Ocelot 72" vs 78"

[steve-o]

Hi. New to the forum. I have a 2001 Tundra with the Access Cab and have decided on the ATC Ocelot. What I can't seem to decide on is the 72" vs 78" wide models. Any thoughts?....One thing I can think of is I am just shy of 6' so sleeping east/west in the cabover could be an issue. How about wind resistance, visibility of the side mirrors, etc. Thanks, steve. PS: Great sight and looking forward to reading all your posts. steve

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Hi. New to the forum. I have a 2001 Tundra with the Access Cab and have decided on the ATC Ocelot. What I can't seem to decide on is the 72" vs 78" wide models. Any thoughts?....One thing I can think of is I am just shy of 6' so sleeping east/west in the cabover could be an issue. How about wind resistance, visibility of the side mirrors, etc. Thanks, steve. PS: Great sight and looking forward to reading all your posts. steve

Steve I have an 02 Tundra AC with a Bobcat 72" wide works well for us east/west sleeping.Other members have the wider camper Ocelot and seem to have no problems.
I am sure you will get more answers.
I think generubin has an Ocelot on a Dodge.
Frank

 

[takesiteasy]

Welcome to the forum. You will find many opinions to choose from here.

We have a 2nd gen. Tacoma, roughly the size of your Tundra, with an ATC Bobcat customized to be narrower so it matches the width of the truck- about 66 inches wide if I remember right. We sleep north-south and it works great for us. I like the narrower profile- less wind resistance and better visibility with stock mirrors. The camper is built to fit the truck perfectly both width and length which I wanted and ATC was willing to build. You can check our rig out in our blog linked in the signature. ATC is a great company. Good luck with your decisions.

 

[mynxd]

Steve, I have the 78" wide version of the Ocelot on a 2010 Silverado Extended Cab. I wanted the widest possible camper without requiring extended mirrors. The truck bed flare out over the rear wheels on the truck is 80". The jack brackets are visible in the outside mirrors, but do not block the view. (I do not travel with the jacks mounted). The additional 6" width makes a big difference in the interior space available. I had a long (29") bed extension put into my shell model, so the bed is 76" square (sleep in any direction). Talk to Marty at ATC if driving visibility is concern for you.

Grant

 

[Taku]

Steve: We have the 72" Ocelot on a 05 Tundra. I am 5'10" and can sleep fine east-west when we don't want to pull the bed out. We wanted the narrower version so that the camper was not wider than the bed for getting through brushy country, wind resistance, lighter weight and generally being of the slightly smaller is better. Extra room is always nice, but we like having the mirrors clear and have plenty of room for two people and two yellow labs. Here is link showing the fit, more or less with jack brackets off (which improved gas mileage to about 1.5 mpg)
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/image/12372-sand-island-camp/

Good luck, take the time to talk to Marty and Jeff for ideas if you are into doing some of the interior work yourself.

 

[Taku]

Ooops, mileage is 15.5!

 

[generubin]

Hello Steve,
I have the 78" Ocelot. I am 5'7 and with the foot space and pillow space needed, I think 72 might be too narrow to sleep east/west. Even with the 78"s I use only the standard, Dodge 2500, non towing mirrors. The camper only extends 2 inches or so beyond the fenders and clearly inside the mirrors. I do a lot of rough road travel and plenty of brushy areas as well (enough brush to have some serious desert pinstriping on my truck), the width of the camper has never been an issue. Without camper my Dodge (diesel, manual trans) gets 20 to 22 mpg, with camper I get 17 to 18 at around 65 mph.

I have the shell version. I like the spaciousness and utility of the shell model. The shell also allows for big windows on both sides you even if you are held up inside in poor weather, you get the nice views. If it is snowing or raining we can bring in a couple of small camping chairs, our stove etc. I have a Wave heater. The extended bed I have but we rarely use it. Anne and I have stopped extending it unless we have our 3 year old grandchild with us. As the Wave uses no electricity and my lighting is all LED bulbs, I get away with a 22 amp battery mounted to the side of my truck bed. The battery will last days of lighting and cost only $40 or so. Options I am glad I have are 12 volt outlet, outdoor lighting on both sides and the large driver side window. I built a simple shelf towards the front to hold water cans, tools, etc. It serves as a counter for stove and eating when the snow is falling outside.

I got my ATC through Jay Aronow.

 

[steve-o]

Wow. Thanks for all the great responses. I finally decided on the 72" unit. Reasons: Oh, I don't know. It just looks so good on a 1st gen tundra. And also in keeping with the main theme of smaller, lighter, less wind resistance, Etc..
I've been working with Jay Aronow in developing an options list for a shell. I think we're close to nailing it down and hope to put an order in soon. I'm thinking no sink,stove, or frig ( since I have my camp stove, and we do all our cooking outside anyway), wave 3 heater, use my coleman extreme cooler for now and maybe upgrade to an Engel later, fantastic fan, jacks, led upgrade, battery pack, wire for solar, slide out bed, and propane locker. Looking forward to meeting some of you folks on the road sometime and also to continue conversing on the website. Steve

 

[Taku]

That is close to how we had ATC line out our Ocelot. I am installing cabinets/drawers and a drop in stove. Will to other small mods as time allows. Will get some pics posted when I get further along, but the temps are going south of zero here again and with no decent shop to work in, I am going skiing instead!