Thinking of taking up striping

[underpowered]

So I am officially in the process of shopping for a truck camper who's excited!

A new ATC bobcat shell is definitely not out of the question but the combination of price and wait time is a very bitter pill to swallow. So I am currently watching my local classifieds (ksl) and the alert thread here to see if I can find a used camper that will fit the bill. A big issue for me is weight (really for everyone these days), and that is one of the big things drawing me to FWC/ATC. If you buy a shell model they are significantly lighter than even the smallest campers from other brands. They are also a far superior product to be sure, but for my use case, weight is one of the major draws.

So now to the question. After scrolling past the fifth major brand camper for a compact truck (
palomino, skamper, starcraft) that weighs just over #1k that came up for sale locally inside a week (for a tiny fraction of the price of a fwc) I asked myself, self, why are they all 30% heavier? Certainly the aluminum construction of the more durable campers helps a lot, but also the big brand campers just have a lot more stuff packed into them. If I pulled the cabinets and stove and fridge and switched to a lithium battery would I end up at the same 7-800# I am looking at with a fwc/atc? has anyone done such a project? Is it possible? Are the cabinets structural? I understand that a stripped down old palomino and a FWC are not really even comparable products, but at 10%-20% of the cost, and no wait time, it could be an intriguing option for me.

 

[Mark G]

Look into the construction of other campers and I think you'll see the difference.FWC and ATC aluminum framing is great.
Yes, you can easily gut an FWC and set it up however you want.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Welcome to the cult.
Keep your eyes often.There are often for sale
FWC/ATC campers on the site.
You need to be quick though.
Frank

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Have you checked out ATC shell models yet?
Marty and crew are great to work with.
Great price and weight where you are wanting.
I have a ATC Bobcat full camper love it.
2009 and used it over 50K miles.
Check out my blog.
Frank

 

[JaSAn]

A new ATC bobcat shell is definitely not out of the question but the combination of price and wait time is a very bitter pill to swallow. So I am currently watching my local classifieds (ksl) and the alert thread here to see if I can find a used camper that will fit the bill . . .

So now to the question.
. . .If I pulled the cabinets and stove and fridge and switched to a lithium battery would I end up at the same 7-800# I am looking at with a fwc/atc?
. . .Are the cabinets structural?
I understand that a stripped down old palomino and a FWC are not really even comparable products, but at 10%-20% of the cost, and no wait time, it could be an intriguing option for me.

From your title I thought you were taking up a second job

Are you comparing the price of a new ATC with a used 'other'?

I bought my used Grandby for $500. Looks old but is weather tight and structurally sound.
There is a 'wait time': I looked for 7 months before I found mine. And you need to move fast when you find one; there were 4 buyers lined up to purchase mine if I didn't take it the day the ad published. The ad was local and didn't identify it as a FWC, picture told me what it was.

To answer your questions:

Wood construction is a little heavier than aluminum, but not by a lot. By stripping everything you can probably get the camper down < 700 lbs. Do you really want to camp in an empty camper?

Cabinetry is not structural (at least not in any camper I have looked at). Cabinetry is added after the camper structure is built.

I have friends that have stick built campers that are perfectly happy with them, they meet their needs.

jim

 

[WillTheThri11]

As someone who spent over a year looking, I've gone through the same process as you. I looked at a few wood construciton popups and was really not impressed in person. If you let this idea marinate long enough you will very likely arrive at the same conclusion as I did. I need an aluminum frame with the low profile overcab that only FWC and ATC offer. The Palomino was the second possiblity as they started making them in Aluminum frames at some point, but they are so bulky and heavy and I wanted to stay as streamlined and lightweight as possible in my Tacoma. I still ended up with an 8' camper in a 6' bed so my departure angle might not be great and I may be a little heavy, but so far it's been pretty good to me.

I will caution you to look at any previous damage and assume there is a structural issue under it. Mine had a repair in the back corner where someone had backed it in to something and I foolishly assessed that they had done a good job and so now I'm dealing with that for what should've been a much cheaper camper now (IMO). But I do think that fixing the aluminum frame, while not easy unless you do AC TIG welding, is more reliable than working with a wood frame. It's built to last which is why it retains it's value. The wooden ones are built to be warn out and that's why the used ones are cheap because they're warn out (in my experience). It's easy to hide issues. The wood one may not leak today but that doesn't mean it hasn't leaked in the past and there isn't rotted wood or mold in the walls for example.

 

[DanoT]

Title: "I'm Thinking of Taking Up Striping".

Me: Reads title and thinks, lady you got the wrong forum but carry on.

 

[bj40]

I have a recently delivered ATC Ocelot shell. Nothing added. Came in at 681 pounds. I have since, added side dinette, bed extension, furnace, kitchen, fridge, solar panels. Basically, the whole nine yards. It works great. It sits on a Ford F150 crew cab. I did my best to keep the construction light, but adequate. Fully loaded for two with food for two weeks it rides great on the highway and is just under my GVWR. I was happy with all aspects of ATC.