Four Wheel Campers has been selling campers for approx. 45 years now (since 1972). And yes, we are still using the same basic design as we always have, with the exception of design improvements, new floor plans, new features, and better materials over the years. For our average customers, what we build works well. Our customers seem to like what we are doing, but we also realize our campers can't fill the need for ever customer out there. Different customers have different needs.
For the most part I will post to the forums when I have time, when I can help with a reply, or when customers need additional information. I haven't jumped in on this thread mostly because the original poster (sg1) has some valid points for that extreme of a wet environment.
With an aluminum frame camper, aluminum skin exterior, and soft sides (pop-up material) customers can have condensation inside in wet & humid areas like that, as well as just from people inside the camper breathing all night and not cracking a port hole or roof vent.
I was out in Huntingdon, PA (East Coast) in Aug. and it was about 90 degrees with 80% humidity. During the middle of the day there was moisture on the dashboard of my rental car even though the AC was running on high? I wasn't used to seeing that as a Californian.
During a weekend evening on that same trip, the weather was the same, hot and humid, and a rain/thunderstorm rolled through the event around 10pm. It was extremely hot & humid inside the camper even at night and I couldn't open the vent or windows to get air flow because of the down pour of rain. Everything inside felt damp because of the humidity in the air. Kinda sucked to be honest, lol. But everyone at the event, in whatever vehicle, tent, trailer, or camper, was experiencing the same feeling. Living here on the West Coast and have been camping in Four Wheel Campers in the Western States for the past 13 years, I have not had any condensation problems to worry about, in all types of weather (because it is so dry out here).
The bigger the camper or trailer, the less condensation you will probably notice.
The smaller the space (like an FWC) you will tend to see more in extreme humidity.
But with any type of truck camper, condensation can accumulate without the proper ventilation. The TruckCamperMagazine article covers that quite well.
Wood frame, fiberglass, aluminum, composite, etc., they can all have varying degrees of condensation in that type of weather.
That said, some simple steps can be taken to greatly reduce the condensation in "most" wet & humid areas.
For the hundreds and hundreds of customers buying our campers each year, camping conditions are usually more mild, and the customer can just crack a vent and open a port hole to help eliminate the condensation. Doesn't seem to be that big of a problem.
We have customers that live "full time" in their FWC all over North America and some Internationally. And we have other customers that are "fair weather campers" and only use their truck camper a few times a year in the good weather. Both groups of customers don't seem to have many problems with condensation.
If you are using the camper in the extreme weather like sg1 describes, you will need to take additional measures to combat the humidity and moisture. And it sounds like it was so cold and wet, they weren't even able to air out / dry out the camper inside.
But if you are using the camper in more normal conditions, there will usually be days when it warms up, or the rain stops so that that you can open things up and let things dry out / air out a bit.
Hope this helps.
See you all at the Overland Expo East if you are going. We are flying out today.
: )
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