Grandby options

[buzzman]

I'm new to this forum and new to truck campers. I have a lot to learn about truck campers yet. I recently retired and I and my traveling bimbo want to see the USA and Canada without hauling a house around or being locked into staying in hotels. After looking at what is available in light weight truck campers the only real good choices are the FWC and ATC campers. We visited Sean Dempsey in Eagle WI recently and we came away very impressed with the FWC Grandby model. I don't think the web site does these campers justice. We were much better able to see the quality of construction and well thought out features by looking at one in real life. So, I'm getting ready to order a Grandby to use on my restored/refurbished/upgraded 1977 Chevy heavy half long bed pickup. Sean did a very fine job of explaining the various options and the overall philosophy of camping with a FWC, but I'm looking for some comments and opinions on the various options based on your experience using these campers.

Here's the list of options I have tentatively planned to get: Mechanical camper jacks, 3.0 cu. ft. frig, furnace, fantastic fan, screen door, side mount 8' awning and awning light, roof rack combo (not the Yakima), rear wall steps, fluorescent ceiling lights, rear flood lights (I may be pulling a small trailer sometimes), and porta potti. I did not plan to get the outside shower/water heater pkg in order to keep things simple. Sean showed me his Grandby that did not have the passenger side rear window, but instead had a higher storage cabinet in that corner. I liked that set up. Seems to me that more storage is good. I will not need the aux battery system because my truck already has an aux battery located in the engine compartment.

So what do you think of these options? Is the water heater package useful/necessary? I would appreciate any comments or advice.

Thanks,
Buzz

 

[winter200]

I would say you necessarly need a hot water heater if you don't have a shower but it is nice for cooking and cleaning. My opinion is that you have a good list but I would consider doing something with an AC and a portable generator.

 

[Kilroy]

I'd seriously consider the extended bed. I know Sean says it is harder to raise, but I think the benifits outweigh the exta effort to raise. If you want a larger bed, you can put in a short slide out.

 

[Sam]

Without question the extended bed is the way to go. I also love a hot shower after a long day.

I have the roof rack and find it to be pretty useless, for me the Yakima would be much better, but remember it gets very hard to lift the roof with stuff on top of it.

 

[simimike]

Welcome to the forum Buzz,

I'll three-peat: Get the extended bed. It is really nice not having to break down the bed each day. We leave the sheets and a blanket on the bed and just remove the pillows to lower the roof. Also the bed doesn't intrude into the living space, giving you more room for dinning and dancing. And I believe that the extended bed has thicker foam, being close to retirement myself I appreciate this feature.
Your other option choices are pretty good. I have most of the options, but the one I wish I had gotten but didn't was the front siding window. Just for ventilation when it rains. I suggest that you order everything you want. After the bill is paid it's nice to have the extras that you want. Especially when you are on the road.

A '77 restored Chevy! Sweet. I love pick-up trucks, Just ask my long suffering wife. Can you post some pics?

Cheers,

Mike

 

[kcowyo]

Welcome to the forum buzz.

I wouldn't say the water heater is a necessity. I usually heat water for washing dishes on the stove and for a shower you can see what I use and other members use by clicking here.

I like the sliding window suggestion if your truck has a sliding rear window too. It sounds as if your truck is a regular cab, so I'm assuming you won't have a lot of gear stashed in the cab. But that's how I use my two windows, I pull my gear through the windows into the camper. One one occaision, I may have locked my keys in the cab and I may have had to crawl through the windows to get my keys. That's the rumor anyway.....

I think the options you have chosen are good ones. In hindsight I wish I had a screen door and an awning. More storage room is always welcomed but this style of camping really helps you narrow down what equipment is a must, and what you can live without. That will come after a few trips and is all personal choice.

Lots of good information on this forum. You might check this link to see what others here have liked and regretted not ordering.

 

[buzzman]

Thanks everyone for the information and opinions. This forum is great! I'll think again about the extended bed. May have to talk to Sean again. My truck used to have a sliding rear window but it always made wind noise, couldn't get the slider parts it to seal very good, probably because it was old. But I never really seemed to use it very much so I replaced it with a solid window during the rebuild. Will the extended bed overhang beyond my standard cab truck very much?

I finally figured out how to resize my photos by using information on this forum, so here are a couple pictures of my '77 Chevy pickup taken last week while we were visiting the U.P. of MI. We wished we had the Grandby on it when we were up there.

I'm probably crazy for spending so much time and money on a 30 year old truck, but it has been in the family since new, and has been very well cared for all its life. It has two 20 gal fuel tanks, two batteries, a factory engine oil cooler, and a little more GVWR than the standard '77 half ton. Factory GVWR is 6200lbs. It didn't come with a catalytic converter because it was over 6000 lbs GVWR. Recently I weighed it at nearby truck stop on certified scales with both tanks full and me and my traveling partner sitting in it (actually 130 lbs of ballast to simulate her weight) and it came out 2820 lbs front, 2100 lbs rear. So that's a total of 4920 lbs and leaves me with about 1300 lbs left if I want to stay within the recommended GVWR. Not really much load lbs. left! That's one of the reasons I wanted a very light weight truck camper. I have upgraded a few things, like a new GM 350 crate motor with an Edelbrock carb and intake, TH700-R4 built for towing with add on trans fluid cooler and fan and trans temp gage. I also upgraded the air conditioning to 134A refrigerant, added after market cruise control and power door locks and a set of Super Springs. It all seems to work really nice and I can fix anything on it myself. Well, I'm getting carried away so I'll stop here.

Thanks to everyone again. Hopefully I have attached the photos correctly and with low enough res.

Buzz

 

[b team]

you got a nice truck there. I had a little truck topper before my 4WC. It sure was a nice improvement to camping in the topper.

All your options sound good. I don't know how much money or time you have but you can add stuff later - awning, fantastic fan, etc or just pay up and get everything now. The 4 jacks are nice. I don't leave them on but they make it possible to take the camper on/off quickly.

Every year i use the camper i get more ideas on improvements.

 

[buzzman]

Thanks b team. I have thought about delaying some of these options. Truck campers in general are not cheap to purchase so reducing the initial cost is important. But even though I'm dealing with Sean in Eagle WI, I may drive out to CA to get my FWC and then do some camping on the way back east. Just another adventure. I have given some serious thought to the extended bed option, but I believe I'll stay with the standard bed. At 145" long the extended bed will extend about 12" over the windshield of my standard cab truck. I just don't care for that. Even with the standard bed, however, my traveling bimbo and still get up in the morning and brew some coffee while I stay in bed.

Buzz

 

[kcowyo]

Even with the standard bed, however, my traveling bimbo and still get up in the morning and brew some coffee while I stay in bed.
Hmmmm.... Maybe the Grandby and models designed for an 8' truck bed, without the extended sleeping bed are different than the smaller units designed for a 6.5' truck bed like the Eagle or Hawk (I don't know). But in the smaller units, when the bed is opened up, it covers the stovetop.

So no coffee until everyone is up. We work around this when I'm up and needing coffee, by having her get up, closing the bed and she hops back up sleeping "sideways" on the bed. Then I can access the stove for coffee.

Lately I've taken to to bringing a single burner that screws onto a small propane bottle. I can take it outside and make coffee while she sleeps inside with the bed still fully opened. But this all may be a moot point if the larger FWC units allow for the bed to be opened, with access to the stovetop.

 

[jimjxsn]

Hi Buzz,
I like your truck and welcome to the forum...

If I were looking at outfitting an older truck, I think I would check out used campers. There seems to be lots of older Grandbys out there available since they don't fit on as many newer trucks. There are a couple listed on the Denver Craigslist right now. Good luck!

 

[buzzman]

Hi jimjxsm,

I would love to find a good used Grandby if I could save some money. I'll check out the Denver Craigslist. Thanks for the suggestion. I live in west TN and there are very few good used truck campers around here of any make and definitely no FWC's. Frankly, there just aren't nearly as many truck campers at all here in the east compared to the Rocky Mountain region of the country, new or used. Some of the used campers that I have looked at were in fairly bad shape, and I haven't seen any used FWC's other than an occasional ebay offer. I saw a Dodge pickup for sale on ebay yesterday located in CO. that had a FWC, Grandby I think, on it. However, if a used FWC isn't much cheaper than a new one I'll just buy new. The new ones have some features that I like that the old ones don't have.

Buzz

 

[jimjxsn]

Hi Buzz,
I think I saw that Dodge on the denver craigslist. He said he would seperate the Grandby and it looked to be in good shape.

I traveled to Idaho to pick up my camper. It's a matter of finding a seller willing to work with you.

http://denver.craigslist.org/car/402941603.html

 

[buzzman]

Jim,

You got me thinking now. I looked on the Denver Craigslist and there were several FWC's for sale. I'm going to widen my search and see what I can find. I now remember, from reading elsewhere, that the early Grandbys will not fit some of the newer pickups. Maybe I can save myself several thousand dollars. I'm handy enough to fix/repair/modify most things so it may be worth a try. I suppose this thread is now getting a little off subject, oh well.

Thanks,
Buzz

 

[jimjxsn]

This Keystone should fit an older long bed truck as well and has had the canvas replaced.

http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/401647176.html