Hey man, I've actually been inside of the Olympic and spent a bunch of time on the phone with their brand manager Ryan (super cool dude) along with some dealers in Oregon and AZ who have experience with them.
We just ordered the Kenai.
- We have an F250 6.75ft bed
- Wife and I, plus 2 boys. We do a ton of MTBing, fishing, towing the drift boat, winter ski resorts, stuff outside in PNW/BC/Colorado...we aren't an "RV" family in the least tho.
We are far from experts but this is our limited perspective, so take it with a grain of salt. There wasn't really a light-ish pickup camper or 4x4 Van that will sleep 4 people comfortably without a bunch of BS dinette conversion nonsense or bunks that will only work for tiny kids. Its only the Scout or you jump up to super heavy/giant campers with slideouts that still only have short bunks usually...those suck for what we do. Or a trailer, but I need to tow a light drift boat. So we looked at Northstar's hardshells and they are fine but its basically like a grandma's old single-wide trailer for the interior. It still won't sleep 4 decent sized people. Liberty seems cool if it was just two people but still ugly and not cheap. Everything is old school wood framing which I don't want in the PNW at all. Bundetec's new hardside camper is too long and still super thin alum skin over wood framing iirc. The interior is nicer tho and its more affordable than Northstar and Scout and FWC. Weight is nice too. The bed is only 72in long tho and I'm 6'4" so that's out...plus again I can't sleep 4 of us. They have a couple of nice components too...they done some good things it seems. The FWC are a fortune as well and soft sides and aluminum etc...pass for us but sweet for Southwest USA 4x4'ing I think. Lots of condensation tho...my buddy has one and wakes up to have to wipe down the sides. We checked out the Van scene. Another buddy just sold his 154k$ custom sprinter that had full 4x4, lift kit, desiel heater, kitchenette, east/west bed and...the top lifted up for a very small sleeping fort for his two kids. Insanely expensive but drove nice and front seats were usable and the awning out over the sliding door made for easy in and out. Fun at a concert. It was just super crammed in for super high cost and the 4x4 isn't super great.
So, I see a Scout roll by and google them a month or so ago. No way to actually see one, they sold out at dealers in like 4hrs I was told. Finally found a dude on Insta that lived nearby and was stoked to show off his camper. He's got the Olympic with tent and skipped the fridge. 3 kids and a dog with he and his wife. Olympic was on a newer Tundra with airbags. They freaking LOVE it. Had it all setup permanently, including the large RTT and use it nearly every weekend. The RTT for them was the game changer. The camper isn't perfect but they liked that it was still camping. (My kids are never inside when camping). RTT is really really well done. It's super roomy up there for adults let alone kids. My kids were so stoked on the "fort" up top. The fact that it isn't oldschool wood+fiberglass/alum is so sweet too. Stuff rots so easily in the wet months, there's a lot of upside there and ability to mod it ultra easy. You just drill a hole and mount stuff with a gasket...if it's more than 20lbs, put a backer plate on it. Done. Its a super rad camper in a lot of ways. The mattress isn't super duper thick/cushy if someone is a bigger side sleeper you might want a topper
Now its pretty dang small in the Olympic. The dinette is not a great design and hard to slide into...I'm a lean guy too. Plus, there is literally no place to sit and put your shoes on without removing the table or fridge, that sucks. It wouldn't fit 4 adults at all in dinette. This was a big reason why we went with the Kenai. The L shape dinette is a common design that works and provides two spots to sit and gear up while also sitting 4 people slightly better. There are also two spots to sit and put your shoes on without a table in the way.
The Kenai has a bigger/newer battery system in the GZ 1500X. The cassette toilet will be handy when camping at the ski resort and there is a lot of extra storage in Kenai as well. Externally there is a 5'4" wide external compartment too that will fit kids ski gear, camp chairs, generator, rollout tables etc. Queen size bed is a no brainer. The mudroom/shower thing is really smart actually in my opinion...we'll see if it works well, but I'm hopeful. You have kids, if they are like mine they suck at staying cleaning and tramp mud everywhere. My boys are "Outside Dogs" if that makes sense. So you can come into the mudroom just like we did back on our ranch as kids and remove the dirty gear in an area that's easily cleaned out. Lots of uses for that setup. It's not an RV shower but I don't need that stuff and rarely fit anyways. Fwiw I'd never buy that Rinsekit. Great for hosing a wetsuit off but not for shower. Get a Joolca and hang it outside the door or if its dirty camping spot...use it in the grass with a popup privacy tent. You'll have plenty of propane for it.
Skip the little stove too, its nothing special. Get a legit Partner Steel stove and just ensure you get the connections right from them. I'm working with Scout to figure out what to tell Partner I need...I think Scout has built in regulators and a quick connect. I am going to get the Dometic Fridge I *think*...I'm trying to figure out the details there but I spoke with a guy whose had it running all over the world (in morroco now) for the last 6moi and they've loved it. A National Luna legacy fridge looks killer as well tho I'm not beating on the fridge a ton I think. I like the Dometic latches for general ease of open and close (my kids will likely never latch the NL) but NL seems to be a bullet proof brand. I spoke with a dealer who sells them all and he said Dometic has supported their stuff much more easily but that NL was certainly an incredible fridge. Dometic is also apparently super quiet which is nice and I have no idea how loud the NL is. Note that Dometic had a recall on that fridge. Some guy plugged both AC and DC at the same time (common) and it caught his rig on fire. I prob wont ever need to do that but it's a thing. Unsure if it's fixed or if you just get a sticker saying to not do that. They are a cool fridge tho but if the NL wasnt so tall with some innovative latch...I'd likely go that route.
For us, the Kenai just has too many things that will come in handy while only be about 200lbs more. It'll work better for bad weather or ski days where we will be in it together for periods of time. I love the 92" length in that it'll only stick out past my bumper about 3". So...your bed is unfortunately shorter by 6in or so. I dunno. I see plenty of guys rolling with campers that go WAY out past their bed and have that droptail design. This seems better than that at least. Hard to say. They said they wanted the Kenai to work well with both short and long bends. Apparently it fits great into an 8ft bed and you can close the tailgate.
I also incidentally spoke with the owner of Apache RV in PDX. Apparently they sell more truck campers than anyone in the world. The guy had run it for 37yrs and he Dad ran it before him. He was really excited about it (I had already ordered one btw). He said "Man...I'm an old geezer and have had everything. I love truck campers. But in 37yrs I don't know when the last time was I this excited about a new camper. I bought my first 1/2 ton and an Olympic as fast as I could get it. It'll just be the old lady and me mostly...but the beauty with the RTT is we can now grab the grandkids without any hassle and just head up to Hood. Also, the guys in the shop really really like its frame and guts...that's saying a lot." A good review there from a guy that's seen it all. I'm guessing you'd have a blast with either the Olympic or the Kenai. If you want one soon, you'll need to get an order in. The next Olympic batch comes in Nov and is almost all sold. Apache has the largest lot and all 27 of theirs already pre-sold. Kenai is coming the 1st of December, but they will sold out in a week or two I was told.
Hey also yeah the Kenai doesn't come with tons of water storage. A cousin of mine is a big Overland Baja guy and said that was kind of nice in that you aren't losing internal space to hold heavy water weight. He said that most trucks have a fair amount of deadspace, particularly behind the rear seats. Frontrunner makes a 10gal tank setup for 200$ that could be pretty sweet and keep the weight more forward. They make all kinds of cool watertanks that fit in spots (you are prob already aware). The Lifesaver being a filter can helps to as we are almost always near water.
