Thoughts on the Truckhouse Tacoma expedition camper...

Victorian

Victorian

Approved Vendor : Total Composites
I can see these supply issues being real. Especially with a moulded shell design. Outbound ( window and door supplier) is easily out by 6 months if not more. They can’t just switch to other brands. I bet those issues go through the whole build with many other suppliers. It’s very hard for anyone running a manufacturing business.
 
S

Steve_382

Active member
I don't think they can afford to have all the employees driving around in them, ha. But, I would still like to seem them build this on a F350 Supercab with the 7.3 gas motor. It's a beautiful rig. Kind of a small ER.
 
C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
rruff said:
I'd be impressed if there are any "builders" at all. It appears to be nothing but a concept.

I looked all over their website for some "meat" and didn't find any. No actual camper evident, no details on the truck mods, no details on the camper equipment, no names, no address, no facilities, no allusion to qualifications even, and no delivery promises. Just a few images that appear to be photoshopped, and some slick marketing. Very little investment. I won't call it a scam because I also couldn't find any outright lies.

This sort of marketing just makes me livid. Unfortunately too many people have zero concept of what it takes to design, build, deliver, and support something like this. A lot of expertise and investment is required... not marketing and graphic design!
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Yep!
My little 21ft racing sailboat comprised of a hull, one piece interior structural pan and one piece deck was a 1 million mold investment in 1993. That wasn’t the designer fee/royalty either. In 2009 the boat owners group funded a 3rd hull mold given we wore out the US mold 200+ boats built. One mold is in Italy where another builder built 100 or so.
The last boat we built was 2016 it cost $52,000 in materials and labor. In 1994 they were $25,000 and the business went under. We have a joke in the sailboat building business. If you want to be a millionaire building boats start with two million.

Thats a boat we hose out with a garden hose. No interior!

Today a
Similar design built now 25ft sells for $90,000 ish. A 27ft version goes for about $120,000.

In 2002 the 24ft version of my boat was a $55,000 build after 1.5 mill tooling investment. Again no interior can be hosed out.
 
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rruff

rruff

Explorer
Were they at Expo West last month? Said they were planning to be there, and PNW and Tahoe's Adventure Vans in July.

Yes, they were:
I've noticed that questions about GVWR are ignored...
 
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tacollie

tacollie

Glamper
At least with the Tundra they won't have to lengthen the frame, beef up the brakes, replace the rear axle, and add a super charger?

Baby steps I guess.
 
rruff

rruff

Explorer
tacollie said:
At least with the Tundra they won't have to lengthen the frame, beef up the brakes, replace the rear axle, and add a super charger?
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They won't need the supercharger, but they'll still need the other stuff... unless they go with the smaller rear seat and 8' bed.

They are making this extra hard on themselves. The Tacoma is going to see a major redo soon, so all the work they did on mod development will be need to be redone as well. The Tundra isn't likely to change for 15 years, so at least that would be a more sensible investment... except that there is so little aftermarket right now.

Or they could have started with an F350 that would only need modest off the shelf upgrades... :unsure:
 
S

Steve_382

Active member
rruff said:
They won't need the supercharger, but they'll still need the other stuff... unless they go with the smaller rear seat and 8' bed.

They are making this extra hard on themselves. The Tacoma is going to see a major redo soon, so all the work they did on mod development will be need to be redone as well. The Tundra isn't likely to change for 15 years, so at least that would be a more sensible investment... except that there is so little aftermarket right now.

Or they could have started with an F350 that would only need modest off the shelf upgrades... :unsure:
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I told them to call me if they decided to use the F350 Supercab, but not yet I guess. Even the Tundra might get my interest. Trouble is, they want it to be a Taco, but it's just too big to be a Taco. All the extras that are available for the Tacos don't really mean much when you are building a complete integrated camper.
 
rruff

rruff

Explorer
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING said:
Sure they will. The GVWR isnt all that different between the Tundra and the Taco believe it or not
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The rear axle on the 2022 isn't as strong as the old ones, either. They'll need to do similar upgrades on the Tundra except for the engine. They might be thinking they can use the same camper mold for the Tundra, which would save some work for sure. In that case it would have to be a version with the 6.5 ft bed, either double or crew cab, so it would still have a long rear overhang.

In their literature they state that the frame is boxed, and they also have a torsion free system from Durrance Design Group. Seems redundant... aren't boxed frames usually hard mounted? Plus I thought the camper was attached to the cab? Would love to see more details on that. I was looking at their instagram, and noticed this video of them driving on a dirt road. It looks like there is a lot of flexing going on... ? Not sure what would be "normal" for a rig like this...

 
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