lance 861 camper or??

[kbond]

Well I am in new waters for me. I am looking for my first cab-over. I've looked at tons of stuff online and only seen Lance in person. So far I am leaning towards the new lance 861 with the slide out. Looking for others opinions on Short bed campers. One thing I don't care for on these are the wet baths (toliet gets wet too). I know there is only minimal avalible for short box trucks so I can't be too picky. Also for reference I am hauling with my 06 mega 3500 SRW soon to get a set of air bags. Thanks for the insights.



cheers,

Ken

 

[Regcabguy]

Well I am in new waters for me. I am looking for my first cab-over. I've looked at tons of stuff online and only seen Lance in person. So far I am leaning towards the new lance 861 with the slide out. Looking for others opinions on Short bed campers. One thing I don't care for on these are the wet baths (toilet gets wet too). I know there is only minimal available for short box trucks so I can't be too picky. Also for reference I am hauling with my 06 mega 3500 SRW soon to get a set of air bags. Thanks for the insights.



cheers,

Ken

Just wanted to inform you of my experience with my '07, w/2000# Northstar popup. Upon mounting the camper,my suspension was maxed out. Next to zero travel,and ponderous emergency handling. My truck is a reg. cab. longbed w/optimal load handling ability due to the cab/bed configuration. D/C probably doesn't recommend a slide-in in your situation. You might have a warning against slide-ins in your manual. One option might be a popup with much lighter weight and lower center of gravity. If I had a dually,a hard-sided full size camper would be feasible.

 

[kbond]

Just wanted to inform you of my experience with my '07, w/2000# Northstar popup. Upon mounting the camper,my suspension was maxed out. Next to zero travel,and ponderous emergency handling. My truck is a reg. cab. longbed w/optimal load handling ability due to the cab/bed configuration. D/C probably doesn't recommend a slide-in in your situation. You might have a warning against slide-ins in your manual. One option might be a popup with much lighter weight and lower center of gravity. If I had a dually,a hard-sided full size camper would be feasible.

Do you have airbags or the overload? Also is your truck a 2500 or 3500? thanks for the insight.

 

[McCRam]

I just checked out Host campers at an RV show recently. They were pricey, but very nice and looked like they were well put together. Had some nice short bed models too.

 

[Ramtough]

One of the problems with turbo diesels is their relatively low payload ratings, even when compared to 1/2 ton trucks. Adding air bags will not change your truck's payload rating or any of its other load ratings for that matter. Remember that all suspension and braking components are designed and rated as an integrated system. Beefing up one component will not alleviate overload on the others. Kind of like putting a 600 HP engine in front of a stock clutch.



There has been a lot of discussion in this forum on the loading issue. Not only do you have to worry about premature failure of drivetrain components, your worst nightmare will begin when you are involved in an accident and it can be shown that you were overloaded.



Good luck RVing. It is something very few people ever said they regretted getting into.

 

[kbond]

appreciate the feedback.

 

[Grizzly]

Well I am in new waters for me. I am looking for my first cab-over. I've looked at tons of stuff online and only seen Lance in person. So far I am leaning towards the new lance 861 with the slide out. Looking for others opinions on Short bed campers. One thing I don't care for on these are the wet baths (toliet gets wet too). I know there is only minimal avalible for short box trucks so I can't be too picky. Also for reference I am hauling with my 06 mega 3500 SRW soon to get a set of air bags. Thanks for the insights.



cheers,

Ken

Not a thing wrong with a wet bath. I had one on my 11'-3" Lance, which I sold recently. When I ordered the camper in 1998, my choices were a dry bath, which had a larger bath room to accommodate the shower and a smaller dinette table and seating. They had to take the extra space out of somewhere. Upon doing some thinking, I decided that I am going to spend much more time at the dinette table then I am in the shower. So I opted for the larger dinette table. Besides if you spend too much time in the shower, you are going to run out of water. They don't put very large water tanks in cab-over-camper you know.

 

[NevadaBackroader]

Check out outfittermfg.com My popup camper has a wet bath and sticks out 18" past the bumper. It weighs 1200# dry. It takes my 2500 right down to the overloads and levels the truck out. Great straight line handling. Too much sway when turning into a driveway or parking lot. I feel this is due to the orientation of the rear shocks. They should both be behind the axle with the tops pointing in to handle the sway. This is how the older pickups had their shocks mounted. You want to go with the lightest camper possible to get the best handling. http://outfittermfg.com

 

[Regcabguy]

Check out outfittermfg.com My popup camper has a wet bath and sticks out 18" past the bumper. It weighs 1200# dry. It takes my 2500 right down to the overloads and levels the truck out. Great straight line handling. Too much sway when turning into a driveway or parking lot. I feel this is due to the orientation of the rear shocks. They should both be behind the axle with the tops pointing in to handle the sway. This is how the older pickups had their shocks mounted. You want to go with the lightest camper possible to get the best handling. http://outfittermfg.com

The Outfitter's are a fine product. Sean Lorenz has one on his '03. He provided me with a good,affordable suspension upgrade on my '07. It was pitiful before the upgrade. '07 reg. cabs are available in 2500 configurations only. They have a payload rating of 2400# and the company recommends a max of 1550# slide-in. I'm over that but hopefully D/C won't bug me about it. I'd say for anybody considering a slide-in to ask the dealer to throw a set of torqlifts on there and mount the camper(probably at your expense). If they balk,drive away. The test drive will be an eye opener.

 

[Big A]

Give Northland a look. I love mine, I believe it's nicer than my buddy's Lance.

Big A



www.northlandcampers.com

 

[Grizzly]

Consider an Arctic Fox, they are roomier then a Lance.

 

[ralbert]

My next one will be a Northstar. My 945 Lance has been good. Go wet bath.

 

[RCarrillo]

Kbond, Wet baths rule! Your'e toilet will always be clean and you can S. S. S all @ the same time. I had a 11fk western wilderness ( 3,000 lbs ) that I bought in 89' and had it on my 89' 3500 LB CTD, then put it on my 97' 3500 LB CTD and took it from Cabo to Canada to the Keys atleast 3 times and never had any problems except rear tires blowing out because those stock wheels and tires belong on a skateboard! ( put Ricksons on ) If I ever get another slide in it will be a Bigfoot or a Northstar as they are ALL fiberglass. RikaRio

 

[Grizzly]

Kbond, Wet baths rule! Your'e toilet will always be clean and you can S. S. S all @ the same time. I had a 11fk western wilderness ( 3,000 lbs ) that I bought in 89' and had it on my 89' 3500 LB CTD, then put it on my 97' 3500 LB CTD and took it from Cabo to Canada to the Keys atleast 3 times and never had any problems except rear tires blowing out because those stock wheels and tires belong on a skateboard! ( put Ricksons on ) If I ever get another slide in it will be a Bigfoot or a Northstar as they are ALL fiberglass. RikaRio

You got that right! I like the SSS stuff. I think it means, Shower, Shave and Sing???

 

[kbond]

thanks for all the helpful replys. I am seeing the wet-bath light. Just need to talk the wifey into it now. Really suprised at some of the weights of these things. .

 

[jeepit]

You got that right! I like the SSS stuff. I think it means, Shower, Shave and Sing???

Hmmm, maybe I will start to use my wet bath. ?. To this point I have been using showers at campgrounds or outside shower and use the wet bath as storage.

 

[CKimball]

for what it is worth... the six pac I just ordered I had them put the shower head opposite the toilet as there is more room in front of it (they had it mounted above the terlet)and then I am going to put up a cheap shower curtain on a tension rod... slide it over in front of the terlet and part of the sink whilst taking a shower then slide it back infront of the shower head when I am done showerin... I thought of this as wifey has a big issue with the wet bath set up as we are coming out of a 35 foot tt with a seperate shower and toilet... just a thought

cameron