TexasStevo
New member
I thought this thread might help someone else that has been in a similar quandary. I’ve had all kinds of campers over the years, pop up trailers, various truck campers, bumper pull toybox, 5th wheel toy box and a couple home made trailers, big and small. I have a family of 5 and that makes it tougher to camp comfortably and play with motorized toys. And we are typically driving long distances from Texas to the “cool states”. The last several years we kind of gave up and just hauled the bikes and quads or crawlers on an open 22’ car hauler style trailer and got a cabin or used a giant tent. I also have a small 14’ cargo trailer setup for moto hauling a few bikes and my gear/tools for guy type trips. But I still want a good hybrid solution for the bed of my truck when running solo on a motorcycle trip or when camping/overlanding with no trailer. I picked up a used ARE fiberglass shell on CL several years ago and have used that for basic traveling. Wasn’t good for much else, it was just a cheap solution. I put a used rack on top, sprung for a batwing awning and built out the inside to make it easy to haul our gear and have trail side access quickly. The truck had turned into our Jeep when we could no longer pull that off with a JK. Couple pics below, camping around Pikes Peak somewhere and then a shot coming down Hancock Pass.
My kids are getting older (aka not trying to fit all of us and all 5 our stuff in my truck/trailer) and I’ve been coming back round to the truck camper thoughts. And as usual, I want one solution to be able to do too many things, I’m bad about this. Camp, haul stuff, sleep in it, not too tall, not too short, not too heavy, still able to get offroad to a degree. And….I still have one big hang up, I am determined to fit a dirt bike inside the truck camper. I know I can use a rcvr rack, I own one, but want what I want. I’ve been drooling over pop up truck campers for years but with my family of 5 it just wasn’t practical and too much money just to indulge me. And I always have the dirt bike thing in the back of my head and pop ups aren’t really conducive to that. I have talked with the folks at Hiatus as I love the pop up with the hard walls, it just isn’t quite tall enough for a bike. As seen below you can fit a bike inside, but it isn’t the easiest. They are willing to make your side walls taller…..but it also jacks up the loft bed with it and that would get funky looking and defeat the purpose of a low profile camper going down the road. I’m not willing to spend this level of money and not have ease of use for my intentions.
The Harker EDC is newer on the market and interesting. I really like the open rear design for the dirt bike….and…..I really hate the open rear design for everything else, sun, rain, wind, floppy etc. It’s not quite what I am looking for. I really want barn doors. But it makes me happy that folks/new companies are doing innovative stuff like this unit that is really different from everyone else.
The Aterra Topper is new to the market and pretty cool. But it is taller than I need at 81” inside and more money than I was willing to spend at this time. And no barn doors :-(
I think when I decide to spend more time “living” in the back of a unit, then I will spring the extra money for a unit like this or a Tuffport or SpaceKap. But I should probably do this with a long bed truck to make it worth my while? I looked at new trucks and even tried to talk my wife into letting me get a single cab ARE Prospector setup. She wasn’t a fan of me cutting all my kids out just yet. And the new trucks setup like mine in Prospector trim are over $100K. And you can’t get a manual 6 speed anymore. Right now I have a truck that is paid for and can transform into different roles as needed……able to go offroad, pull a trailer, haul stuff in the bed, camp, and seat 6 bodies in the cab.
So…that is a long way round I know. And I’m not done blabbing, ha ha. You’ve hung in there this long. Once you make the decision to go with a smaller style/size commercial topper, the Caravan Campers also came in the running. Caravan is steel, heavier, cost a little more than other budget solutions, and was not local to me (Reno)…but I like them. I also liked the Callen Campers and the baby section over the cab….but wood construction, heavier, not local (west coast)….meh. Now that I finally made a dadgum decision to go with the ARE DCU…..now what flavor? Oh boy, start the torture. How tall, 32” or 36”? To wedge or not to wedge? Slanted side walls or 90 degree side walls? Radius front? White or black? Side windows? Lot of options. I won’t got into the details unless someone asks how I came to this decision but I went with a 36” tall, non-wedge, non-radius front, 90 degree side walls, barn doors with windows, big side doors with no bins, carpet lined, 4x4 reinforcement, one 12V light wired to truck for the here and now, sliding front window, back up camera and heavy duty security lock on the barn doors. Picked it up yesterday. With those features this puts you right at $5k. The fit and finish isn’t the best but at this price point, it is what it is. I’m not trying to win trophies at car shows.
Slight snag, it doesn’t have 90 degree side walls. When my order went to the factory, it went to the R&D folks first. They reported back to the factory rep they couldn’t do the 90s at that 36” height. Factory rep said ok, build it with normal walls. They should have stopped right there and called the customer, me, to see if I still wanted it. Obviously they didn’t. At this point the factory rep apologized and said they were willing to knock off several hundred if I would take it as is. I could have walked away at no cost, but I would still be in the same pickle….wanting a reasonably priced tall camper shell with barn doors. I had anguished over the 90 walls anyhow, maybe this was meant to be.....and I was getting a discount? I took delivery today, despite the hiccup I’m pretty excited. Probably drop off my application at Amazon on the way home. Be on the look out for me delivering packages to your house. I accept tips, silver bullets preferred. More to come.
My kids are getting older (aka not trying to fit all of us and all 5 our stuff in my truck/trailer) and I’ve been coming back round to the truck camper thoughts. And as usual, I want one solution to be able to do too many things, I’m bad about this. Camp, haul stuff, sleep in it, not too tall, not too short, not too heavy, still able to get offroad to a degree. And….I still have one big hang up, I am determined to fit a dirt bike inside the truck camper. I know I can use a rcvr rack, I own one, but want what I want. I’ve been drooling over pop up truck campers for years but with my family of 5 it just wasn’t practical and too much money just to indulge me. And I always have the dirt bike thing in the back of my head and pop ups aren’t really conducive to that. I have talked with the folks at Hiatus as I love the pop up with the hard walls, it just isn’t quite tall enough for a bike. As seen below you can fit a bike inside, but it isn’t the easiest. They are willing to make your side walls taller…..but it also jacks up the loft bed with it and that would get funky looking and defeat the purpose of a low profile camper going down the road. I’m not willing to spend this level of money and not have ease of use for my intentions.
The Harker EDC is newer on the market and interesting. I really like the open rear design for the dirt bike….and…..I really hate the open rear design for everything else, sun, rain, wind, floppy etc. It’s not quite what I am looking for. I really want barn doors. But it makes me happy that folks/new companies are doing innovative stuff like this unit that is really different from everyone else.
The Aterra Topper is new to the market and pretty cool. But it is taller than I need at 81” inside and more money than I was willing to spend at this time. And no barn doors :-(
I think when I decide to spend more time “living” in the back of a unit, then I will spring the extra money for a unit like this or a Tuffport or SpaceKap. But I should probably do this with a long bed truck to make it worth my while? I looked at new trucks and even tried to talk my wife into letting me get a single cab ARE Prospector setup. She wasn’t a fan of me cutting all my kids out just yet. And the new trucks setup like mine in Prospector trim are over $100K. And you can’t get a manual 6 speed anymore. Right now I have a truck that is paid for and can transform into different roles as needed……able to go offroad, pull a trailer, haul stuff in the bed, camp, and seat 6 bodies in the cab.
So…that is a long way round I know. And I’m not done blabbing, ha ha. You’ve hung in there this long. Once you make the decision to go with a smaller style/size commercial topper, the Caravan Campers also came in the running. Caravan is steel, heavier, cost a little more than other budget solutions, and was not local to me (Reno)…but I like them. I also liked the Callen Campers and the baby section over the cab….but wood construction, heavier, not local (west coast)….meh. Now that I finally made a dadgum decision to go with the ARE DCU…..now what flavor? Oh boy, start the torture. How tall, 32” or 36”? To wedge or not to wedge? Slanted side walls or 90 degree side walls? Radius front? White or black? Side windows? Lot of options. I won’t got into the details unless someone asks how I came to this decision but I went with a 36” tall, non-wedge, non-radius front, 90 degree side walls, barn doors with windows, big side doors with no bins, carpet lined, 4x4 reinforcement, one 12V light wired to truck for the here and now, sliding front window, back up camera and heavy duty security lock on the barn doors. Picked it up yesterday. With those features this puts you right at $5k. The fit and finish isn’t the best but at this price point, it is what it is. I’m not trying to win trophies at car shows.
Slight snag, it doesn’t have 90 degree side walls. When my order went to the factory, it went to the R&D folks first. They reported back to the factory rep they couldn’t do the 90s at that 36” height. Factory rep said ok, build it with normal walls. They should have stopped right there and called the customer, me, to see if I still wanted it. Obviously they didn’t. At this point the factory rep apologized and said they were willing to knock off several hundred if I would take it as is. I could have walked away at no cost, but I would still be in the same pickle….wanting a reasonably priced tall camper shell with barn doors. I had anguished over the 90 walls anyhow, maybe this was meant to be.....and I was getting a discount? I took delivery today, despite the hiccup I’m pretty excited. Probably drop off my application at Amazon on the way home. Be on the look out for me delivering packages to your house. I accept tips, silver bullets preferred. More to come.
