I've seen lots of feedback about outfitter's older popups but does anyone have a 2014 or newer with the one piece composite frameless body? I'm intrigued but also concerned. The jacks are mounted to fiberglass and resin if I understand correctly. Doesn't seem like that is the best way to hold up a 3000lb camper but what do I know... I'm in colorado about 30 min from both hallmark and outfitter so I'll be checking them both out but am hoping for customer feedback on the new design.
Feedback about new Outfitter construction
- Thread starter nobueno
- Start date
dirtnadvil
Member
Hallmark is another brand to check out. I believe they are the brother of the guy who builds Outfitter. They are also using the new materials. My experience is that Hallmark communicates better if you call them. They will have someone for you to talk to and answer your questions. I own an outfitter, it is a good camper 2010 build. But the wall construction is the old style
Love my Outfitter
I have been to both Hallmark and Outfitter and the people at Hallmark are great people. I was greeted and everyone was very helpful with any answers I had. They have a very nice showroom and will take you through the building to show you campers in the process of being built. Now.... I own a Outfitter 9.5 Apex and will try to explain why I think it's the better fit for me. First off I'll admit that the customer experience doesn't start off as nice as when you visit the Hallmark people but once you make contact with the owner over at Outfitter all your questions will be answered and the customer experience gets better. I've seen some post from people who have went to the Outfitter lot and were not greeted right away so left which caused them to wright a bad review. I urge you not to dismiss the Outfitter line of campers because of this and include them when looking for a new camper. You just need to get out and walk into the shop if know one greats you right away. I know that at times I just want to look around for a bit not immediately talking with anyone, perhaps they want the customer to have that experience... who knows. Ok, with that out of the way my camper has a North, South sleeping area. I like this option (available on both Outfitter and Hallmark) because it gives you storage cabinets on both sides of the mattress for your socks, underwear, T-shirts etc. The Outfitter has a higher side wall where the overhead bed is which is one of the best features over the Hallmark camper (My opinion) because you can leave all your pillows and beading on the bed. We were even able to add a memory foam topper to the existing mattress (best upgrade ever). You still have a huge storage area under the bed where you can store loads of stuff. My next favorite feature over Hallmark is the pull out bed. This is a huge drawer built into the overhang of the camper, to the right of the under bed storage, and when you take the foam mattress out makes a huge pull out drawer that we use like a dresser drawer. Finally the basement design just works better for us. You get more storage under the cabinets and I believe the center of gravity is lower. Oh, almost forgot, with the basement design it seem as though the going in and out of the camper with the smaller door, a popup uses, is easier for me. Our old camper didn't have the basement and I was constantly hitting my head on the top of the door frame. That's it, the rest of the camper layout is about the same as any other camper on the market but it's those Key features that put the Outfitter at the top of my list. Don't bash me this is just my two cents, take it or leave it!
I have been to both Hallmark and Outfitter and the people at Hallmark are great people. I was greeted and everyone was very helpful with any answers I had. They have a very nice showroom and will take you through the building to show you campers in the process of being built. Now.... I own a Outfitter 9.5 Apex and will try to explain why I think it's the better fit for me. First off I'll admit that the customer experience doesn't start off as nice as when you visit the Hallmark people but once you make contact with the owner over at Outfitter all your questions will be answered and the customer experience gets better. I've seen some post from people who have went to the Outfitter lot and were not greeted right away so left which caused them to wright a bad review. I urge you not to dismiss the Outfitter line of campers because of this and include them when looking for a new camper. You just need to get out and walk into the shop if know one greats you right away. I know that at times I just want to look around for a bit not immediately talking with anyone, perhaps they want the customer to have that experience... who knows. Ok, with that out of the way my camper has a North, South sleeping area. I like this option (available on both Outfitter and Hallmark) because it gives you storage cabinets on both sides of the mattress for your socks, underwear, T-shirts etc. The Outfitter has a higher side wall where the overhead bed is which is one of the best features over the Hallmark camper (My opinion) because you can leave all your pillows and beading on the bed. We were even able to add a memory foam topper to the existing mattress (best upgrade ever). You still have a huge storage area under the bed where you can store loads of stuff. My next favorite feature over Hallmark is the pull out bed. This is a huge drawer built into the overhang of the camper, to the right of the under bed storage, and when you take the foam mattress out makes a huge pull out drawer that we use like a dresser drawer. Finally the basement design just works better for us. You get more storage under the cabinets and I believe the center of gravity is lower. Oh, almost forgot, with the basement design it seem as though the going in and out of the camper with the smaller door, a popup uses, is easier for me. Our old camper didn't have the basement and I was constantly hitting my head on the top of the door frame. That's it, the rest of the camper layout is about the same as any other camper on the market but it's those Key features that put the Outfitter at the top of my list. Don't bash me this is just my two cents, take it or leave it!
1stDeuce
Explorer
I tie my fiberglass boat to the trailer (And drag it on) with a U-bolt bolted to the fiberglass bow. I think you're underestimating the strength of fiberglass... Jacks mount with LOTS of screws, so each one takes relatively little load. You place much more stress on the tie-downs, most likely...
On your visit, I suggest you inquire about it. If they're just using wood type screws directly into the fiberglass, that would be a little sketchy. If they've sandwiched an aluminum plate in there, so they can drill and tap, or just use self tappers, that would be better.
I'd agree with the above, that a visit to Outfitter requires you to actually seek them out and ask questions. But realize that Outfitter is a smaller outfit than hallmark.
Once you get in and ask questions, they're helpful, but you have to make the first move, or they don't exactly drop what they're doing to come and talk to you. They're all busy, generally speaking.
I got a really good rundown of the Outfitter Caribou Lite when it was new a few years ago. That's by far my favorite model, but I just couldn't justify spending $17k to replace my $2k still fully functional (24 year old) Hallmark Ute, which has pretty much the same layout. I keep hoping others will buy one, then sell it because they want something bigger... Unfortunately, I think a used Caribou Lite is going to be a tough find.
On your visit, I suggest you inquire about it. If they're just using wood type screws directly into the fiberglass, that would be a little sketchy. If they've sandwiched an aluminum plate in there, so they can drill and tap, or just use self tappers, that would be better.
I'd agree with the above, that a visit to Outfitter requires you to actually seek them out and ask questions. But realize that Outfitter is a smaller outfit than hallmark.
Once you get in and ask questions, they're helpful, but you have to make the first move, or they don't exactly drop what they're doing to come and talk to you. They're all busy, generally speaking. I got a really good rundown of the Outfitter Caribou Lite when it was new a few years ago. That's by far my favorite model, but I just couldn't justify spending $17k to replace my $2k still fully functional (24 year old) Hallmark Ute, which has pretty much the same layout. I keep hoping others will buy one, then sell it because they want something bigger... Unfortunately, I think a used Caribou Lite is going to be a tough find.
thanks guys. agree with both of you. i do like time to roam around by myself and as long as you hang around the shop for a minute they're more than willing to to talk. i'm actually heading out fri morning to pick up a used juno. i'll report back here once i have it.
we definitely needed the basement. i just can't do without that 50 gallons of water it offers. wife, kid, two st bernards so we go through lots (hell we drink over 5 gallons a day between the 5 of us during the summer) and it's nice to be able to stay out for awhile without worrying about water. i'm a big guy too so the extra head room in the cab over is worth the extra overall height for me. battery capacity in the juno was also amazing. and having 325 lbs of dog with us we needed the tent room. anyway. thanks for feedback.
we definitely needed the basement. i just can't do without that 50 gallons of water it offers. wife, kid, two st bernards so we go through lots (hell we drink over 5 gallons a day between the 5 of us during the summer) and it's nice to be able to stay out for awhile without worrying about water. i'm a big guy too so the extra head room in the cab over is worth the extra overall height for me. battery capacity in the juno was also amazing. and having 325 lbs of dog with us we needed the tent room. anyway. thanks for feedback.
oh, also. there's a caribou lite listed for 10k. i'm sure you could finagle a bit and get a 4 year old camper about half off. seems like a damn good deal to me. http://www.rvtrader.com/dealers/Sun...sting/2012-Outfitter-Caribou-Lite-8-115886298
Sorry I missed you question but we actually ended up purchasing a Juno 10 with the new body. Really happy with it. I'll try to answer any specific questions you have.
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SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
Bump, curious as well.
@nobueno Do you know if the new design is a sandwich composite construction? or just a fiberglass shell? Also any idea if they still use structural framing? or is does the shell become the frame like the northenrlites?
How's the sound isolation vs a hardwall? I would imagine that the insulated soft walls would do a lot better than northstar or 4wheel campers, but curious as to by how much.
How's the sound isolation vs a hardwall? I would imagine that the insulated soft walls would do a lot better than northstar or 4wheel campers, but curious as to by how much.
Looks like It's foam sandwich panel. I'm curious if they vacuum infused the resin, but looking at the video it looks to be a wet layup using chopped fiberglass.
Still curious about the sound isolation though.
Foam sandwich construction and it's structural. The only reinforcement I'm aware of is the steel plates for the jacks bolt on to. I don't recall the exact process though I did talk to Bob about it when we got the camper. It is sprayed chopped glass but I'm not sure about any vacuum process.
Sound insulation is better than I expected but not great but I also wasn't all that impressed with the sound insulation of our hard side so take that with a grain of salt haha.
The insulation really impressed me, both the fiberglass and the softwall. We're able to keep it 65 in the camper even when temps were in the single digits with wind chill well below zero. We always have the water tanks full and have never had a frozen line or anything.
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Thanks for the reply. To be honest, I was not too impressed with the sound insulation of a northernlite either. However when I did a decibels test it was 20db quieter than a northstar pop up.
Have you had any condensation issues in cold wet weather? that’s one of my bigger concerns with pop ups. I hear FWC have pretty big issues with condensation when people take it to the north east. Any idea what your camper weighs? I didn’t see it published on the website. We’re looking at the Juno since we think the kids would really like the extra tent space.
Is the tent section part of the fiberglass mold or is it bolted on via a cut out? It’s surprising they don’t have pictures of the new one piece fiberglass juno on their website.
Also do you happen to know the overall height with the camper on your truck?
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@Mingo I was also concerned about condensation after all all the reports I saw. We've only camped around Colorado, Utah and California during the winter months but it has yet to be an issue. Only after three consecutive very cold nights did we ever have any condensation start to build up but it all dried up once the sun came out the next day. We've been out east during the spring and summer and it was a nonissue. When winter camping we have 2 St Bernards, our 6 year old, my wife and I along with all our wet ski gear. If that doesn't fill up the camper with condensation, I don't know what would.
The tent room is amazing. We had a large hardside with a full wall slide prior to this one and the tent room honestly gives us more usable space since the dogs and kid spend most their time in there. It's also an easy place to store large/awkward gear. I believe it's bolted on. It's tough though. Ours constantly holds almost 400lbs between the dogs and kid and the dogs don't lay down gently, they just collapse when they lay down so it's extremely durable hah.
Outfitter definitely needs some decent pictures on their site. I'm only 20 min from their factory, I'm debating offering to take some pictures for free because theirs don't give you a good idea of what the campers really look like. Here's a thread I made with some decent pictures of the layout. https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/new-to-me-outfitter-juno.155102/
They claim the 8.5 Juno is 2100 dry. Ours is the 10 and if I remember right was almost 3000 dry but we have 4 GC2 batteries, AC, 3 watts of solar, extra cabinets on the ceiling, pretty much every option. Not all by choice since it was used.
The tent room is amazing. We had a large hardside with a full wall slide prior to this one and the tent room honestly gives us more usable space since the dogs and kid spend most their time in there. It's also an easy place to store large/awkward gear. I believe it's bolted on. It's tough though. Ours constantly holds almost 400lbs between the dogs and kid and the dogs don't lay down gently, they just collapse when they lay down so it's extremely durable hah.
Outfitter definitely needs some decent pictures on their site. I'm only 20 min from their factory, I'm debating offering to take some pictures for free because theirs don't give you a good idea of what the campers really look like. Here's a thread I made with some decent pictures of the layout. https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/new-to-me-outfitter-juno.155102/
They claim the 8.5 Juno is 2100 dry. Ours is the 10 and if I remember right was almost 3000 dry but we have 4 GC2 batteries, AC, 3 watts of solar, extra cabinets on the ceiling, pretty much every option. Not all by choice since it was used.
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Regcabguy
Oil eater.
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