Cougar or Puma Shell?

[Travel18]

Greetings all, I come from the FWC hall across the aisle. I have had multiple setups in the past with my most recent being a 2016 Grandby that I bought used and I really liked it but it was a full camper and I don't need that. I recently sold that and I did talk to Marty at ATC a little bit. I feel the ATC guys will actually do what a customer wants and while I like the people that I have dealt with at FWC I know their hands are tied a little bit.

So, I'm looking at a Cougar or Puma shell for my 2016 Ram reg cab/long bed. It's only two people and two dachshunds so I don't need a ton of room, especially with the shell. I like the idea of my awning being inside my mirror width with the Puma and a little less wind resistance. I'm from the Northeast but routinely travel out west to camp which makes for a lot of highway miles.

Any opinions on this?

 

[Travel18]

I need to figure out to add bigger and better pictures.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

First opinion, definitely go with an ATC, Marty and the team are great, and they stand behind their campers and work.

Second opinion, go with a Cougar for the interior room. Since you’re getting a shell, consider adding a furnace and cook top to the inside, plus solar and Yakima tracks, and maybe a mount for extra fuel or water.

i went from a Bobcat to a Cougar shell. The one thing I really regret/miss is not ordering a driver side countertop for setting things on when inside.

Look in the member Support forum for photo posting tips. If you need help, reach out to us on the site team.

 

[penner]

I second what W.S. said about Marty and the Guys at ATC. They are awesome to work with. We have had our 72" wide Ocelot for 6 yrs now and have had some really good trips with it. All of our trips are long distance and that's the reason we went with the 72" model. We had them install the furnace, fuel can holder, side shelf beside the furnace, awning and a few smaller things. If I was running a long box like you I would probably go for the 78" Puma. But that's just my 2cents worth. p.s. If I was to do it over I would probably look into some of the other heating options out there.

 

[Vic Harder]

ATC all the way. We have a 72" wide Puma/Grandby. The extra width is missed sometimes, but not on narrow trails. Just two of us with no dogs, and it is not too big. In fact, bigger would be nice.... (he says after 46 days in the camper with his wife... not dead yet!!!).

We went with a "non-galley" setup and like the extra room. At the same time, if you need to "stealth" camp or have a grandkid tag along, a lower bed is nice, but that takes up room.

In my build I worked at not having a "pull out" bed, and we like that our bed doesn't impact our "kitchen" space. If you can live with a 4' wide (twin?) bed, even better.

 

[BlueSky]

Since you have a long bed truck, go with the Cougar for a better fit/look and better back door ingress/egress. I have the Cougar and did my own interior build, and very glad I have that extra space in there even when I take solo trips. Never had a problem on trails with the Cougar width, occasionally a pine tree branch will brush the side, no big deal. As far as wind resistance, it will be negligible. I have found that unless you travel on flat terrain at 65 mph max, any aerodynamic improvement is negated by elevation gain/loss/gain/loss/gain/loss cycle in the mountains.

 

[Ronin]

I have the Panther and really like the extra 6" width. It's only 3" per side and it feels less top heavy on curvy roads ( there's probably some engineer out there who would dispute this). I have a bench seat across the front and can really stretch out on it. One thing to consider is if you are going to add a furnace, sink, stove, etc have ATC stub out the plumbing because a lot of it goes through the framework. I also had them run the wiring future solar installation.
Either way you go Marty and crew make a great product and are great to work with.

 

[Taku]

we bought a 84" Cougar shell that we built out. Two people and a 70# lab dog. for months long trips we like the 8' bed and full size of 84" gives us lot's of room. We have taken it on 4x4 roads in the states and Baja, but we do drive slowly and carefully but do not notice much that causes us issues for access. Maybe once in a while I might wish we had the narrower version but having the extra room is nice. Can stretch out both ways on the bench and when the wind is REALLY bad (like one night on the beach in Baja) we can drop the top and sleep one person on the bench and one on the floor (dropped the top because of the noise, not worried about it collapsing). This is the second camper from ATC we have built out and yes, Marty and crew are willing to do as much or as little as you want done to the shell. the only add on i had done was the propane cabinet so they are very flexible. oh, I also did the bed slide out myself and it works great almost a king size bed it seems so lot's and lot's of room for two and don't need to take the extra pads when I solo hunt out of it. Good luck, the build is fun to do!

 

[ArcherJim]

Piling on here, with nothing but praise for Marty and the ATC gang. I'm building out a 78" wide Puma shell on an F-150 HDPP SuperCab. It is so refreshing to have everything level, plumb and square to build from. Yes, they are more than flexible with getting you off to a good start with as much/little done up front as you want. Unfortunately, any YouTube videos of me with my "measure 10x, think about cutting/drilling, measure twice more for... well, good measure..." excitement would put a box of rocks to sleep. But I'm enjoying the adventure and learning a lot from helpful folks on this forum.

The shakedown trips I've taken so far have helped reinforce my choice of the 78" wide Puma body (vs 72" Puma or 84" Cougar). Wide enough for E-W sleeping either on the cabover bed or front dinette, and narrow enough for standard truck mirror visibility and trail clearance.

Hope that helps,
Jim