A little help in the Southeast

[LeftofLucky]

Hey folks. I've been lurking around for the last month or so. My wife, our one-year old daughter, and I are on the verge of jumping into the deep end: selling everything, building the truck into a long-term camper and roaming around for a year or so. The rig's a 2003 Cummins 2500, quad-cab, long-bed, four-wheel drive. HO with the six-speed MT. It's got a bunch of miles, but I love it. That's enough, sometimes.

We're going to try to do as much dispersed camping as possible, keep away from KOAs and the like when we can. That kind of nixes the notion of something easy like an old Airstream. Which leads me to my conundrum. I like what I've read about the Four Wheel Campers Grandby, but the closest dealer's in Pennsylvania, and they don't come up for sale used down this way all that often. I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee. I'd really like to put eyes on a Grandby in the flesh. Anybody close by have one they wouldn't mind me crawling over for an hour or so?

Thanks. This forum's a great resource.

 

[michelrobitaille]

FWC

Hey folks. I've been lurking around for the last month or so. My wife, our one-year old daughter, and I are on the verge of jumping into the deep end: selling everything, building the truck into a long-term camper and roaming around for a year or so. The rig's a 2003 Cummins 2500, quad-cab, long-bed, four-wheel drive. HO with the six-speed MT. It's got a bunch of miles, but I love it. That's enough, sometimes.

We're going to try to do as much dispersed camping as possible, keep away from KOAs and the like when we can. That kind of nixes the notion of something easy like an old Airstream. Which leads me to my conundrum. I like what I've read about the Four Wheel Campers Grandby, but the closest dealer's in Pennsylvania, and they don't come up for sale used down this way all that often. I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee. I'd really like to put eyes on a Grandby in the flesh. Anybody close by have one they wouldn't mind me crawling over for an hour or so?

Thanks. This forum's a great resource.

Hi, I went to the overland expo in Flagstaff this past May just so I could see everything and get inside as many as I could. I live in Canada and drove 9 hrs to the FWC dealer in Pennsylvania this past August, it was well worth the trip and I was able to plan a build. I'm not sure the distance from where you are but I would reccomend the trip, his shop is really cool and he knows what he's doing.

 

[LeftofLucky]

That may be what we wind up doing. I've looked at the PA dealer, but their inventory is tiny. I think they have two models in stock right now, and neither's for a long bed.

Did you wind up with a 4WC? Do you have any photos of yours?

 

[lqhikers]

do not close the door on other pop ups.
if you plan on spending a lot of time depending on your truck/camper to carry everything
and still have room for "family" time you might want something a little bigger than a fwc .
does not sound like you are planning on a lot of off road travel but more back country roads
and forest roads.
by the time you get a fwc out fitted fully you will find you will be short on storage space.

don't think that i am knocking fwc i'm not have owned one loved it but am fully aware of limits.

Les,lqhikers

 

[Advmoto18]

That may be what we wind up doing. I've looked at the PA dealer, but their inventory is tiny.

Most FWC dealers do not have or maintain "inventory" since FWC campers are built to order based on customer desired options.

My built to order Hawk at Point Sublime, Grand Canyon.

 

[35xj]

I'm in Asheville, have the same truck, and an 04 grandby.

You're welcome to come take a look

 

[LeftofLucky]

Awesome 35xj. Shot you a PM.

I'm worried about the space, but I'm more concerned about something like a Palomino standing up to a full year's worth of use.

At this point, nothing's been ruled out. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[Regcabguy]

do not close the door on other pop ups.
if you plan on spending a lot of time depending on your truck/camper to carry everything
and still have room for "family" time you might want something a little bigger than a fwc .
does not sound like you are planning on a lot of off road travel but more back country roads
and forest roads.
by the time you get a fwc out fitted fully you will find you will be short on storage space.

don't think that i am knocking fwc i'm not have owned one loved it but am fully aware of limits.

Les,lqhikers

Agreed. Consider a Northstar TC800 or 850SC. They'll afford way more storage and comfort especially for three of you. They're made in Indiana and can be found used in Craiglist or other publications.

 

[DzlToy]

A Palomino absolutely will not stand up to a year of continuous use and certainly not a year of back country use.

Please do your homework and LOOK at the construction of most of these truck campers, they are complete garbage. This includes a $55,000 LANCE that a mate of mine just looked at a few months ago for his Dodge truck. I am not sure where the $$ goes, but it is quite obvious that it does not go into quality materials and craftsmanship.

Livin' Lite is pretty good and the FWC's that I saw at the Asheville Expo seemed to be very nice quality.

If you are serious about your trip, you owe it to yourself to get something that is not going to be a hassle on the road. It is your HOUSE. Alternatively, an off road trailer can get into the back country quite easily and would give you more space. A small off road tear drop could provide a second bed and storage space, whilst a slide in truck camper built to your specs could provide water, cooking, shower, etc., which would be missing or only available outdoors on some models of off road trailers. This trailer can be parked to reserve a camping spot, locked up and left, while you run take day trips, get groceries, etc.

 

[smlobx]

Ah, the $64 question and dilemma for those of us on the East coast.

FWC does make a rugged camper but for us it seems a little too spartan. We are seriously looking at Hallmark campers. (www.hallmarkrv.com). Specifically we're looking at the Everest with an 8.5' bed. The main thing that is swaying us is that we can have a commode (wife's demand) and the North /South bed arrangement with built in storage.

Yes, they are more expensive that FWC's but also include more so when you add stuff to the FWC's the price is not that far apart.

Either way enjoy the hunt!!

 

[LeftofLucky]

A Palomino absolutely will not stand up to a year of continuous use and certainly not a year of back country use.

Please do your homework and LOOK at the construction of most of these truck campers, they are complete garbage. This includes a $55,000 LANCE that a mate of mine just looked at a few months ago for his Dodge truck. I am not sure where the $$ goes, but it is quite obvious that it does not go into quality materials and craftsmanship.

Livin' Lite is pretty good and the FWC's that I saw at the Asheville Expo seemed to be very nice quality.

If you are serious about your trip, you owe it to yourself to get something that is not going to be a hassle on the road. It is your HOUSE. Alternatively, an off road trailer can get into the back country quite easily and would give you more space. A small off road tear drop could provide a second bed and storage space, whilst a slide in truck camper built to your specs could provide water, cooking, shower, etc., which would be missing or only available outdoors on some models of off road trailers. This trailer can be parked to reserve a camping spot, locked up and left, while you run take day trips, get groceries, etc.

You're not kidding. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be happy with something like a Lance, just from looking at the specs. They're crazy heavy, well over the payload for a 3/4 ton. Well, one came up for sale locally. It was loaded in what was essentially my truck. The previous owner hadn't bothered with any sort of rear suspension solution, and the springs were basically flat. Combine that with sagging plywood everywhere I looked, the cheap, crappy materials inside, and the poor use of space, and I was out. What a mess.

There is a Livin Lite for sale down in Alabama that I may go poke around on. They seem well built.

 

[Foxpedition]

Sent you a PM

 

[brianjwilson]

Definitely absolutely stay away from palomino. One good look at them and you'll understand why. I wouldn't consider travel lite for your use either.

A four wheel camper is great, but storage could be a bit of an issue depending on your "needs". Everyone will have different opinions but I really like the forward dinette setup if you're considering new or recent. Especially in a grandby. Your 1 year old could comfortably sleep in the dinette made into a bed, while you're wife and you sleep east/west in the cab over bed right over the kiddo. The full kitchen and toilet, exit door etc is accessible with both beds made. Little one can sleep while the wife gets up to pee, someone gets up to make coffee etc. There should be sufficient space to leave an RV Superbag or similar on the bed with the top closed. We have been using front runner flat pack storage containers in our fleet and they really help with gear storage and orginization. They fold and collapse flat, stack nicely etc. A storage box on the roof should provide space for additional lightweight bulky items (kid carrier backpacks extra clothes, chairs).

Regardless of what brand you choose, give some thought into how accessible things are with the top down. For example quick road side stops, loading groceries, changing diapers, using the toilet (potty training). I like our forward dinette fleet because I can easily lay my daughter inside and change her, the potty is right by the door, I can step up and easily get into the fridge and food cabinets etc. I stack our front runner packs on the dinette so they are out of the way. My daughter was about a year old when I got my camper.

BUT. I would actually strongly consider a small hard side camper for full time use with a kid. Maybe something narrow and light without basement storage. It is SO much easier to just step in back and have everything accessible, beds made etc. While it is fairly quick to open the four wheel camper, it feels a little silly to open it for just a couple minutes to make a sandwich and change the kid, but if the weather sucks you'll be standing out in the rain to do it. If I'm not packed as full I will climb in and put my daughter on the dinette seat to change her. It is just a thought, I had a hard side a few years ago and it didn't work for my use, ymmv.

 

[Main Line Overland]

That may be what we wind up doing. I've looked at the PA dealer, but their inventory is tiny. I think they have two models in stock right now, and neither's for a long bed.

Did you wind up with a 4WC? Do you have any photos of yours?

Hi there,

Until Yesterday we had 3 Hawks, a Grandby & Grandby Flat bed instock. We are currently cycling out our showroom inventory to order some new units, as such we sold a Hawk Shell & Hawk Camper yesterday. We still have a Fresh 2015 Hawk Shell, 2014 Grandby Side Dinette & 2015 Grandby Flatbed instock. Now would be a great time to get a deal on our showroom 2014 Grandby Side Dinette, if you are interested email us: sales@mainlineoverland.com for the spec sheet, or with any questions we can answer for you. Good luck with your search!

 

[Main Line Overland]

New Grandby Flatbed in the showroom. Checkout photos on our website:http://www.mainlineoverland.com/pages/current-inventory