Best Custom Pop-Up Mfr?

[deminimis]

Hey again. I asked a similar question back in the Spring, but this is a bit different this go-'round, given my potential new rig. Still considering letting my Sportsmobile go (I'm so back and forth on selling because I love my Sporty, but the fam is growing and an int head/shower would be nice -plus we need a pickup for horse duties). Now this may sound a little nuts, but I'm considering a 2-ton quad cab top kick dually truck with a custom 12' pickup bed. Might be a bit outrageous, but I'm seriously considering it. Okay, seriously outrageous. Yea, you read that right, a 12-foot pickup bed.

So besides selling my Sporty, and this particular truck still being available when I'm ready, the real hurdle is going to be whether I can find (or have built) a bomber pop up camper that fills the space that won't land me in the poor house. I'm not even sure of the width of the bed at this point, but, it will be wider than standard too. Baja to the PNW to the Rockies is where we do our thing, so something that can handle those varied climates and abuse is a must. Its gonna need to sleep four and have an int head/shower.

With that rough sketch, which mfr do you folks think might be my best bet? I don't think Alaskan (even if they would build such a camper) would look right on this rig, so looking for a different mfr. Thanks as always!!

 

[dzzz]

wouldn't you do a flat bed? A pickup box will take space you don't have. The best value would be a company like Alaskan that is modifying an existing design. If you want something that looks custom, be prepared to pay.

All Terrain Campers does custom. They are like Four Wheel pop-ups. Four Wheel does not do custom, AFAIK.

 

[ntsqd]

In CA a pick-up bed used to have big benefits re: truck scales. May also be true in other states. I'd investigate if this is still the case or not.

 

[dzzz]

In CA a pick-up bed used to have big benefits re: truck scales. May also be true in other states. I'd investigate if this is still the case or not.

The solution to most regulation is getting an RV plate.

 

[yosemitetim]

Coyote RV an option?

http://www.phoenixcampers.com/

I had these guys build me a custom pop up. At the time, they weren't doing custom jobs, mine was a first I think. The parts of the popup that they built 'standard' worked well for the most part, but the customized parts did not.

They were reasonably priced, but you should know what you are doing if you have them build a custom camper - understand the design, materials used etc.

First check out one of their 'standard' models somewhere, go visit the factory and talk to them etc..

Good luck

Tim

PS The popup I had is shown here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=475058#post475058

 

[theMec]

wouldn't you do a flat bed? A pickup box will take space you don't have. The best value would be a company like Alaskan that is modifying an existing design. If you want something that looks custom, be prepared to pay.

All Terrain Campers does custom. They are like Four Wheel pop-ups. Four Wheel does not do custom, AFAIK.

Definitely agree w/ dzzz, on the flatbed for a base.

All Terrain would not do any custom work when I talked to them. Callen Campers ( http://callencamper.com/ ) does do custom work. I've been happy with mine.

 

[haven]

"I'm considering a 2-ton quad cab top kick dually truck with a custom 12' pickup bed."

Here's one example, the Ironhide truck from the Transformers movie:

Here's an alternative from Freightliner called the Sportchassis

And here's the International CXT

This might be the right time to shop for vehicles like this. GM has shut down
its medium duty business, so the vehicles on the Chevy and GMC dealers' lots
are the last of the breed. The Sportchassis and CXT were conceived when having
the biggest truck in the country club parking lot was considered a good thing.
Today, the trucks are out of fashion and resale values are low.

Here's a 2008 GMC C5500 4x4 crew cab on eBay, Buy It Now price $42,900
Miles are kind of high at 75,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260485504705

Maybe a better deal is this C5500 on Craigslist. It's a crew cab 4x4 with 7,554 miles for
$55,000.

http://hattiesburg.en.craigslist.org/cto/1381176262.html

Chip Haven

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

It depends on where you want to go and what you want to do, but here is one for you to ponder.

This package is for sale for around $ 49,500.00 and you have the camper too (turn key).


http://www.turtleexpedition.com/vehicles/turtle4.php#specs



This truck & camper will go every place you can't get that big F-550 truck.



We are building a well equipped Hawk Model camper for a customer that just sold his EarthRoamer. I think he sold the EarthRoamer for $150,000.00. He really liked the EarthRomer from what I gathered. But he said it was just TOO big to get into the places he likes to go.




.

 

[deminimis]

The guy that was so keen on my Sporty disappeared. Since I'm not advertising it I'm in no rush. I really have no complaints. When the time eventually comes, I suppose, well, we'll just have to see. I mean, this is hard to beat (Bay of LA, Baja):

Just wish we had an indoor shower, but we've managed: