Overland Explorer Camp-X
- Thread starter NW Explorer
- Start date
CTDJeeperman
Active member
I think about $30K, check out Big Sky RV in MT
jmnielsen
Tinkerer
Thanks! I ended up checking them out yesterday online. Very cool, just out of my budget.
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While the extra height might look a bit odd, it allows for a lot more room inside and allows for the tall insulated dometic side window. Sitting inside you can sit and look out the side window. On our FWC with side dinette, you look down to look out the side window and only see the ground. Also, with the top down, you can sit comfortably inside these Camp X, which we cannot do with the top down on our FWC. That would be handy for quick roadside stops/breaks/lunches. And, more room for bedding with top down and more insulated side walls overall. [Edit: Mid-2019, they did make the sidewalls a bit lower. There is still enough room to sit inside with the top down, but it made the cabover about 3" closer to the pickup roof].
Since seeing these in person last fall (went back 3 times to look at them and the last time, we spent almost an hour sitting inside talking and acting out daily use actions as well as lots of tape measure work), we keep coming back to them after comparing to everything out there including our current FWC. The counter and sink placement is a bit weird and table top and it's movement are also a bit weird, but think we can live with both. [Edit: they updated the table mechanism for 2020 and it's much improved]. There were a few other odds and ends we found that need to be worked through as well, but overall, it is a great package. The insulated walls/roof (with no thermal bridging on an aluminium frame), true insulated soft sides, the truma water heater and heater, and REDARC Manager 30 battery management system, cabinet and cupboard materials (aluminum frame and starboard doors), double pane dometic window with shade rather than curtains, etc. are all pushing us towards the camp x. Will be making a decision soon...
Since seeing these in person last fall (went back 3 times to look at them and the last time, we spent almost an hour sitting inside talking and acting out daily use actions as well as lots of tape measure work), we keep coming back to them after comparing to everything out there including our current FWC. The counter and sink placement is a bit weird and table top and it's movement are also a bit weird, but think we can live with both. [Edit: they updated the table mechanism for 2020 and it's much improved]. There were a few other odds and ends we found that need to be worked through as well, but overall, it is a great package. The insulated walls/roof (with no thermal bridging on an aluminium frame), true insulated soft sides, the truma water heater and heater, and REDARC Manager 30 battery management system, cabinet and cupboard materials (aluminum frame and starboard doors), double pane dometic window with shade rather than curtains, etc. are all pushing us towards the camp x. Will be making a decision soon...
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Corvusvelo
New member
Which FWC model do you have, and what vehicle will you be putting this one?
Corvusvelo
New member
Looks like they have corrected the height for the 2020 model
Overland Explorer did shorten the CampX sidewall mid-run in 2019 to make the cab-over closer to the cab. There is at least one 2019 for sale at BigSkyRV, here in Bozeman, with the lower sidewall. We picked up our 2020 last week. Still waiting for the pickup-bed brackets to arrive and to be installed and a part for the Truma heater (room temp sensor is throwing an error), but will get it all sorted here shortly. Brought it home anyway as we wanted to have it here to start organizing. Took these pictures and then offloaded it onto the 5x8 trailer I use as a dolly and put it in the shop. I'll start a thread for the 2020 in the next week or so with all the changes between 2019 and 2020.
To answer your previous question, we had a 2017 FWC Hawk shell and had ordered it with side dinette, heater, flattop stove, king pull out, thermal pack, etc. We use a 2013 Toyota Tundra DC with 6.5' bed.
Here are a couple quick pictures when I first got it home. I used the FWC tie downs, which are not in the ideal place, but I live 2 miles from BigSkyRV and drove it 30mph, on the 40mph backroads, on the drive home. Notice it is sitting a bit higher off the cab than it will be with final install. The rubber mat available wasn't quite tall enough and the camper touched down on the top of the bed rails before being fully seated on the bed, so we added a couple 2x4 in addition to the mat to get the clearance needed for the drive home (2x4s can be seen in the photo taken from the rear). When I dial in the perfect bed mat thickness, it will sit about an inch closer to the bed rails and the cab top.
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twokitties67
New member
Looks real good on the Tundra.
MikeConner
New member
More storage in camp x than FWC? Will wiring for solar be an issue? Looks good?
It has about the same as our FWC hawk shell with side dinette. It's just in different spots. Our storage on the FWC included: under both seats of the side dinette, small cabinet on front passenger-side corner. Our two tubs (food and pots/pans) would sit on the floor when we traveled and on the drivers-side shell bench when set up. A standard hawk would have the storage drawers in the drivers-side cabinet. There is a cubby by the door for a portable toilet or storage.
The CampX has a cabinet by the rear door with a sliding drawer for a portable toilet or other storage. That is under the rear dinette seat. The side dinette area is more spread out (longer table and more leg room) than the FWC side dinette. No need to interlock legs with the person sitting across from you; you both have your own legroom in the CampX. There is storage under the sink/stove. The final storage area is a cabinet under the fridge. That under-fridge cabinet got a bit smaller for 2020 because they had to separate the battery box and vent it in case people ran lead acid rather than lithium. In 2019, the battery was open in the underseat cabinet that stored the 20 gallon water tank and water pump. The water tank and battery sat front to back. For 2020, the battery is within the same compartment, but is in an additional sealed and vented battery box. The Redarc unit is now mounted vertically in the larger underseat battery/water pump/water tank compartment (in 2019, it was in the under-fridge compartment mounted horizontally on a bracket handing from the top of that compartment).
One of our favorite things is how much room is available over the bed when the camper top is down. That is one thing that makes the cabover thicker, and overall height taller, than a FWC. We no longer will have to store all our covers and pillows in one of the dinette seat compartments and make and unmake our bed twice a day. Big selling point for us. Also very happy that one can sit in the dinette with the top down with minor to no ducking. We could not sit in the FWC with the top down.
We haven't yet started to determine where everything is going to go. More to come when I start a new thread for 2020 CampX.
Oh, and I fixed the Truma heater error code that was preventing it from firing. It turns out that the wire leads were not plugged into the Truma Room Temp Sensor. Unfortunately, the sensor is installed in a place where you can't readily get to it; the vertical drivers-side wall of the fridge housing. I'd previously unplugged and checked the pins of the X7 connector up by the controller and heater and all was good on that end, so today, I unbolted the fridge and pulled it forward six or eight inches to inspect the back of the temp sensor. The two leads had never been plugged into the sensor. I squeezed in there with a needle nose pliers and plugged in both leads and the Truma heater fired right up. Problem solved. I was going to move the swing-direction of the fridge door while I was in there, but one of the six bolts are covered by the fridge metal trim and I didn't feel like unbolting it as well. We'll see how the swing-direction is day to day and then decide if it's worth it. I re-installed the six bolts holding the fridge in place and all is good.
One surprise was the hex head bolts holding the fridge in place (and all the other hex bolts I checked inside and outside the camper) are not metric. They are SAE. That was a bit disappointing. Even though I'm in the states, I have a distaste for SAE and love metric. I have a few backup tools that are SAE, but all my good stuff and travel stuff that I keep in the truck is metric. I'll have to go over all the other fasteners and see if there are other SAE, rather than metric, and make some adjustments to my travel toolbox. I dislike having to take what feels like duplicate tools if traveling with a combination of metric and SAE.
Regarding solar, there is a single solar plug and it is on the lower exterior of the drivers side wall near the 30amp plug. Both feed directly into the Redarc. There is no need for a controller on a portable panel. If one wanted to mount a solar panel permanently on the roof, I've not explored that option yet. Overland Explored mounts solar panels on the Hudson Bay Edition (HBE) flatbed popup camper, so they must have it figured out. Or you could run a cord down the exterior, but I'm sure there is a better way. I loved designing, piecing together, installing and using the Solar system for our FWC. I had the truck wired to plug into the FWC, but always had it disconnected under the hood because the 180watt solar panel always kept us topped up. I left the wiring there as a backup. I'm undecided on what to do with our system. Redarc requires nice big gauge wire, so I may leave it hooked up and see if I even need solar. I'll leave the stock 100amp AGM for now (it is an impressive industrial deep cycle AGM that was included). I'd planned on doing a 100amp lithium, but have decided to not spend the money for now. We'll see how the useable 50 amps from the 100amp AGM server us.
I just love sitting in this camper. Partly, I'm sure, because it's new and different, but just really appreciate the insulated honeycomb panels/construction, insulated soft-top and insulated windows and the high end Truma heater and water heater and also the Redarc battery management system. All top notch.
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Corvusvelo
New member
Many thanks for what you've added so far I'm really looking forward to reading about your experiences as we're planning to purchase a DC Tundra and camper later this year. I've previously built out a camper van (Promaster 2500) and doing that myself I learned a hell of a lot about component choices. It's been surprising to see the cost/quality of the materials in many builds. The Camp-X seem to be the only one that currently has many of the exact components that I would choose (e.g. Manager 30, Truma, Dometic windows and sink/cooktop).
For those interested, my "2020 CAMP-X" thread is available:
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/2020-overland-explorer-camp-x-pop-up-camper.214329/
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/2020-overland-explorer-camp-x-pop-up-camper.214329/
6thElement
Member
Sorry, I'd not been on here for several months as our camper was winterized until a couple of weeks ago when we mounted it back on our truck and took it out for a few days. I can see you've picked up a 2020 model though. I need to look through your thread and see what changes I'm jealous of.
- On our 2019 from your points above, sink and stovetop position is okay, not like there's an abundance of space for them.
- The table is unwieldy for the space. We'll never want to use it to make that extra bed so I actually need to look to see if we can buy a smaller table top to avoid losing so much space to it.
- I wish it had a cigarette adapter power socket inside so we could use it with a laptop DC adapter. I think the prototype had one, but when we picked ours up last year it didn't. I'd been in touch with OE last year and need to dig out the email to see what they recommended to plug one into the existing electronics.
- We have a 190W solar panel on the roof, installed by Big Sky. They ran the wiring on the inside down inside the hinge space alongside the fan/light cabling and I'm not keen how it was done as I'm worried that long term the cables may break from the movement/compression they'll go through.
- It's our first truck camper and we're still working out what we need to do to avoid condensation on cold nights. It was 27F on our trip last week and we were getting condensation around the roof edging, particularly the upper "rim" above the soft sides, slightly less prevalent below the soft sides.
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