Truck Camper vs B-Class: Full-Time RV Living!

[@largemarge1603]

2003, after a half-century of make-do camping in lesser rigs, we built our ExpeditionVehicle. We engineered our rear entry so we have a permanent porch with its permanent roof. This acts as our 'mud-room', keeping the interior somewhat cleaner. . We prefer a rear entry for the visual and visceral openness. A side entry immediately slams you against the opposite wall or cabinets. . Getting onto our porch uses existing equipment... and we maintain 'Three Points Of Contact' required for working off the ground. A side entry uses a stair -- and it needs to be stored -- usually without a hand-rail for stability. . Another advantage: In a wagon-train circle with our caravan chums, our rear points toward the center -- campfire -- with our nose ready to evacuate. A group of side-entry rigs is usually parked bumper-to-bumper, requiring somebody to move before they can move.

[@RoamingNikki]

Those are great points. We do use our oversized back step as a kind of sitting porch, but to have a mud-room style one with a roof is genius.

[@EyeExposeThem]

Thank you for the video tour. Very much nicely done. I will be a new subscriber. Appreciate you

[@RoamingNikki]

Thank you so much. Glad to have you with us. I am enjoying putting these videos together for you and hopefully I’ll have lots more to come 😁

[@campingboy9213]

A great comparison. I have a truck camper and love it. I laughed when you talked about fuel. I don't think about it and that saves me from getting depressed.

[@RoamingNikki]

I have too follow your lead and try not to think about it lol. My bank account keeps reminding me though 🫣

[@largemarge1603]

@cam, We full-time live-aboard in our ExpeditionVehicle. We boondock exclusively. We rarely travel more than a hundred miles a month. Fuel is a very minor part of the budget. . Our factory fuel-tank is 50-gallon. I immediately installed a 140-gallon 'saddle-tank', for a total of 190-gallons on the rig. . On our toy-hauler I fabricated on a similar commercial chassis, I mounted an additional 120-gallon fuel tank. In theory, our range without re-fuelling is Anchorage-to-Acapulco. . We prefer fuel in low-tax areas. We prefer to not need fuel in inner-city war-zones.

[@triciapearson7360]

Great to hear the comparisons!

[@benjilacombe7478]

I have a fully self-contained Northstar designed for a 6.5 truck bed. I can park in any vehicle space with it so you can compromise even more. The best feature on the Northstar is the cassette toilet. You can also separate the two and use the truck for other purposes. Truck campers store well in smaller spaces, and compared to travel trailers they don't need tires and registration. Great video.

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks for watching. We like that the camper can be separated from the truck, especially in an emergency or if there needs to be repairs. I don’t mind having a black tank instead of a cassette toilet. I think the 2 of us might end up filling a cassette way too quickly lol

[@benjilacombe7478]

@RoamingNikki Ya, takes about 4 days with 2 people to fill. But, I don't have to deal with dump stations...give n take I suppose.

[@sad754yt]

I know you must like your North Star. My dealer has one of those new Wind Bandit models that I am eyeing

[@benjilacombe7478]

@sad754yt I just looked up the wind bandet, I like it, the bathroom looks bigger than mine. I just have the liberty...very compact. The cassette toilet is total personal preference. I like the freedom of not dealing with dump stations. Probably not good for the full time campgrounds folks though.

[@largemarge1603]

@@RoamingNikki re -- toilet, tanks In our ExpeditionVehicle: * Fluids go in a laundry detergent jug with the 'puck' knocked out. * Solids go on a newspaper, folded and sealed in a produce bag from the grocery.

[@stevehicks9374]

I have never turned my propane off when traveling. No issues have had trailers since 2003

[@RoamingNikki]

Yeah I don’t know lol. When I did the orientation on the day I picked up the camper they said to switch it off so that’s what I have been doing.

[@largemarge1603]

@steve, In our ExpeditionVehicle: * Prior to cooking or running the Wave 3 catalytic heater, we turn the propane bottle 'ON'. * Near the conclusion of cooking or running the heater, we turn the propane bottle to 'OFF' and allow the in-line gas to burn in the appliance. . We had have have had zero issues with this procedure. Early on -- a half-century ago -- we caravaned with experienced travellers. None of them have have had had have issues, too.

[@randiruge1265]

Enjoyed your comments. For some reason I don't see many Adventurer Campers out in the wild. I'm on my 2nd one now which is an 2021 89RBS and I love it. Same color scheme as yours on a white Ford pickup. Before the 2 truck campers we had travel trailers. Love that my truck camper can go just about anywhere.

[@RoamingNikki]

There are loads of them in BC lol They used be manufactured here (now in Washington). Someone asked me the other day what all theses adventurers were. She thought it was a rental company 😁

[@sad754yt]

Adventurer is good truck camper. Now their Scout models are getting all the attention

[@largemarge1603]

@randi, I read your '2nd' as 'tuned'. "I am on my tuned one..."

[@felixachinn9000]

VERY nice comparison. I kept finding myself being swayed back and forth between the B-Class and the Camper. I am saving this video to watch again after digesting some more info. Thank you so much!

[@RoamingNikki]

😁 Thank you for the kind words. If you have any questions on anything I haven’t covered then please let me know. I’ll help where I can 😁

[@largemarge1603]

@felix, Excellent point. Irregardless of vehicle, you evolve and your vehicle needs change. Our suggestion: * Avoid believing 'this rig is my forever rig'. * Acquire a likely candidate, toss in some car-camping gear, go have fun. * Acquiring or building a rig first -- then camping second -- forces the adventure to fit the rig.

[@richardmorrison2686]

On the camper sliding windows , you can install small wings above the sliding windows , to shed rain water, thereby only a small amount of rain will become a potential problem if the sliding window is open , of course during modest rain events only .

[@RoamingNikki]

Ooh that’s a good idea. I’ll look into that. Thanks

[@largemarge1603]

Our ExpeditionVehicle windows have zero issue with rain ingress. Zero deflectors (or 'wings'). . Other than traveling, our windows are open 24/7/360°. We like ventilation.

[@abhu1420]

Nice camper nice video.

[@RoamingNikki]

Thank You. I enjoyed making it 😊

[@jameswbarry9576]

When I was a little boy my grandfather built a truck camper well he had alot of help my dad and his 8 brother's ya a big family he had a Chevy pick up truck it was nice not fantasy sleep, cook, bathroom and some storage take care happy camping

[@RoamingNikki]

You don’t need lots of fancy things to have great memories. Did you get to go out in the camper much? I like that our camper is pretty basic although the luxury of AC would be really nice right now lol

[@jameswbarry9576]

@RoamingNikki ya we went camping to the national parks ,we would be going for a month it was fun oh ya having the camp fire going on hiking take care happy camping

[@tonyd6884]

Class B vans are nice in that they are regular size vehicles basically. You can park urchin easier. The truck camper is nice also especially because it’s separate from the vehicle and with 4x4 you can get to more remote places which is the #1 selling point for me. I want to go where no one is.

[@RoamingNikki]

There are things I miss about being in the B-class (mainly street camping) but I do prefer the camper for the same reasons you mentioned 😁

[@TimBiagi]

​@@RoamingNikkican't you street camp with the truck and camper? Or do you get in trouble ?

[@RoamingNikki]

I don’t think we would get into trouble it’s just more conspicuous. With a class B you just get into the house part of your rig through the van cab. With a camper we have to leave the truck walk around to the back of the camper & put the steps down (which have to stay down all night).

[@largemarge1603]

@tony, We caravan with our long-time chums to Baja. We built our ExpeditionVehicle on a 1996 Ford CF8000 commercial truck. Cummins 8.3 mechanical, Allison 3060. Our ground-clearance is sixteen inches (16")... around a half-meter. Our tires are commercial-truck high-profile 24.5 logger-lugs. Two-wheel drive with an air-locker. We trundle through blizzards and across swamps. Streams and small rivers are rarely an obstacle. . We did South America, twenty-four months, twenty-four thousand miles. We are around Baja part of the year. . We see converted Euro-mil 4x4 and 6x6 rigs, but they rarely leave pavement or a gravel road. If they stick the thing, they call the local military to drag them back to the road.

[@Askthe-Uw]

Awesome video, awesome and very helpful as well for someone like me who's trying to decide which way to go

[@RoamingNikki]

And that’s the just 2 of the options….lol Thanks for watching

[@largemarge1603]

@Tj, On skoolie and VanDwelling and other home-built forums, we suggest: * avoid believing 'this rig is my forever rig'. You evolve and grow, your vehicle needs change. . We suggest: * Acquire a likely candidate * Toss in some car-camping gear * Go have fun. You might think you want a BillionBuxBus conversion with marble countertops, but need a sailboat. You might think you want o 38' toy-hauler, but need a simple box-truck to slowly convert.

[@S.JerseyJim]

I would love to have a pass through window from trailer to cab, just-in-case. Great video!

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks for watching 😁 Some campers do have the pass windows but they do seem to be very small. Not sure if they would work to get into the truck. They do help for using you back up mirror in the truck, but only if the camper door has a low window which some of them don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@largemarge1603]

@@RoamingNikki A low window is vulnerable. On our ExpeditionVehicle, we mounted our windows at our eye-level standing inside, about eight feet above pavement. . This reduces peepers, and presents a small target for branches... and jealous by-standers. . With our steel rear-wall and steel porch, we avoid branches if we can... but the inevitable sometimes happens.

[@CarnivoreFrank66]

I have a older truck camper and it’s paid for. But I’ve always wanted a class B

[@RoamingNikki]

What makes you want a B-Class? I like the stealthyness of it. I like boondocking and I can street camp easier in a B. But I like the larger tanks I have in the Adventurer, and the high clearance of a truck camper.

[@plants4thewin]

Im a van person...just cant get into truck campers. Im not a fan of having to deal with propane...my van is lifted. Great Vid.

[@RoamingNikki]

The Van we had had a completely different feel to the Camper. I felt more comfortable street camping in the van but I felt more comfortable going off road in the camper. Great idea to lift your van though. I watch a great KZbinr called Chrome of Vancity Vanlife. He has a lifted Van and travels around BC (mainly Vancouver Island). He can get out onto the backroads because he lifted his van. Do you do much backroad driving?

[@elizabeths4272]

Thank you for the useful information!

[@RoamingNikki]

Thank you for watching my video 😁

[@craigs.6642]

Thanks for the video. When comparing fuel use, it would have been nice to know the fuel mileage of each (eg, 15 mpg).

[@RoamingNikki]

Great Suggestion thanks. I think we were getting 18-20mpg on the Winnebago and much less on the truck camper. The $50cad per hour on todays prices was what really stuck with us when looking at the calculations.

[@largemarge1603]

We are full-time live-aboard since 2003. We boondock exclusively. We rarely travel more than a hundred miles a month. Fuel is a very minor part of our budget.

[@mrmorrison299]

Great video looking at buying the 86rb!

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks I had fun making it. Are you in Canada? We bought ours from Fraserway RV and they were great. I highly recommend them.

[@mrmorrison299]

@@RoamingNikki long way from Canada! San Antonio tx! 🤣

[@RoamingNikki]

Lol Yes a very long way. Let me know if you have questions on the truck camper. I tried to cover off what I could on the comparison but I know there’s much more I could have gone over in general. Maybe that will be in a future video. Is the plan to live in it or use it for trips out?

[@SpykersB]

Fraserway rv has been awesome to me too🍻

[@sad754yt]

Good video. Im a full timer in a truck camper and have thought about a class b. My truck was 55k and my camper was 30k. A good class B would be around 125k at minimum. I like having 4wd and a 30 gal fresh tank. I was interested in one van and it had an 8 gallon tank ! I think Im staying put. Your adventurer is a very nice camper and pairs well with your f350. Subbed and liked. Safe travels.

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks for watching and subscribing. I also like that my camper has such a big water tank. It makes all the difference when you are boondocking. Are you based Canada?

[@sad754yt]

@RoamingNikki I'm in eastern NC. I have 3acres as a home base here. A home in western NC but travel and work remotely all over NC.

[@RoamingNikki]

I have only passed through NC. Would love to get there and do a tour. You will have to give me some pointers as to where to camp 😁

[@largemarge1603]

@sad, In our ExpeditionVehicle, we carry water in five-gallon stainless-steel retired Pepsi kegs. Modular, our standard load is seven, a total of thirty-five gallons. With our 29,000# GVWR, we can easily add a dozen more kegs. . Engineered to be pressurized, the kegs get a quick puff from the 12vdc bicycle tire pump, and water flows from the kitchen-sink sprayer (re-purposed from a stand-still house). . We like the kegs because: * modular, one can go to the picnic table or campfire * if one gets stanky, the others remain in-service, and can be used to clean the problem child * a couple-three kegs can go to town for re-fill while the others stay in camp * a keg can be loaned to a caravan chum. . In our toy-hauler I fabricated on a similar commercial chassis, we have room for a couple-three dozen more kegs. In theory, our duration without re-supply is about four months. . Summers up rough logger tracks to remote mountain lakes. Winters on isolated Baja beaches.

[@captainkangaroo4301]

Fuel consumption is measured in miles per gallon not how much of a tank you get for $50. Other than that nice video

[@davewalters6348]

Nice setup

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks. It’s simple but we like it 😁

[@nepatswin]

Thanks

[@RoamingNikki]

Thanks for watching Jeffrey 😊

[@SpykersB]

I keep watching vids on class B’s, just curious, and always end up saying “no thanks, doesn’t out beat my truck camper”. N.L. 10-2 SE dry bath. 🍻

[@RoamingNikki]

I think B-class RVs are good for town hopping and any stealth camping you want to do, but don’t work as well for off the beaten path back roads kind of camping I think.

[@samr.6182]

My wife and I don’t live in our truck camper. We chose the truck camper to allow us to travel the Country as we wanted and with minimal restrictions compared to other means of travel that is equipped with the essential creature comforts. When we began talking about traveling we set up a tour of a travel trailer manufacturer whose products we were interested in, and they kindly scheduled one for us. Afterwards we continued on our road trip up to Washington, Oregon, (before the WOKE people burned the major cities) and down Coast Highway to San Diego before heading home in South Central Texas. That was a great trip but we stayed in hotels every night for almost 4 weeks and it helped us decide on checking into truck campers. We did. We bought one and we have now traveled the Country during our vacation times, and it’s been great. We can stop at any store, gas station, restaurant, national or State park and we fit in the parking space. We took some very challenging forest roads through the North Rim of The Grand Canyon and had a blast camping so remotely, and comfortably for a few nights. If I would do anything different it would be to buy a heavier duty truck so we could carry an even bigger truck camper….although I wouldn’t like having problems with the slideouts….I would appreciate a little more room. Oh and my wife can drive it just about anywhere also, but I don’t believe she would’ve wanted to drive the day we went up Sunset Blvd through Hollywood at 4:30 pm. The roads were a little narrow. Thanks for your video on truck campers and happy travels to you.

[@RoamingNikki]

Thank you for that comment. It’s great to hear from people and their camper adventures. We are in the process of trying to figure out our winter plans as this year we think we will head south into America. Not sure exactly where yet but we do like to follow the warm weather 😁

[@largemarge1603]

@samr, Full-time live-aboard KZbinrs 'Cummins Camper' and 'Everlanders' went with the 550 and 5500 series for durability. They made their moves after those little one-ton pick-up trucks proved disappointing. . Our ExpeditionVehicle GVWR -- 29,000#. Our weight across the scale -- 14,000#. Our cargo capacity -- about seven ton.

[@samr.6182]

@@largemarge1603 I know that Cummings makes great engines. I know that 50 years ago Dodge made very reliable and capable trucks. Not so since the mid 1970s. It sounds like you have all that you need to travel wherever you want to go. Best wishes and safe travels to you.

[@scottbails6663]

That is a nice camper and I looked at that model a few years ago when I had a bigger truck in mind but my new truck wont carry that weight. How is it to drive as far as feeling scary and top heavy and in strong winds?

[@RoamingNikki]

We have had strong winds the past few days in Saskatchewan. Some gusts were 60km/hr and we could feel those lol We just take it steady though. We don’t have suspension air bags which I was told helps as we do feel bumps as we go down the road. The first week driving with the camper on the truck felt very top heavy and bumpy, but I have got used to the feel of it now and drive fine 😁 Would you be getting a smaller camper for your present truck?

[@scottbails6663]

@@RoamingNikki Yes like I said in another vid of your last week been looking at the Scout but wish it had some other amenities as its a minimalist unit with no bathroom, holding tanks and no A/C but the diesel heat is awesome. I'm in the bush constantly so just don't want a huge heavy rig.

[@RoamingNikki]

We tried travelling in a Jeep once with a little portaloo for a bathroom and a cooler box for our food and camp stove for cooking. It was a bit too rustic for me lol. I don’t have AC in this rig and it has been fine. A cross breeze and a fan has worked so far but ask me again in August lol. I might be installing one then.

[@largemarge1603]

@@RoamingNikki re -- fan We use a Craftsman 20v fan on a shelf pointed down toward the bed. We like its portability, plus the 20v batteries fit our other Craftsman tools, including our chain-saw.