Akasurf14 is absolutely right!

During the first 6 months of ownership of our 2007 Dodge (early model with the 5.9 Cummins), I compared the overhead MPG gauge with the "real" fuel mileage obtained by doing the math explained above. The overhead guage always showed way more MPG than what we were actually getting.

So, if your friend is using the overhead gauge to figure fuel mileage, he's being fooled into thinking he's getting more than he really is. Have him keep track of the "real" fuel mileage for a month or more...he'll be in for a rude awakening!

Yes, that is most likely dry weight. 3,200# dry weight for a 10' slide-in camper isn't unusual.

You can always load up your truck like it would be for any trip with a full tank of fuel, all the people and gear that will normally be loaded into the cab and run it down to the local scales to get it weighed. Subtract this "real life" weight from your truck's GVWR and that will give you the maximum amount of LOADED truck camper you can carry without going over any of the truck's ratings.

We have a 2007 Dodge 3500 with the Cummins and duallies, extended cab and carry an Eagle Cap 950. Last year we spent 4 months traveling with the camper and stopped at one of the closed Oregon weigh stations to weigh it. Our total weight (full tank of fuel, full fresh water tank, and all the supplies we were carrying for that 4-month trip) was 12,450#. The GVWR of the truck is 11,500#, so we were 950# over that amount. However, we were well below both the front and rear GAWR's: Front GAWR = 4,750#, we were 4,600#; Rear GAWR = 9,350#, we were 7,850#. The truck handles the weight just fine and we don't have anything added to it except the AmTech RollGard stabilizer.

I have no idea...that's information that should come from the factory. However, I CAN tell you, it's way more than the weight of two people sleeping in the cab-over bed!

You'll find unhappy owners with any brand...and some of them are more vocal than others.

We've never owned a Lance camper, but if they made junk, I don't think they'd still be in business.

You'd probably get more answers if you posted your question on a site that dealt with motorhomes rather than this site that deals with slide-in truck campers.

Since you don't have a trailer or a large RV, you should have no problems with the road.

You might try contacting this guy. While his website seems to deal mainly with Avion travel trailers, he may be able to direct you to truck camper information.

Here's another site that may be able to stear you to information on your truck camper: http://www.silveravion.com/2010Home.htm.

There's also a discussion over on the Open Roads Forum that may be of interest to you: Avion Truck Camper.

I got all the above websites from Googling "Avion Truck Camper Restoration." There may be other websites in that search that may be of help to you, too.

Are you talking about your roof-mounted batwing antenna?

What kind of TV do you have...digital or analog?

If you are, indeed, talking about the batwing antenna, it will work just fine to pick up the new digital signals. However, if your TV is an older analog set, then...as the previous poster stated...you will need a converter to convert those digital signals back into analog.

There ARE converters that run on 12-volts if that's what you need. Here's one: 12 Volt Digital TV Converter. A Google search will turn up others.

Dan, I searched for both Daniel Clark and Dan Clark in Las Cruces, NM and came up with zilch.

When you're at your Facebook page, right click on the URL and "Copy." Then come back here, and in the posting box, again right click and this time "Paste." Once you click on "Submit Post," it will automatically be turned into a clickable link.

I don't think there's ANY RV that can withstand minus 40 degrees!

I don't know where you can buy the kit, but I'd be concerned that a tire on the front of the truck would restrict air flow.

You need to know what your payload is in order to find out which camper will be best.

Load your truck up like it would be for a camping trip with full fuel tank, and all the people and gear that will normally ride in the cab of the truck. Now take it to your local scales and get it weighed. Once you have the *real life* loaded weight of your truck, subtract that weight from the truck's GVWR...that will be the maximum loaded weight of any camper you should be carrying. While air bags help with the ride, they do nothing to increase the GVWR.

The sticker on the inside of our door says that for maximum load, to air the tires up to 60 PSI front, and 65 PSI rear (DRW). According to the Tire Inflation Pressure Guide for our brand of tires (Toyo), those pressures allow weights in excess of the GAWRs, front and rear.

When we have our camper on, we do air the tires up to 65 PSI front and 70 PSI rear, just because it makes us feel warm and fuzzy, not because of any real need to do so since the 60/65 PSIs will carry the weight.

Try looking for memory foam pads at Overstock.com. That's were we've gotten both of ours.

Truckmaniac is correct: Sun Vally, Inc., is out of business. His recommendation of putting your request on Craig's List is probably about the best you can do, unless there just happens to be someone here who owns that camper and would be willing to copy and send the manual to you.

I don't know what you're looking for in the way of a manual, but almost every RV "manual" I've seen is pretty generic. All the appliances in an RV are made by other companies and, in many cases, the manuals for those appliances can be downloaded from those manufacturers' websites.

Note that the "while driving" is key. If you stop for any period of time, like to have lunch, be sure to remember to switch over to propane. Running your refrigerator on DC when not driving can be a big drain on your battery.

Although I couldn't find the dB rating of the Honeywell HW1000i generator on Honeywell's website, Camping World's website indicates that the dB rating at full load is 68.

Compare that 68 dB rating to Honda's EU1000i dB rating of 58 at full load.

That makes the Honeywell generator a WHOLE LOT noisier than the Honda!!!

Newer refrigerators tolerate being *a little* unlevel...usually defined as no more than 3%. If you're comfortable walking around inside and don't notice any significant slant one way or another, your refrigerator should be OK.

We have Torklift's Glow Step which Bob mentions. Our is the 5-step model which goes from the ground to just below the door. The mounting bracket was attached just below the door.

We store our steps, folded up, on the camper floor just inside the door...the slide just makes it over the steps.

We have both a fifth wheel (32') and a truck camper, so I can speak from experience:

Current Truck; Ford Super Duty F-250 Lariat Short Box Diesel

Fifth Wheel option: 25 feet; one super slide; Total Dry Weight 6000lbs; 1000lb Pin weight; Allows room in truck bed for extra fuel tank as an option

Truck Camper Option: Something with a slide. Guesstimate 3000lbs

First, when considering a fifth wheel, don't pay any attention to the dry weight...it's a meaningless number. First, manufacturers are not require to weigh each rig as it comes off the line, so for most rigs, the dry weight doesn't include factory-installed options nor dealer-installed options...and it certainly doesn't include full propane tanks, a full fresh water tank, nor all the supplies you'll load into it. Instead of dry weight, look at the 5er's GVWR.

The first thing you'll want to do before you decide on either one is to load your truck up with all the people (and pets) who will be traveling with you, a full tank of fuel, and all the gear that will be carried in the cab and go get it weighed. Once you have the *real life* weight of your truck, subtract that weight from the truck's GCWR...that will give you the maximum weight of a *fully loaded* 5er that you should be pulling. Also subtract the truck's weight from its GVWR...that will give you the maximum payload...either pin weight for a 5er or loaded camper weight.

Loading & unloading both 5er & TC pretty much same amount of time and work

Neither is difficult, but we can disconnect the 5er in less time than we can unload the camper and lower it down. However, this is probably one of those things that really shouldn't have any bearing in your decision...it's sorta a "6 of one, half a dozen of another" situation.

Storage issues: Typical length for TC 17ft & 5er 26ft; 5er is 9ft longer;
Triple or double slide Equivelant TC length is 20ft - 23ft; 5er is only 3-6 ft longer

Certainly, if you have to pay for storage space, or have limited storage at your house, the camper will take up less space and *should* cost you less at a commercial storage yard.

Driving experience: I assume pretty much the same

There's really no difference in driving other than, with a fifth wheel, you have to pay attention to turning corners and, of course, backing up is different with a 5er attached than it would be with a camper.

Stop in an area of interest for 3-7 days: 5er wins hands down â???? no brainer

I'm not sure I understand your reasoning here. If you're going to be in one place 3 to 7 days, you can unload the camper from the truck which would be the same as unhooking a fiver. Or, don't bother unloading it...we spent 4 months in our camper this summer and rarely unloaded it. We had no problems finding a place to park...our truck and camper pretty much parks in any standard parking lot space. The one advantage of not unloading the camper from the truck is that when you're out exploring, you have your bathroom available and a place to stop and fix lunch.

Purchase price: TC same or more

For the size fifth wheel you're considering, and if you buy new, that's probably a pretty fair statement.

5er wins hands down when spending an evening in campground for overall comfort. Recliners or sofa to relax & watch TV

I'll give you that...it's much more comfortable to stretch out in our recliners in the evening to watch TV or read a book than it is to sit at the dinette in our camper.

5er wins hands down for sleeping; No need to crouch & stoop to get out of bed

Depends on what kind of fiver you're looking at. There are low profile fifth wheels that require crawling into bed (no stand-up room in the bedroom).

5er wins hands down for bathroom real shower

There are campers with dry showers, although the fifth wheel shower will *probably* be bigger.

5er wins hands down for storage and all amenities

I'll give you the storage (although I've seen some fivers with very little). Amenities? Other than not having recliners, our camper has all the amenities as our fifth wheel, just in a smaller package.

Bottom line, my question is why would someone buy a TC instead of a small 5er.

We got a camper because we wanted to go places where we wouldn't consider taking our fifth wheel. Even with a small fifth wheel, you still have extra length behind you and have to carefully consider where you go, and parking in a parking lot in order to do shopping, is more of a problem with the longer length behind you than it is with a camper.

I did want to comment on one thing: you mentioned a double or triple slide camper on your 3/4-ton short-box pickup. First, are there any double or triple slide campers made for short beds? Even if there are, I suspect they'll be too heavy for your pickup (this is where weighing, as I described above, will become valuable). We've looked at some of the triple-slide campers and, in every single case, they were all too heavy even for a 1-ton with duallies...it would take something like an F-450, F-550 or equivalent to carry one of these behemoths.

As others have pointed out, you do have 4 more tires with a fifth wheel and you *probably* won't have to register a camper (although this varies from state to state...some do require a separate license plate from the truck). If you want to tow a boat or a trailer with ATVs, or whatever, it's much easier to do behind a truck with a camper in the bed than it is behind a fifth wheel.

Hmmmm...I don't know of any books, but there are a couple of websites:

NATCOA
Truck Camper Magazine (The "Choose a Truck" and "Choose a Camper" articles may be of particular interest to you)

You might also want to look at Eagle Cap, Host, and Arctic Fox.

Depending on the size of camper you select, you may also want to consider a 1-ton with duallies. Find your camper first and then buy the truck that will carry it safely.

While air bags, extra leaf springs, or whatever may help with the ride, there is no way you can increase the payload rating.

We never used a pad on a truck we had with a spray-in bed liner. Our current truck doesn't have a spray-in bed liner, so we do use a pad.

We got our pad from a farm supply store, but I'd think that places like Home Depot and similar stores might carry them.

Is the camper made to be put on a short bed? If not, personally, I wouldn't try it because it's unlikely that the centers of gravity will match.