-in-pickup-camper.214329/page-2#post-2773760

Since then, I'd added some 6' lengths of L track to my pickup bed for another wintertime use and they situated between the bed floor ribs. The next time I installed the camper, I discovered I then only needed one thickness of 3/4" thick mat rather than two. Previously, one thickness was juuuuuuust two short and the camper lightly touched my bedrails in one spot on each side, so I'd doubled up the mat. The L track sticking up every so slightly above the pickup bed ribs made the 1/8" difference to allow only one thickness of matt. And this lowered the camper almost 3/4" but still situation the camper about 1/4" above my bedrails (a good thing) and an overall lower center of gravity. Happy ending.

Thanks for your reply, chadx.

I looked again at the truck bed and the Camp-X front pucks. Judging from the marks the pucks leave on the truck bed it appears the problem may be with the very front driver's side puck. All the other pucks line up with each other, for each one half the puck rests on a truck bed rib. Except for the very front one. It's a little out of alignment with the rest and misses the truck bed rib slightly. I haven't measured it because the camper is resting on its dolly in my garage. But judging from the puck markings it looks to be the case.

The camper sits around 4" above my truck bed rail already so I am not interested in raising it even more.

Maybe I can talk the dealer into adding additional pucks at the front of the camper on each side of the current pucks, widening their bases, and so ensuring space to clear the bolt heads.

Puck placement, huh?

 

[Chadx]

Our "Happy third of July" trip (had to work on July 5 so did a Sunday night trip.

"Drive until we hit the snow line, then setup camp".
Forest service road, in the background of image one, was blocked by 150+' snow drift, but we made it to this spot, which we frequent.

Last picture is the storm rolling in, that we knew was coming. We timed our drive to beat it by a couple hours. Hail was small but numerous and LOUD. We had to shout to one another to be heard over it for about 5 minutes. Ha. Then off-and-on thunderstorms all night. Sun shine the next morning and we let the trails dry out before we departed. Type of soil in this mountain range can strand you if it gets too much rain. So sticky and will cake on your tires so deep it fills your wheel wells, and you have no traction as a result. Walking in it for 10 minutes will give you a nice set of 3" platform shoes. But it also dries out very quickly. We avoid driving on wet/muddy trails to avoid trail damage and knew we'd be at camp long enough for trails to dry out.

 

[Ninelitetrip]

Nice campsite. What was your elevation?

 

[PaulPritchard]

Here are a few pictures of our trip from Arizona to Vancouver Island


This is at North Cascade National Park in Washington


Overgrown campsite at Olympic National Park in Washington


View of Lower Campbell Lake on Vancouver Island right behind our campsite



This was is a nice campground on a lake in southern Washington. We had the entire place to ourselves



Found this decent dispersed campsite near Carvers Nevada

I had more pictures but I couldn't upload because of their size.