Northstar Truck Campers: The Pop-up Life Style

I hesitated at first when we started looking at Northstar truck campers line of pop-up campers. To me, pop-ups would always be associated with those ugly little boxes you see being towed behind overloaded station wagons full of screaming kids. If the tiny little wheels on the trailer didn't spin off on the highway, you knew that when they got to the camp ground, before dad could get the trailer unfolded all those kids would get lose from the car. Then you would have to spend the weekend dealing with them, throwing rocks when you were trying to fish, throwing pine cones at your tent, asking stupid kid questions when you just wanted to relax by the camp fire, or trying to sneak a peak at your girlfriend when she went down to the stream.

All these things were going through my mind when we first walked onto the Northstar truck camper lot. To be honest, a pop-up truck camper was a new concept to me. The idea of a hard-side truck camper was familiar, and I had been around a few of them. Hard-sides are comfortable, if a little cramped. They make sense because you can carry them to where you are going, and still have the pickup to do pick up things with.

My college room mate used his truck camper to gather a whole winter's worth of fire wood in a single weekend. In the spring, before the forest fire danger  got too high, he would hitch a utility trailer behind the camper and head into the woods. When he got to the spot he would be cutting, he used the campers landing gear to get it off the truck, then we would spend the next couple hours filling the pickup and trailer with logs. While he went into town to unload, his girlfriend and I would work the chainsaw and have almost another full load by the time he got back. Sometimes we had three loads cut and loaded on the first day, and four were all we really needed to keep the house warm all winter.

Pop-up truck campers are a totally different beast from pop-up trailers. Where the trailer is about getting a tribe of kids into the woods economically, the Northstar truck camper pop-up is about finding adventure by covering some serious miles. Those miles do not have to be on improved roads, either. The pop-up camper is the overwhelming choice for any number of long distance expeditions.

Slide in Truck Camper as a Recreational Vehicle

Slide in truck campers are far and away the simplest of the RV options to engineer. Essentially, all they are is a box that sits in the bed of a pickup truck. There is no hitch to design, no suspension or tires to worry about. You do not have to pay for or maintain a separate drive line or motor (unless you have an auxiliary generator).

The simplicity of the truck camper gains some big advantages. The first is economy, slide ins are usually the cheapest of RVs to purchase, and even cheaper to own. They usually do not require a special license, there are no “road parts” to maintain, and they may be covered by your pickup or homeowner's insurance, depending on the situation.

The other advantage of simplicity is versatility. A rig with a slide in camper is certainly welcome in any full service camp ground with all the hook ups, and you can easily take the camper off the truck and use your pickup to visit the local tourist attractions. Or you can take your camper “in back of beyond”. Just about anywhere you can drive you truck, you can take your camper. Some of the best camping spots are up roads that would frighten the lug nuts off of a motorhome or travel trailer. Many trucks will have four wheel drive, which can get you into even more places. However, even without four wheel drive you can get your pickup with its slide in truck camper into some terrific and often free camping areas.

The biggest drawback to the slide in truck camper is that they are notoriously short on interior roominess. Most of the time you may not notice it. At the end of the day, when you are snuggled into your queen sized bed in the cab over, you won't notice the lack of floor space. While you are busy putting together a tasty and nutritious meal (notice how everything tastes better when you are camping?) the lack of counter space may call for some creativity, but the galley is so efficiently laid out you won't have much trouble. In fact, the only time you will feel really crowded is if there are more than two of you trying to move around inside the camper.

The manufacturers of truck campers have taken a cue from motorhome and trailer builders, and begun adding slide outs to their rigs. The slide out will add floor space to a camper, but we have to wonder if the trade off will negate some of the camper's other virtues.

A slide out will add to the initial expense of the slide in truck camper, and the mechanical parts will add to the maintenance hassles. The camper is just a big box, but when you are traveling on rough roads that box will work and flex more than you realize. This flex will have a negative effect on the slide out's seals and mechanicals.

Finally, one of the best parts of having a camper is that whenever you stop it is ready to use, but many times the slider will need to be extended just so you can get into the camper.For more information visit our website to check all truck camper in stock.

Slide in Truck Campers - The Great Way to introduce the RV

Slide in truck campers are a great way to get an introduction to the RV life style. They are surprisingly comfortable, relatively easy to tow, even easier to store, and affordable. In fact, several outlets, including SCATT Recreation will rent you a camper so you can try it out on for a week end.

A slide in truck campers are probably the least flashy of any RV, in fact, you could say they are down right humble. That is not to say that they are by any means “low-tech”. In fact, it is pretty amazing the way so much room and convenience can fit into such a small space.

Any RV choice is going to be filled with trade-offs and compromises, but for a certain segment, the slide in truck camper meets some pretty unique needs. As we mentioned before, the trailer is usually small and light enough that there is a huge variety of vehicles that can tow them. They are not hard for inexperience drivers to maneuver, but if there is any trouble back it into the camp spot the pop up is usually light enough to adjust by pushing.

Another trade off is the set up time. With most “hard side” RVs, set up is just a matter of parking and leveling. There are a few extra steps with the pop-up, but it is still simpler than most “ground tents”, and when you are done you won't have to sleep on the ground.

Once the unit is leveled and the jacks are holding it stable, raising the roof is usually a matter cranking it up. One the roof is up the support bars for the “wings” are inserted, and there may be inside supports for the tent over the bunks. After that there may be a few little things to set up depending upon the make and model of the trailer, but they will be obvious and explained when you pick up the rental.

One of the best aspects of this truck camper is that they lend themselves to dry camping, or boon docking, almost as well as a slide-in pickup camper. They are not perfect boon docking rigs, but they are a lot handier than bigger outfits like a motor home or a full sized travel trailer. The slide in truck camper generally comes with a light duty suspension and small wheels, so they will not great for off-roading, but they will go many places. When you set up camp, your tow vehicle is ready to take you on smaller adventures or to that secret fishing hole. Visit original Scatt Recreation Website to get more info.

The True Camping Experience With Adventurer Truck Campers

One of the things I liked the most after looking at Adventurer Truck Campers was the powered jacks. My wife fell in love with the luxury of the things, and to be sure, there is a lot to like. It is so nice inside that while we were on the dealers lot, the wife told me that she wouldn't have a problem letting her mother stay in their when she came to visit. (I wonder if I could park the camper on the outskirts of town when mother in law comes to town. I would stay in the thing to avoid her!)

All the gee-gaws and foo-foo are all well and good I suppose. When we go camping, even the wife spends more time outside than in, so I never thought it had to be too nice. (At least, not nice enough to make mother in law comfortable.) It might be nice to have an LCD TV to watch a ball game if the fish aren't biting. Not that we could get reception where we usually park. I have talked to people who have paid for cable service while they stay in am “improved campground”. Improved over what? That is what I would like to know. If you need cable TV to keep yourself or your brats happy while you are camping, you are probably better off staying home.

The Camper we are shopping for now will be the third that we have owned since we've been married, and the little woman is excited at the prospect of owning a brand new rig, and the guys selling the Adventurer Truck Campers have put on the best show at this point, both on the lot and at the sportsman show. There is no denying that it is a well put together unit. The fiberglass skin and aluminum frame feel like you could drop it off a cliff and then move right back in. 

The first truck camper we owned I bought while we were dating. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she enjoyed camping, but that a married woman was not going to sleep on the ground. That first rig was a good match for the old rattle trap pickup I was driving in college, and we had a lot of fun with it, but I shudder to think how many pounds of air freshener she used before our first trip. The next camper was bigger so that there was room for the kids, but it was an older, bare bones affair.

Funny, the kids don't camp with us much any more, but we are looking at an even bigger camper. Getting a new Adventurer Truck Camper will be fun, I'll admit. But I am still happiest that the new rig will be the first time I have had power jacks to lower the landing gear. No more fooling with manual jacks in the dark when I am setting up camp! Visit website to check all latest new and used truck campers at Scatt Recreation

Slide In Truck Campers – The Most Versatile Recreational Vechicle

As far as RV choices go, the greatest thing going for a slide in truck camper is its versatility. That is what I was I finally decided about the “Red Neck Fifth Wheel Trailer”. Red Neck Fifth Wheel is a lot nicer than the first name I came up with for it: The Bastard Rig.

One way to look at fifth wheel trailers is as a sort of combination of advantages and disadvantages of truck campers and travel trailers. A regular travel trailer has the advantage of roominess compared with a camper. However, it will require separate licensing and registration hassles, extra time in line at the DMV is something we all appreciate avoiding. Plus you need to store the thing when you are not using it, and it takes up a considerable amount of real estate. A camper that is not being used has a considerably smaller foot print, a pop-up camper will usually go under a garage door, and in many cases a camper can share a parking spot with the truck that usually carries it. Most states do not require a special license or fee for the camper, when it is in use it is considered cargo of the truck carrying it, not a separate vehicle.

The fifth wheel is a trailer, but rather than being attached to the towing vehicle by a hitch at the bumper, the attachment point is a “5th Wheel” mounted in the bed of the pick up. This means that the pick up has better control over the trailer. The fifth wheel hitch needs semi-permanent mounting points in the pick up bed, sort of like the tie-downs for a slide in truck camper. It has the same parking and licensing hassles as a regular trailer. The fifth wheel gains room in the same way as a camper, by putting a “bedroom” in the nose. On a slide in truck campers, the nose hangs over the cab of the pick up, in the fifth wheel the master bedroom is over the hitch, the part over the bed of the towing truck.

Where the most luxurious of campers can make for somewhat spartan and cramped RV conditions, a fifth wheel trailer is often spacious enough for comfortable full time living. It is technically possible to use the fifth wheel for boondocking, but the size of the thing will keep it out of most good boondock spots. 

The Red Neck Fifth Wheel is not a fifth wheel at all, it is a slide in truck camper placed on a home made utility trailer. Usually the trailer is made by welding a hitch coupling to a pick up bed that has been sawed off of a truck. The original axle and suspension from the truck are retained, but because it is now a utility trailer, it will not need licensing in many states. The biggest advantage of the Red Neck Fifth Wheel is that it can be towed with a van or SUV, allowing a greater passenger load. If needs be, the camper can be loaded on a pick up, and the utility trailer can be loaded with toys or equipment. The Red Neck name is meant to imply shoddy or “quick and dirty” improvisation, but it actually is another manifestation of the slide in truck camper's versatility. Visit Website to check all models of truck campers at Scatt Recreation.