@AlwaysRoaming We are back from a four day camping trip and thought I'd elaborate on the reasoning for some of our choices since I was in a bit of a rush when I listed the options we chose (we were packing to head out early the next morning).
@SimplyAnAdventure gave some good insight into their choices and I'll expand a bit on reasoning for our choices. Once some more owners pipe up, then you can hopefully pick through the info and figure out what resonates for you and your use case. Bottom line is it's great to have choices and happy that Supertramp keeps some things as options rather than standard so one can tailor the camper a bit.
My original thought process on no side window included the same reasons
@SimplyAnAdventure mentions; security and structural integrity, but the primary reason was it limits where and how occupants sit. If someone sits on the bench in front of the window, they can't lean back if there is a window there. As it turns out, we also found that in front of that window is our preferred place for the Lagun table, so no one sits there in our case, but we didn't know that when we ordered and that was a big hesitancy for me. In use, we've discovered that I typically sit on the bench seat over the shower/toilet pan and Mrs. Chadx sits on the front bench. Another reason I was on the fence was where we drive. All our slide-in campers get pinstriped by branches constantly and acrylic side windows suffer the same fate. We use a 3 stage acrylic buff/polish to remove most of the scratches from the window at the end of each season, but the following year, it just gets all scratched up again. If you drive where you get a lot of branch scratches and scratches on the window would bother you (and/or you don't want to buff them out), then you might skip the side window.
My other thought was better insulation, but realistically, that small surface area may not make a huge difference, the breathable soft top already has a limited amount of insulation, and we don't use our camper during the winter like some do. We sometimes camp down into the teens for temp, but haven't yet with the Supertramp because we picked it up in March 2024. I'd expect it to perform about the same as our previous two campers and the heater easily keeping things comfortable. But, if winter camping was a primary use case and one wanted to stretch propane tanks as long a possible (be that camping with the top down or at least keeping the top down while heating during the day when you were away from the camper), that would be a good reason to forego the side window.
I paid more attention to views out the camper while we were camping these last few days and we both like having the view out the side. Yes, while seated, you are kind of looking downward rather than straight out, but often, that is a stream that we park next to or down and out on a mountain valley. Or, one can duck your head just a bit and easily see the horizon. The soft top windows, while open, let in a lot of light and great views of the tree tops or mountains while seated and of the horizon while standing or while in the cabover. When we pull into a spot, we orient the camper so we have the best view out the side window.
Regarding the Plus version of the Truma Combi, adding electric as a power source certainly has it's limits. I park the truck and camper in the shop during the summer and the camper lives in the shop in the winter when off the truck, so for those occasions where I may want to heat the inside of the camper, or simply keep the stored camper from being extremely cold on those -40F weeks, I prefer to have the option to use electric rather than propane since propane combustion would vent exhaust gasses inside the shop. I supposed a part of our decision to add from the start was it was something not easily retrofitted and we didn't know if we'd ever want or need it so ordered it from the start.
The primary reason we chose the Battleship Gray paint was because we liked the way it looks, particularly with our pickup color. Certainly the surface/exterior temp of the camper may be a bit warmer on a sunny day. I'd asked Supertramp about the effect on interior temps before deciding and they shared that on the inside of the composite panel, the temp difference between the white and other colors was surprisingly small. That combined with all units have the same color soft top material and that is also much less insulated than the panels. Plus, a large part of the roof is covered with the panels/vents and A/C unit (if so equipped). Keep in mind our evaluation, on color choice and other options, is based on our living in MT and avoiding trips to extreme heat. You live in TX where every little bit makes a difference. For anyone ordering an A/C, like you, your likely already only considering white. Luckily, all the color options look great and they have a growing choice for decal colors, though some choose to forego decals all together.
I'd mentioned we had upgraded from the 1,500 watt inverter to the 2,000 watt inverter. We have an electric teapot that we use to boil water. It's only 1,400 watts but we also have a portable induction cooktop and that is 1,800watts. We are experimenting with our portable induction cooktop to decide if we want to do a built-in induction cooktop (doing an "energy audit" to fully understand how much power is needed to support induction). We also have the 120v passthrough so we can make the inverter 120v AC power available outside. That means that, with an extension cord, we can use the induction cooktop on a table outside and cook outside if we want. And with that 120v passthrough, I can also power other loads outside and didn't want to be limited to 1,500watts or less. From the camper, I currently power battery chargers for charging fishing boat trolling motor batteries, electric dirtbikes, etc. and wanted to be able to power anything one would plug into a typical home 120v 15amp circuit without being limited by the camper inverter capacity (with the understanding the duration of use will be limited by battery bank capacity).
The shower option gets you the shower curtain, four ceiling curtain L track hooks, drain in bottom of the basin that drains into a second/independent 5 gallon gray water tank than the sink's standard 5 gallon graywater tank for a total of 10gallon of gray water storage. They both drain independently of one another. The shower options also gets you the shower head and loooong hose and the water flow/temp mixer inside the kitchen cabinet. While it takes up a little bit of space, there are more uses that make is worth it in my opinion. That shower hose is also a handy item for washing things off outside. It is long enough to string it out the back door when open or through a soft-top window for taking an outside shower or washing off feet, boots, or whatever. The shower pan is also useful for washing off things inside or hanging wet things above and letting drip down into the shower pan (with toilet removed). Think fishing gear/boots/waders, watersports gear, etc.
As
@SimplyAnAdventure, others, and I have mentioned, the larger battery bank options (300 - 400ah) take a lot of current to replenish so you'll want to plan for that in your original build. The 330watts of solar are a good start, but the standard solar controller can only make use of 15amps (219watts). Supertramp will upgrade you to the 20amp solar controller which will utilize a max of 292 watts of solar (or perhaps they've made that the standard controller nowadays). Some have had an exterior solar outlet be wired into their solar input circuit. That allows one to bring portable solar panels which can be placed in the sun while parking the camper in the shade. Or, can be pointed directly at the sun, when it's lower in the sky, for higher solar yield. Similarly on hazy or cloudy days; when sunlight is impeded, more panels can be deployed to yield more solar input that could have been collected otherwise. Taking that a step further, you could have a second solar controller all together, dedicated to portable array. That way, even when the primary panels are maxing out the main solar controller, you could be energizing a second solar controller from portable panels. That would give you double the solar input and a redundant system as well.
As mentioned in my first post, the DC/DC charging needs to be addressed for anyone with a larger battery bank. At a minimum, the conductors should be upgraded to larger sizes, but ideally, you'd upgrade the DC/DC charger as well to at least the new Victron 50amp charger. If your pickup has 120v available, of enough capacity, you could also consider charging with the 120v charger as you drove, but the external side plug location is certainly not ideal for that and they are only 17amp chargers anyway. And DC to AC to DC conversion is more lossy than straight DC/DC charging, so if you pickup has the alternator capacity, better to address it with DC charging, be that one 50amp DC charger or multiple.
