This is dead on, and I'm guilty of this. Life changes with kid(s) for sure, and it sounds like you've been able to keep things mostly the same which is awesome. For us surfing is becoming more of a priority activity as our little one can hang on the beach and us parents and switch off in the water (hence more coastal campground weekend trips). Compare that to mtb, its tough to be out on the bike for 3-4 hours at a time with the little one back at home/camp, and long hikes were possible with the child carrier but are getting tougher as he grows as well-and when he 'hikes' there is a lot of flower picking and not a lot of walking. So we adapt. In 10 years he'll probably be out-hiking me and doing backflips over me on the bike haha. And its easy to get caught up in the rig you'd want down the road, once work is winding down and longer trips become more realistic, etc...Long story short somedays I think the Outpost would have been a better use case for the trips we did this past year-but the OEV might be the better solution for the upcoming few years tbd...Either way we are happy with our setup, and are trying to spend more time in it over the next years (shooting for 50 nights/year).
We haven't had the need to change how we camp because 1) baby is super easy 2) what we do when camping is still doable with a baby.
We have had to completely change things we would do when not camping though. Adios ski touring and ice climbing...
I haven't thought about the surfing working well with kid because they can enjoy the beach while you surf. Great point. I need to get into surfing asap.
What are some box van examples? I would like to explore this more.
I am getting a bit of topic, although not entirely because this is competition / for comparison purposes. But I will give you a few examples:
OVP Tahoma E. Reputable builder, great systems. 37" tires + diff lock. Drop down bed with option of either N/S or E/W, with actual queen bed in the front for the kids. This is the best family layout in the category for me.
They also have the Tahoma S (Sprinter version) on 33s. See my comment on Sprinters in my answer to mk216v below.
Then for Sprinters you have
NOMAD RV. They make custom layouts as well, including extra seats for kids etc. They are also releasing their Ford E version soon.
Lastly, best value in the market at $195K (unlike the Paragon this almost fully loaded and includes 10000w solar, 10,000wh battery, full bath, etc) is the
Geotrek Verus. They are working on a family layout (currently would work for 1kid bot not 2).
All of the above have big pass through, swivel seats so your cab is part of the living space (and with seats that can recline and are actually comfortable to seat on unlike most dinettes), and big garages for bikes and surf boards. For pure off-road performance, only the Ford E will compare. Although for beach trips and the type of off-road you described, I bet a Sprinter with good suspensions on 33s would work well.
The guys at Outpost were so cool-I'm really curious to see what their 8' wet bath solution is. I don't love the way they mount to the truck-it seems washboard roads and ratchet straps wouldn't be friends compared to our Backcountry that is very secure. I wonder if there would be a way to make the 8' work with our current 6.75' bed?
Yes this works perfectly. Seen many people camping with 8ft hard sided Scouts on 6.75 bed. You either keep tailgate down as a step/seating/shoe space, or you remove it entirely, In fact this would be my preferred setup to keep things shorts. Works especially well because Outposts models are a bit shorter than the actual bed length. Also they put water and batteries a the very front of the camper, so those heavy items would still be forward of your rear axle.
For me the big cons of an Outpost is that a big slide in looks terrible. I know it's just look but still. There are a few bad things as well such as gray water, battery option maxing out at 5000Wh, water limited to 20 Gal (even on my smaller truck camper setup I have 25 Gal...) etc. They would need to address all of that first for me to consider.
I don't think I'd want to drive anything longer than our current short bed crew cab 1 ton tremor-so if we did pivot to a Paragon down the road it would probably be the extended cab (8' bed) to keep the wheelbase similar (we are just have 1 kid + our dog).
On my Ford crew cab, my seat is all the way back and already touching the rear facing toddler seat. Extended cab cannot work for me. If it does for you, it's a great way to save on length! I am jealous of shorter people in the camping world.
I agree ST is cooler than OEV, but priced higher and not that different from a usability standpoint for a family of 3 + dog with the similar layout. Jumping to a flatbed side entry seems to really open things up, and the hardwall presents its own further storage/space advantages (with compromises too).
Fully agree
The modern full-size pickup truck is going to ride/handle the best on pavement, perform the best overall off-pavement/off-road, be the most reliable in terms of hauling heavy loads
As a 2023 top of the line Ford truck + camper owner, and having driven top of the line new van models (with the full van compass package etc), and as an engineer, I respectfully disagree. While I love my setup, I was very impressed with the ride and handling performance of the van (in some ways better, in some worst). And my setup is way lighter than this Paragon will be and I would argue my current setup handles much better than this type of rig.
The modern full-size pickup truck is going to ride/handle the best on pavement, perform the best overall off-pavement/off-road, be the most reliable in terms of hauling heavy loads
Carli Trophy hitch setup not needed to fit a 37" in the spare F350 location (at least it wasn't on my 2019); with a worn-down or shaved 37" tire, very slightly deflated, it WILL fit in the OEM spare tire location.
Note that there is another option in-progress for the ~$300k fully-optioned full-size truck comparable. REALLY excited to see it come to market. Perhaps they'll let me share some info...
People complaint about Sprinters in this forum but you see them all over Baja where somehow diesel would be an issue, and all over period. I have great friends who have been full timing for years in Sprinters and have nothing but good things to say about them. Tech is great, seating comfort is great. MPG is amazing. Articulation is overrated. With either diff locks or modern traction management systems, articulation is not what is limiting those rigs. Size, weight, clearance is. If articulation is what you want, the Tahoma E offers 22 degrees of it. More than any HD truck.
I am an active member of several Facebook user groups of a few different products (including top van manufacturers, Outpost, etc) and satisfaction on the Sprinter platform is great. I personally know people who were on the F350 platform with both 4WC and OEV and went back to a Sprinter. This forum is very anti sprinter for some reason but the truth is they are both great platforms with different pros and cons, and depending where one is more or less sensitive to each compromise, then one platform can make more sense than the other.
By the way, Mercedes teased their all new sprinter. It's coming as a 2027 model and it is said they have taken into account the need of the overloading community (since they are selling so many for that community, compared to 10Y ago when the previous platform was designed). This will be top of the line as far as "cabin tech" goes at least. Everything else including gas version for the US remains to be seen.
The Carli Trophy is included in the suspension package for the Paragon, you can't separate it. Plus, Carli is saying it's needed to fit 37s. In any case, I don't think many users of a rig like that want to use a deflated shaved tire for it to fit? I personally do a 5 tire rotation including spare, and I would recommend anyone serious about offloading do the same.
For for your last note: you can't leave us stranded without any info
