Reliability - Phoenix Pop Up Camper Vs. Four Wheel Camper

[Runt]

Hello every one
I’m looking at purchasing a pop up camper. My needs are to use it strictly while in the field for work. I’m a forest worker here in British Columbia Canada and spend two weeks at a time in remote areas. My needs are for a simple camper that is extremely rugged. A typical year would be 40,000 km with roughly 70 % being on rough Forest Service Roads (F.S.R.). Vehicle used right now would be a Crew Cab ¾ ton GMC Diesel….good truck but useless off road. I would prefer this camper to fit on a Gen 2 Tacoma Four Door pick up which I’m shopping for currently. I’m trying to decide what brand of pop up camper to go with and have narrowed it down to two manufacturers. Phoenix Pop Up Camper or Four Wheel Camper. Either of these models will be a shell model as I find most RV appliances fall apart on the back roads and will only have a water tank, fantastic fan, furnace, roll out coach, solar panel system with 6V battery system, cabinet for a porta-podi and front slide window installed. Cooking will take place on a BBQ out side or on a Coleman camp stove in the camper. I usually bath in rivers or lakes (bio-degradable soaps used) in winter I use a Hot Jugz Type Set Up. My utmost concern is durability due to the rough roads. Both campers have welded aluminum frames but I’m skeptical about which would be more durable or even durable enough to handle that many km’s per year…year after year. Have any of you done any in-depth analysis of structural integrity and water resistance between the two manufacturers? Have similar examples of use? Any info you could point me to would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Overland Hadley]

A FWC will handle that kind of use. I have tried to talk to as many owners as I can, including some that have put over 200,000 miles on their FWC. Any camper that can handle that kind of miles of rough travel is solid in my book.

As for long term durability look at what the older campers are selling for. Old FWC hold their value very well.

I have never been in a Phoenix. But I will say that I am amazed by how many couple year old Phoenix's come up for sale, at very discounted prices.

 

[bill harr]

FMC or ATC will fit the bill. I off road with my FMC Hawk see video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJeADuBSP54

 

[Runt]

Thank you two for the posts. That definitely affirms my belief that a FWC is sturdy. However I’m still unsure about the Phoenix Pop Up Camper. I must say it looks well built and has similar characteristics as the FWC. Unfortunately I can not find pictures of the welded frame or gusseting performed like you can on the FWC web site.

 

[riveroceanandmountain]

I recently looked at the FWC in the lower mainland of BC.... speaking to Gary the Canadian distributor..... he is a very interesting man, and requires certain changes to be made to the Canadian version of the FWC.

One piece roof, 2 10lb propane tanks instead of 1 horizontal 20lb, aluminum jack brackets, marine grade front window without slider to seal water out better, and I think he had a few other changes made.

Can't speak to the reliability.... but my wife loved them, my kids loved them..... we want one!

Good luck with your decision

 

[pods8]

FWC's are pretty bomber and people take them to places like Baja and such. The only occasional issues some folks have had is some frame weld cracks around the door/windows, I don't know if they were a bad weld from the factory or what because those usually show up pretty quick when folks are bombing around in them. I think a FWC/ATC camper would be find but you may want to just chat w/ the respective manufacturer's ahead of time and let them know you're intended use and potentially talk about if some areas should get a little more reinforcement over the stock configuration just for a little extra protection. Typically the frames aren't fully welded out (I think this is partially to allow some flex and partially because it typically isn't need in terms of strength so why take the time to do it) so as long as it doesn't affect the intended flex of the frame that is an area you could potentially request and upgrade on.

 

[Scott Brady]

They are both well made by people who care about quality. Ultimately, it will come down to features and finish as opposed to reliability.

 

[Larry]

Without owing each of these one of these campers it would be unfair to claim which is better than the others but I don't think you can go wrong with the aluminum frame recipe that ATC, FWC and PHX campers use as their foundation. I don't have any experience with ATC but have read up on FWC over years and was always impressed with their light weight and durability but my impression stopped there once I met the FWC owner at the Denver Expo. I chose a Phoenix over FWC as I found the owners of Phoenix Campers much easier to work with as they build everything custom to suit the customer's needs rather than the feeling I got from FWC where they build their camper to cookie cutter specs and you will just take it or leave it. The final deal breaker for me with the FWC was that I was not willing to accept the antique aluminum siding of the FWC and the owner of FWC repeatedly tried to oversell me on the FAB of the aluminum siding then just walked away from me while in the middle of a conversation. A 2010 model looks practically like a 1974 model and will dent and ding like a pop can. Hope he had his lost sale sheet with him that day. I beleive I read where FWC now has finally stepped up to the millennium and is offering composite siding now.

My Phoenix is still new but its first trip out on our annual weeklong Canyonlands back country adventure last week was probably equivalent to 10 years of service for most people. The PHX held up great with no signs of any fatigue or wear during this trip.

Here are a few of many rough trails the Phoenix got carried around during the week.

Kokopelli Trail. Never mind the fan blade touching the fan shroud on this climb. Fixed that annoyance once I got to the top.

Kokopelli Trail. A lot of tire chirp from the Detroit lockers and the clang noise are the D-rings on the rear bumper
[video=youtube;dMwIeDaWpJY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=dMwIeDaWpJY[/video]

 

[bill harr]

Larry great looking rig, I still have a soft spot for the 70 Chevys my 77 Blazer never let me down, just needed a pick-up and in 2005 I liked the Tundra best. Today it would be the new Chevy. Nice to see another camper made to go off road.

 

[Larry]

Larry great looking rig, I still have a soft spot for the 70 Chevys my 77 Blazer never let me down, just needed a pick-up and in 2005 I liked the Tundra best. Today it would be the new Chevy. Nice to see another camper made to go off road.

Thanks Bill. You can’t beat a Toyota either. I miss my ’90 Hilux that I sold in college badly. A few years ago I bought a used 2005 Silverado with the intent of having a camper built for it then when we really started doing the cost benefit analysisit of what would take to get the GM IFS suspension to live (actually was just going to do a SFA conversion and call it a day) it made more sense just to build the camper for my modernized K10 that was already trail ready and been my project for the past 16 years. That said, I have a tight Silvy up for grabs

 

[Pest]

Hello every one
I usually bath in rivers or lakes (bio-degradable soaps used) in winter I use a Hot Jugz Type Set Up.

This is totally off-topic for your question, but please please PLEASE do not do this. I'm quite shocked that as a "forest worker", they don't teach you Leave No Trace guidelines before setting you loose!

Biodegradable soaps still contaminate water!

Even with the use of biodegradable soaps, you should still be at least 200 feet away from any water source when bathing, just like you want to be 200 feet away from water sources to go potty.

PLEASE do NOT bathe in rivers or lakes... this only contaminates the water sooner than when it gets contaminated by cities.

This is the reason we added a larger grey water tank to our rig. We are often camping too close to rivers to let our grey water drain on the ground, so we pack it out and dump elsewhere.



And then back on topic, our Phoenix camper has seen quite a few back roads... washboard, rocky, off-camber, steep, dusty, everything... there's not a single problem with it. Seems to be holding up fine.

 

[18seeds]

My suggestion (if possible) it to look at as many USED FWC and Phoenix Campers as possible. I think it will be obvious which one is a better fit for you.

 

[DanoT]

I went with the custom Phoenix pop-up over the ATC or FWC because I could get extra insulation, higher output furnace and other custom features that I wanted for winter ski area parking lot camping. For the pop-up section Phoenix offered 4 layer arctic pack (2 layers of thinsulate knock off sandwiched between 2 layers of fabric, while ATC/FWC offered 3 layer. Phoenix also comes with a slightly higher cab overhang and resultant under the bed storage or you can get it with lower profile like ATC/FWC. BTW the taller overhang also results in slightly higher rear door entrance.

One negative was that I had to drive from Sun Peaks, B.C. to Denver to pick up my camper, about a 30 hour trip

Runt I was going to include some pics of a camper under construction while I was at the factory. It was a 10 footer with a huge cabover. But I don't how to post pics on this site as it asks for the pics URL and I don't have a clue. If you email me I can send you an unedited video that i took at the factory.

 

[Runt]

Settle down guys & gals. Not commercial bio-degradable soaps. My soap is made out clay, goats or whole milk, olive oil, coconut oil, Castrol oil & shea butter. Drinkable but tastes horrible. Its more of a clay bar body scrub. Leaves a slight film but works. Any way back to the topic.

 

[chnlisle]

Runt,
I sent you a PM.