Van vs. Truck Camper

[c7train]

Awesome choice. I've had both 4x4 van and truck camper, we stuck with the truck camper route also. Enjoy! Good looking truck!

 

[UHAULER]

This guy couldn't decide so he made his own

 

[NoIllusions]

If you really want to have a comfortable motor-home, consider this one 2018 FORD E450 CUBE

 

[Paddy]

Ya ^those^ are comfortable AT TIMES, like sleeping, but not comfortable at all when

-Turning around on a small road
-getting stuck off road
-getting fuel AGAIN

I did the cube van thing and while it was a fun project, it’s limitations led me to sell. I then built out a Tacoma, and it’s limitations led me to sell. Then a sprinter van, and it’s limitations led me to sell. Now I’m building a f350.

 

[Paddy]

This guy couldn't decide so he made his own
View attachment 440895

That’s really cool! ANy other views?

 

[s.e.charles]

...

when I first became interested in "this stuff", like 10 or 12 years ago, I read about a guy camperizing a ranger. he had full stand-up room behind the rear axle by cutting out a section of floor. I assume (in retrospect) the gas tank was located parallel to the frame members, so I might have been just the rear tire he moved. anyway, it was "blue" - and this picture reminded me of it.

carry on . . .

 

[labtrav]

I used a truck with slide-in camper for the same purpose you're looking at, just exploring state and national parks and camping in the electric only sites. The truck had 4x4 but honestly, I never used it on any state or national park roads that I used to get to the lakes of hiking trails. The only time I used 4x4 was to get out of swampy ground when I tried to park it too far into a ditch. My biggest problem was having to completely put everything away in the truck and have to exit the back of the truck camper multiple times a day to get into the cab of the pickup truck and vise-versa.

I sold the that camper set up and bought a 1993 Airstream B190 van for 10k with 80k miles. It's only two wheel drive, but I drove it through Uwharrie National Forest roads in North Carolina, and around the Outer Banks. Of course you have to know what you're driving on with 2wd, but if you add a locker to the rear you would be golden for any regularly used park roads. The best part with the B190 (or any small class b type RV camper van) is that you have all the creature comforts of home. I full shower, toilet, oven, stove, couch, microwave, tv, queen size bed separate from the couch (over the cab) and BEST OF ALL, a passthrough between the living area and the cab of the vehicle. When weather is horrible, I can clean up everything in the camper while I'm still in my pajamas, then sit down in the driver chair and start driving to the next destination.

Also, the Ford E-series vans are easy to convert to 4x4 on your own or there are plenty of conversion companies out there. But I'd recommend leaving it 2wd, adding a small lift, and locking the rear.

Just food for thought.

Hey 85Chevota,

Thank you so much for your post. We currently have a 4Runner + Aliner Pop Up Camper Combo, but are looking at either Big Camper Vans or Winnebago Chalet 24J for our family (2 adults, 2 year old son, dog). Question for you: would you say that the 1993 Airstream B190 Van would be big enough for our family to live in for a few weeks at a time? That is the only thing that is keeping us back is that our 2 year old needs a place to sleep that is safe + our dog needs to be kenneled up at night so thinking the campervans could be a bit snug. At the same time, I really would like to go smaller than bigger. 2nd question: does this van for sale on Ebay look like yours ?? https://www.ebay.com/itm/1993-Airst...684572?hash=item2145f636dc:g:z-IAAOSwNDdbWS5x ~Cheers and thanks, Labtrav

 

[85Chevota]

We have a 4runner as well that we can use if we just tent camp, but we wanted the RV so we could take dogs along with an air conditioner and generator. We regularly park the RV in a regular parking lot in small towns as we roadtrip and just leave the generator and AC blasting for the dogs to relax while we shop. The RV you posted is better for garages because it doesn't have a high top, but those Dodge chassis are also a lot closer to the ground. If you google Airstream B190 that is what I have. The main difference is the high top and bed over the cab. With the bed over the cab, my wife and I sleep up there while the dogs sleep on the couch or passenger chair (it swivels around). We don't have kids yet but our plan in the future is that the kid would sleep on the fold out couch while parents sleep in the overhead bed. We only kennel our dogs if we are going to be out for a longer period, so we bought a canvas type folding kennel that folds flat during the day then when we kennel the dogs we have to fold out the couch into a bed format and put the kennel on top of that. Our dogs are large so the kennel doesn't fit on the floor. If you have smaller dogs and a small kennel, I could see it working. If you want to go one step up in size from an Airstream B190, I'd recommend a Ford based Chinook. That would be classified as more of a Class B+ (or B Plus) RV that seems to be what you're interested in.