Truck Campers Versus Motorhomes: How Do 2008 Sales Stack Up?

While RV manufacturers are feeling the pain of the draggy economy, overall truck camper manufacturers are feeling it a bit less. Here are some highlights of the November wholesale sales analysis compiled by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA).

Pity the Class A motorhome side of the industry. Sales of the big machines dropped nearly 52% for the first eleven months of 2008, compared to the same time period the prior year. The smaller, more "light on the fuel pump" Class C motorhome industry fared much better, showing a decline of almost 38% for the same time line.

What about truck camper sales? The industry report says that while the truck camper segment has been hit as well, it's doing much better than motorhome-land: Truck camper wholesale movement declined only about 33% during the measured eleven month period.

Tow Trucks and Campers Make for Tense Times

The maxim, "It's not a matter of if you'll have an RV breakdown, it's only a matter of when," holds true for truck camper folks. And if your breakdown leaves you stranded beside the highway, unable to roll under your own power, bringing in the tow truck is a whole new experience.


We recently had a catastrophic water pump failure on a busy interstate highway. The tow insurance folks were certainly helpful, but you don't always get to pick who they send. In this case, they told us, "Rats towing will respond." Could they spell that? "Like the small, furry animal," replied the dispatcher. Rats Towing? That's a real confidence builder! It only got better, as the responding driver who sailed in with a big rollback (flatbed) wrecker was an obvious greenhorn.


As he strolled around our camper--complete with it's three and a half feet of rear overhang, he looked more and more concerned. He finally whipped out his cell phone and got far enough away to be out of earshot. "I've towed some heavy stuff before," he declared, "but it was more compact than this." He was right to be concerned, because a rollback truck doesn't tow the disabled vehicle, rather it carries it piggy-back style. That's great for the vehicle--less stress--but getting it UP on the truck is the hang up. For a truck camper, the issues are serious.


The rollback truck turns the bed of the truck into a steep, inclined ramp. In our case, a winch cable was lashed around the truck frame, and then the whole rig is winched up onto the ramp. After that, the ramp itself is lifted by hydraulics back onto the tow truck frame. But here's the snag: With a truck camper longer than the truck bed, when the truck is winched up the ramp, geometry comes into play. With the pickup rear axle acting as a pivot point, the rear end of the truck camper can get dangerously close to the ground. An inexperienced tow operator can literally rip the hydraulic jacks off your rig if he fails to do his job correctly.


What's to be done? It can be a lengthy but necessary process. The tow operator will need to carefully run the rear pickup wheels UP above pavement level as he winches your rig onto the wrecker ramp. In our case, on a relatively level stretch of highway several inches of wood blocking was required. At the other end where the camper was dropped off, there was a bit of a slope running down toward the rear of the tow truck--even more blocking was required. We don't believe in telling somebody how to do their job, but we were ready, willing, and had to shout out a "STOP!" call as our hydraulic jacks started to dig into the ground during the unloading process. The fuzzy (sorry, phone camera image) photo here shows the off-loading process. Several layers of planks were required to complete this tricky part.


Bottom line: When your truck camper needs a tow, don't walk away and let the tow company do the job without close supervision. Don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions. If they look like they're going to try and load your rig without adequate blocking, don't allow it. It's your rig--be sure to keep it in one piece.

Flexibility and the Art of Truck Camping

What began as three-day outing to big city for a doctor's visit got a little out of hand. At discharge, the good doctor decided he wanted us to hang around another few days, close to civilization, and revisit him the next week. To say we were unprepared for such a long call was a huge understatement.

We managed to pick up a few TV dinners, extra clothes, and medication at a handy Walmart, but we were NOT ready to handle our power requirements for the visit, camped out as we were in the hospital parking lot. In the middle of a retrofit, we are solar-panel-less, wind-turbine-less, and equipped with our propane generator, and too little a house battery compliment.

Well, we're truck camper people. We can adjust!

We soon learned that our pitiful battery converter/charger system makes a way better converter than it does a charger. And of course, you learn this when the generator has been off, you've accidentally left outside lights on, and now there's not enough power to crank the generator over. Happily, we have heavy battery charge cables between the truck and camper, and so in short order we were able to use the running truck engine to provide enough power to crank over the camper generator.

But how to overcome to half-amp charge current that's about useless for anything but maintaining a full battery? In the truck's back seat, aha! A battery charger. With the camper generator running, we ran a short extension cord from the camper outside power outlet to the battery charger, which due to short leads had to be perched on a folding chair, thence to the house battery. Of course, that rare but loving winter rain in the desert country then intervened, and flexibility was called for to protect the charger from water damage. A defunct air mattress strung out over the top of the chair provided a "roof" over the precious charger.

Flexibility. Yeah, it's pretty helpful. Now if the TV dinner folks could make their product taste like something other than cardboard!

photo: benimoto on flickr. com

What Do Closures Mean for Truck Camping RVers?

With the sad demise of more and more RV manufacturers--truck camper builders included--plenty of RVers are ending up with "orphaned" RVs. What does this mean to all of us?

First, if you're considering purchase of a new truck camper, look hard. There may well be plenty of new-but-orphaned truck campers out there on dealer lots. They may actually seem like a bargain price. But as one (still operating) truck camper builder pointed out recently on an RV forum, the resale value of orphaned truck campers is decidedly far lower than products made by a 'living' RV manufacturer.

If you've been orphaned, as you probably already know, your warrant is basically valueless. If something goes wrong with a rig still under warranty on paper, with no manufacturer to back up the paper, the cost of repairs are truly "on you."

Orphans also mean that the availability of replacement components is vague. For parts actually built by the TC manufacturer, you're likely "out of luck" if something breaks. Happily, most of what goes wrong is in "other" components: Appliances, home electronics, plumbing hardware. Appliances and electronics are likely covered by separate warranty with the maker--not only should your warranty there still be good, but assuming the maker is still viable, you're good. Plumbing fittings are generally pretty generic: Most RV faucets, as an example, "fit up" to stix and brix residential faucets.

But when it comes to making repairs, you're largely on your own. Are you handy with tools, but simply lack knowledge of the "how to" end of the matter. There are plenty of good books on the subject available at our parent company, rvbookstore.com. Another valuable resource of help are the many RV forums, including the rvtravel forum. Most RV repair issues can be handled through a general RV forum, but there are forums dedicated to the specific issues and problems faced by truck camper owners.

There's plenty of chatter among truck camper owners as to what all of this will mean in the long term. One obvious point is clear: Those truck camper manufacturers who survive the current bloodbath will have to leaner and meaner. Will it mean 'higher prices because of less competition,' or 'a recognition that prices for campers have gotten too high, and a return to the earlier days when truck campers were moderately priced'? Time will tell.

Whatever the outcome, as truck camper owners we know just how versatile and useful a truck camper can be. They'll go places where motorhomes and trailers fear to tread. And they'll come back. Whether from the wilderness or the financial hard times, they will come back. They always do.

photo courtesy timetrax23 on flickr.com