Supertramp Flagship LT pop-up slide-in pickup camper

[SimplyAnAdventure]

@Chadx man do I love your posts/ and replies! So thoughtful and concise thank you!

You are correct we went through the exact same thought processes on the A/C and you are doubly right, it's what I was feeling on that day, I made changes up to the last minute I could lol... I don't think i'll regret having it, just paying for it. The 400ah batteries and full A/C system was about $10K.

Your posts regarding DC/DC chargers are exactly right. I'm not sure how I'll do it, or if Supertramp will work with me and add a more powerful charging solution for the bigger battery banks. Kelsey hasn't gotten back to me now in a week or two which in my experience means they are considering it and at least maybe exploring feasibility. Bottom line on a 400Ah battery bank a Max 15A charger and Max 30A DC/DC charger working together at absolute max capacity would take close to 4 hours of driving in FULL sun just to charge up from 50%. To me that's not really acceptable. I am hoping they can do better.

My truck was ordered specifically for this camper like yours, and I also opted for dual batteries, dual alternators (410A Max). I think when ST originally envisioned this camper they were picturing a 1/2T capable camper for everyone. Like everything in the good 'ol US of A we always want more and bigger! So the ST has evolved to be a pretty decent adventure rig both in size, capability and certainly price. Of course as the capacity of batteries have gotten bigger the charger capability needs to follow suit. I mentioned it before but I do have a Honda 2200i Generator set up for propane so on the VERY rare time we need to run the A/C a lot I certainly have that as an option. If they can't add a larger charger for me I will of course see how the 30A works for my usage and go from there. I am sure if the A/C isn't running I won't go through that much battery anyway and therefore won't need all that much power back.

Loved the posted pictures I think you're right, the ST should look very good on an extended cab. I was actually originally hoping my roof would be long enough to give me room for a fairing but i'm not sure i'll even have that.

Once again thanks for the great insite! Keep up the good work!

~SAA

 

[corvcycleguy]

Regarding pickup choices, we may have considered a Tremor if it was available in Supercab (extended cab) but it's only available in Crew cab; unfortunately that is just like all the good packages, and even trims, from all pickup brands, be that Fullsize or heavy/super duty. Blah. The main Tremor item I'd like to have and is not easily/cheaply changed aftermarket, is the limited slip front axle. The rest I added to my Supercab as part of the FX4 package, à la carte add-on options, or would already address with aftermarket. I ordered our pickup with skid plates and Warn winch. I ordered with 3.73 electronic rear locker (and so wasn't forced to get the 4.30 gearing of the Tremor which I didn't want since I don't tow heavy and will never go more than 35" tires and the 10 speed doesn't need it for my use cases). I can add extended transfer case and axle breather tubes and will trim the length of the front air dam.

The running board bracket-spacing is different, as is overall running board length, between supercabs and crewcabs so I can not put the Tremor/Raptor running boards like I want. Nor can I get the power running boards that are an option on the supercrew cabs. What I will do is replace the long running board brackets on my truck's running boards, with the shorter running board brackets. This will raise the height of the stock running boards by a couple inches. There are Tremor buyers (in various forums) that are willing to swap their short brackets for non-Tremor long brackets as they want their running boards to sit lower and I want mine to sit higher. Or, if I can't find a trade, I can buy the shorter brackets relatively cheap.

I am familiar with the Tremors turn assist, but don't feel like I'd use that much. I don't like the notion of dragging a tire which puts unnecessary wear on both the trail and the locked-up, dragging tire. And, it won't help in a situation such as turning around in the middle of a trail (10 point turn where you are only moving forward and backwards 2 feet at a time) and it isn't an advantage on asphalt (read: parking lots). It also doesn't help with the other disadvantages of a longer wheelbase (crew cab) vs shorter wheelbase (supercab) such as breakover angles and taking up less space in the garage. So shorter wheelbase and shorter overall length still holds advantages for our use cases.

I'll likely run the stock suspension for the first summer to understand what deficiencies I want to address rather than replacing it all immediately without understanding how stock performs, clearance needs on the trails, and what characteristics I want to change/address. Just shocks? Lift and shocks? etc. We don't do rock crawling. Well, sometimes, but not on purpose. Ha. Just what the trail brings. But we do drive our local mountain forest service roads that get somewhat gnarly and do a lot of trips to areas with reasonably rough trails. For reference, typical trails are White Rim Rd in Canyonlands and South Draw Road, in Capitol Reef National Park, that runs south out of Fruita, UT (on a year where it was really eroded so even more challenging that usual). We are often on trails where high clearance and 4lo are mandatory. We avoid campgrounds and we primarily disperse camp on public lands even when our daytime activities are within national and state parks.

I typically run two sets of wheel/tires; all terrain in summer and dedicated winter, so I needed an extra set of wheels anyway. I already bought a set of Tremor take-off wheels including tire pressure monitors for my summer wheels. I'll use the stock 20" wheels for my winter tires/wheels. I have my favorite brand of all terrain tires that I'd put on instead of the duratracs anyway, so trying to avoid paying for things twice (wheels, tires, suspension). And the biggest reason for supercab is we don't need the rear seat space and want shorter wheelbase, overall length and tighter turning radius (see chart below). Approach angle, departure angle and breakover angles are harder to pin down and compare because the published numbers are based on things like the oversized air dam that can easily be modified to change approach angle, so I'm not tracking any of those numbers as they are misleading.

Data that helped me decide on Superduty supercab vs crewcab as compared to my 2013 Tundra Doublecab (extended cab) wit 6.5' bed that I've used with two slide-in pop-up camper brands so far:

Vehicle	Overall length	Wheelbase	Turning diameter
Tundra DC 6.5' bed	229"	146"	44'
Ford F250 Supercab 6.8' bed	238" (9" longer than current)	148" (2" longer than current)	49.6' (5.6' larger than current)
Ford F250 Crew cab 6.8' bed	250" (21" longer than current)	160" (14" longer than current)	53' (9' larger wider than current)

I've test driven a 2023 Supercab but it was in another town so couldn't bring it to the house or familiar areas where I could better judge the turning radius and wheelbase impacts. Last weekend, my local dealership, through whom I ordered my 2024, let me test drive an available 2023 Crew Cab. That was ideal because I could drive it in familiar territory and bring it the house, test fit it in my shop, do U turns and backup tests our gravel driveway and are where I turn around with trailers and back them up in the yard, etc. to get a feel if a Crew Cab would work for us. It reinforced that a Supercab is the right body style for our needs. The supercab having a wheelbase within 2" of current pickup has me hopeful for breakover angle on trail driving, though the 11" overall length increase on similar wheelbase means approach and departure angles are worse, hence why I may end up putting a lift on it anyway since the trails we drive likely will require it. The Crew cab numbers just increase wheelbase, overall length and turning radius a bit more than I want to deal with.

A few weeks after ordering in July 2023, my truck was assigned a build week of 10/09/2023. On 10/07, that changed to assigned build week of 10/30. A few days later, the Kentucky plant, that build Super Duty trucks, shut down for strike. My build week has not been updated, though I know it won't happen 10/30. Luckily, I planned ahead and I have plenty of time before the camper is ready for pickup in March 2024. Original conservative dealership estimate, or pickup delivery, was Feb or March 2024 (which I was fine with because my original camper delivery date was June). As long as the truck arrives in time for me to put some shake out, break-in miles on it before heading to CO for camper pickup, I'm good. And the longer it takes, the more miles I put on my current rig rather than the new one and I also might avoid buying the second set of snow tires until next winter rather than this winter. And worst case scenario, Supertamp is good with moving out my build date to whatever is needed to accommodate truck availability.

I love the analysis on trucks, I have a 1st gen Tundra crew cab with a 6'2" bed. In the market for a 3/4 or 1-ton truck. The first question is, what are you considering when choosing the Ford instead of Ram or Chevy? Second question: what outside of overall length factored into your double cab vs crew cab decision? Will you be leaving the back seat or converting it to functional storage of some kind?

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

I love the analysis on trucks, I have a 1st gen Tundra crew cab with a 6'2" bed. In the market for a 3/4 or 1-ton truck. The first question is, what are you considering when choosing the Ford instead of Ram or Chevy? Second question: what outside of overall length factored into your double cab vs crew cab decision? Will you be leaving the back seat or converting it to functional storage of some kind?

Well…. I’ll assume this is directed at the two of us having this discussion….

In regards to the Ford, since I was specifically ordering a truck to be a full time camper I had a few requirements in mind. Basically payload and reliability were first power was second, weight was third. I ordered and F350 Tremor 7.3L gas engine XLT Premium with vinyl floors. Looking at all the other options the 7.3L seems by far the simplest and most reliable option for a gas engine. Diesel, while certainly more powerful, is much heavier and once you travel south of the border (Baja) your fuel options start to get real bad with a modern truck. The 7.3L does not shut down cylinders like the Ram and obviously has the largest displacement. Ford designed it as an alternative for fleet vehicles, RV’s and work truck for the lower cost of maintenance and better reliability. Also with the TREMOR I have 4.30 gears and it’s an absolute monster with power. I had 3 Ram Trucks, a Cummins and 2 Power Wagons and I definitely like this truck better. Window sticker on my truck was $70,390 with two batteries, two alternators, 360 cameras 12” infotainment screen and all the TREMOR goodies, locker, LSD, 35’s, trail turn ect…. I have a buddy who is the GM of a large dealer network that has GM and Ram and even with the deals he could have gotten me nothing came close in price or capability from the other two. In truth I’m a diehard Toyota guy, and REALLY would have liked to be in a Tundra but for the same money as my Superduty I have a payload capacity of 4214lbs.. Tundra’s have tons of power but no where near the payload. They’re all good trucks and if I wanted a Diesel I don’t think I would have gone Ford but for a gas truck I didn’t see anything else as a viable option.

Backseat on my crewcab is absolutely massive. Completely 100% flat floor and the seats fold right out of the way. My previous Toyota had the seats removed and I gained a lot of space but i don’t see the need. Also look up Dirt Church Industries compressor mount… I’m almost as excited about this option as I am the rest of the truck. IMHO it’s by far the best place to mount a compressor full time. I have all the parts sitting in my garage to install mine over winter while the truck sits.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Brilliant write up - up to date and more! Thanks @chadx ! We are #5 and have added some goodies to the rig along the way which I will show in another post. We are on a 2016 Ram 3500 crew - with Flat XP Tray and Custom @bowens Boxes (before his super tray came out). We really pushed ST to instal the largest Tern Overland window possible, a door window and the new Truma combi eco- plus (for propane and 110v) heating and water... which ST made happen without a blink! - i believe we were the first. More photos later. Our truck on IG @wanderinglyle - great work!!!

@Fueggia hello!!!

Just watched the walk through of your camper interior this morning…. Love it!! Soooooo…. I’ve got to have one of those screen doors!!! I duck duck go’ed them during the video but nothing came up. Can you link to where you sell them? Our camper won’t be done until the end of Nov so it’s not a real rush but figured I’d get a jump on it! Also we’re going to be another ST camper in the NE! NY for us, upstate. I’m sure we will cross paths eventually. My sister and her family live in Maine so we are up there a lot. Anyway let me know about the screen. This thread needs that info anyway!

 

[Chadx]

@SimplyAnAdventure In the below Instagram shot is contact info (the email that Mauricio likes to use for bug screen inquiries is in both the screenshot and comment of the below; so no need to click on the link. He has a great video of using the bug screen on FB, but unfortunately, when I past the link, it says it's unviewable/unavailable outside of FB.

 

[Chadx]

Here are Phil's videos with Mauricio and Julia from Phil's channel https://www.youtube.com/@Down2Mob

 

[Chadx]

More new colors available factory direct.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

@SimplyAnAdventure In the below Instagram shot is contact info (the email that Mauricio likes to use for bug screen inquiries is in both the screenshot and comment of the below; so no need to click on the link. He has a great video of using the bug screen on FB, but unfortunately, when I past the link, it says it's unviewable/unavailable outside of FB.

Thank you. I don’t have FB or IG anyway so it wouldn’t have helped me. Email is just fine! TY

 

[Chadx]

I love the analysis on trucks, I have a 1st gen Tundra crew cab with a 6'2" bed. In the market for a 3/4 or 1-ton truck. The first question is, what are you considering when choosing the Ford instead of Ram or Chevy? Second question: what outside of overall length factored into your double cab vs crew cab decision? Will you be leaving the back seat or converting it to functional storage of some kind?

@corvcycleguy
Truck choices nowadays mostly comes down to personal preference for brand or even design/look since they are all so capable. I try not to be blindly brand loyal and have always bought the brand that has fit my needs the best at the time I needed to purchase. Not counting various cars/SUVs, I've owned around 7 pickups over the last 35 years (Ford, Dodge, Chevy and Toyota brands) ranging from model year 1977 through 2013). I typically try to buy used and this will be the first new pickup I've bought since one in 2003. I bought my current 2013 Tundra used in 2015. I'm keeping my pickups longer and longer so I figured I'd order this one new to get exactly what I want since I expect to drive it for 10 or 15 years. And, with heavy duty pickups, I suspect that a few-year-old used pickup would have lived a hard life compared to the average Fullsize pickup by comparison.

For whatever reason, the current RAMs don't speak to me. I was looking hard at the Silverado or Sierra 2500 and planned to go that route. Both our camper and pickup replacement timelines were originally planned for 2025, but this spring, we decided to move that up to 2024. Part of what I was waiting for was the GM HD interior redesign. That was originally supposed to happen 2023, but was moved to 2024 model year. I love that new interior. Any of the HD/SD pickup gas engines are more than adequate for my use case (camper hauling and trailers of 3,000lb or less). I also like the 6.6 gas but was disappointed they stuck with the 6speed for the gas motor when it came out in 2019. GM is moving to a 10speed for 2024. I am a bit gun shy of a first year transmission. The other big thing is the GM 6.6 gas is direct injection only (not port injection nor mix of direct and port injection) so intake valve carboning is inevitable. Ford 7.3L has port injection. Direct Injection shoots fuel directly into the combustion chamber, bypassing the intake valve. GM has no Port Injection. Ford has Port Injectors which wash the valves to keep them from carboning up like happens on direct-injection engines. Since I plan to keep this truck for many miles, I didn't want to mess with various intake port cleaning spray treatments each year or eventual head removal and walnut blasting to remove deposits.

The other consideration was suspension. GM uses independent front suspension. Typically I think that is a pro. They have better ground clearance (front diff is out of the way) and typically have better ride quality. But, once you get into harder trails/terrain, independent front suspension starts lifting a tire off the ground well before a solid front axle. Lifted tires mean loss of traction. Locking diffs and good traction control can overcome that to some extent, but still can be disconcerting having wheels off the ground. We got by fine with the Tundra's independent front suspension, but we did often lift a wheel and the way one has to keep on the gas and wait for the traction control to apply brakes to the wheel in the air just makes driving that type of terrain harder to control precisely. An electronic rear locker would help in that scenario, and GM doesn't offer an electronic rear locker in most trims; only the G80 auto locker, which means one wheel has to rotate X number of times before it locks. Again, not what I was wanting as I don't want wheel spin to be required before the other side locks. And, when the G80 locks, it slams locked which can jerk the truck or make it lunge which I don't want in a precarious situation. GM offers an electronic rear locker in the ZR2/ZR2 Bison and AT4X trims, but that trim is not available in extended cabs; only crew cabs. But back to suspension. For our particular use, we are in that type of terrain regularly and are willing to give up the better ride quality of independent front suspension on the road for articulation off road. And, since there is a good chance we'll do a small lift (new springs and shocks), that articulation and suspension travel and ride will improve even more.

 

[Chadx]

Regarding extended cab vs crew cab, the overall length, wheelbase and turning radius are the three factors that weighed into my decision to go with extended cab for our Superduty. With my past Fullsize pickups, I always went extended cab because fullsize with crew cabs meant a 5.5' bed rather than 6.5' bed. Having a standard length bed was important to me because of what I haul and then even more so once we started using slide-in pickup campers. Short bed fullsize pickups move the the load center of gravity too far rearward for my tastes. With HD/SD pickups, that concern is eliminated because the shortest bed available is still a 6.75' bed, but that means going from an extended cab to a crew cab stretches the frame length, wheelbase and overall length.

If I was buying only to tow and for road driving, I'd go for a crew cab because for that use case, the longer wheelbase is an advantage as they are even more stable when towing heavy. Only con there fitting into available garage or shop space and then tight parking lot situations but I don't frequent crowded parking lots enough for that to be a factor. For me, it came down to performance on the trails and ease of turning around (with and without trailers). Turning around with our boat or enclosed trailer in the yard or at trailheads can be very tight. Adding 5.6' to my turning diameter compared to my Tundra is already an impact, but with the crew cab, that goes up an additional 3.4' for a total increase of 9' larger turning diameter. And crew cab has no benefit for us (no need for more back seat room), thought it would open up the option for higher trim packages including the Tremor.

One unique thing about extended cab access on the Superduty Supercrew is that the rear door is rear-hinged and the front door much be open when the rear door is opened and closed. Originally, that was a huge turn off. I hadn't had that in an extended cab pickup since my 2001 Silverado extended cab. All my extended cabs since then had forward hinged doors. But when I took a step back and thought through how we used the rear seat area, I changed my mind. In the Tundra, I occasionally struggle to put large or long item in the rear seat because of the rear door opening. An item that would easily fit in the rear seat space would be awkward to pass through the door opening or won't pass through at all. The Superduty's "suicide door" is hinged at the rear plus, it also opens nearly 180 degrees rearward. With no B pillar, access to the entire cabin, including the rear seat, is wide open. It will occasionally be an inconvenience to have to open the front door before the rear door. But, the scenario where it would be the most inconvenient would be back seat passenger ingress/egress and we don't have passengers in the back seat except for vary rare occasions.

On the Tundra, I pulled the driver's side, 2/3 seat and built a platform. That left the 1/3 seat on the passenger side. My Tundra has a front bench seat so that means we could still fit 4 people if needed. In the 4 years that I had the platform, that happened one time. I could have ordered the Superduty Lariet with front bench seat (40/20/40 seat) or console (40/console/40 seat). Both come with the same heated/ventilated bucket seat so no difference there. The only difference is the middle console vs folding middle seat. Storage is different between the two and the folding middle seat eliminates the wireless phone charging pad. Since the need to carry 4 people came up so rarely, I went with the 40/console/40 rather than the 40/20/40.

I've looked for rear seat platform solutions and not found any that will work for me. In my current homemade solution, I build the platform tall enough to give me good storage underneath that I access from the side. Tools, recovery gear, first aid kit, portable ARB air pump, etc. all goes under the platform. Most of those things stay in the truck year round. I also like that the platform could reduce those particular items from flying around the cab in a bad accident. I love the finished look of some of the retail offerings, such as Goose Gear, but they don't give me the easy access to what is stored under the platform. I've seen solution that incorporate a slide out drawer from under the platform, which gives easy access, but none that I've found have drawers deep enough for what I want to store under their. I don't recall the exact measurement, but ballpark, I have around a foot of height under my platform. I plan to look around to see if any newer retail offerings might work for me. So if anyone knows of a rear seat platform solution that give at least around 12" of under platform storage height with side access (even with top of platform is loaded/covered), please point me in the right direction.

That being said, there is a small chance I'll leave the 2/3 rear seat in place with the Superduty if we can fit in everything we need. The Supertramp Flagship has way more storage than our previous camper and so a lot of what we carried in the back seat will live in the camper. That being said, whether during camper season or in the winter when the camper is off and stored, I've just really loved having a rear seat platform in the Tundra. Putting tubs or bags with gear for MTB, dirtbike/ATV, snowmobile/snowbike, snowshoeing, boat fishing/ice fishing, you name it, organizing all that on a flat platform, is just so easy compared to stacking it on top of other gear or around the folded seat.

 

[Chadx]

The owner, that is selling their 2023 Supertramp Flagship, has posted an ad in Expedition Portal here: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/...nd-new-supertramp-camper-for-sale-pnw.241376/

There is also another couple with a February 2024 build slot available: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/supertramp-camper-feb-24-build-slot.241470/

 

[Chadx]

Supertramp has released some new "how to" videos on Vimeo. Edit: Unfortunately, the Expedition Portal forum doesn't seem to allow for imbedding of Vimeo videos, so I'm supplying the clickable links instead).

Loading Video. This shows Supertramp's proprietary front brackets. Really slick the way the camper pins and bracket interface, holding the front of the camper down without turnbuckles.
vimeo.com/802043427/6ae45b0015?share=copy

Winterization - no blow out or RV Antifreeze needed. All water is gravity released:
vimeo.com/876520106/7675b295ea?share=copy

Truma Combi settings walkthrough:
vimeo.com/876195657/ee43d40871?share=copy

 

[Chadx]

Update to standard battery charger. Supertramp has changed from the Noco 10amp to the Victron Energy Blue Smart IP67 12-Volt 17 amp 120VAC charger. Nice little upgrade.

Victron Energy Blue Smart IP67 12-Volt 17 amp 120VAC​

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

Update to standard battery charger. Supertramp has changed from the Noco 10amp to the Victron Energy Blue Smart IP67 12-Volt 17 amp 120VAC charger. Nice little upgrade.

Victron Energy Blue Smart IP67 12-Volt 17 amp 120VAC​

View attachment 804682

Nice! That is a good upgrade, my 400Ah batteries have a larger one spec’d anyway but it great to see they are continuously improving the camper. Now if only they’d beef up the DC/DC charger on the big battery banks too!!

 

[Chadx]

Yeah, sounds like they are planning to change the larger 120v charger, that comes with the larger battery bank, to something bigger than the Progressive Dynamics 45amp they were using. Will be 60 or 75 amps depending on which brand charger they go with. I think owners will have to source a larger DC/DC solution on their own as the demand for larger DC/DC charging is limited. Would be interesting to pull out a wiring chart and see how many 12v amps the cable that they use can handle (in the cable size and run lengths they use) and the rated amps of teh connector. Seems to me they used a trolling motor connector and all those are rated for 100amps, so the wiring may be your limiting factor. Was just wondering if the pickup wiring they install and the camper DC cable would support you installing a second Victron 30amp DC/DC charger in the cabinet run off the same wiring as the first. Not likely, but worth checking. Then, at the time of install, decide if you do one larger cable run or have them do two runs of cable (maybe one from each battery if you have dual battery setup) to two plugs. Then you can install the second DC charge and a second run of cable out the camper to a second plug, right along the first, pretty easy. You'd just have two DC plugs rather than one.