37 replies to this topic

[BDO]

I am about to purchase a Caribou Lite 6.5 and am wondering if the Suburban furnace that they currently use is still the same model that you have (and hate)?  

[solinski]

Adevntureklaus, I have been seriously considering the Outfitter Caribou Lite 6.5 for a couple of  years. There are so many things that I like about the Caribou Lite, especially when compared to a Four Wheel popup. So I'm very glad that you will be open to questions. I have owned several hard sided truck campers and a Four Wheel popup.  I have not found much owner information concerning the Outfitter Caribou Lite and that is what has kept me from buying one. I live in California but I don't mind driving to Colorado to buy the camper I want. My concerns with the Caribou Lite= Vacuum formed sidewalls (exterior bubbles or de-lamination?), quality of the lift mechanism?, overall fit and finish,  soft side rain leakage?,just to name a few. I look forward to hearing about your experience with the 2016 Caribou Lite! Happy travels!

solinski

[4wanderers]

I can weigh in here. Have had the Caribou Lite 6.5 for 5 years and have enjoyed it overall. Mine is a 2015 and I have heard that since Scott bought the company from Bob Ward and his son a few years back that the previous ‘gaps’ in quality control have been resolved.

The unit itself is sturdy - generally well built. We have had :

 

1. no issues with structure and no delamination anywhere, and we have been on very rough roads and through significant weather extremes ( all documented in our blog www.OneEndlessRoad.com ). It was stored outside in the off season in sub zero ( centigrade) temperature most years.

 

2. no issues with the lift mechanism ( and ours is the old style - I understand it has since been upgraded, and I suggested to Scott that it needed to be ) other than it is rather basic and not particularly stylish. The FourWheel  mechanism is/was easier to use and looks better

 

3. no leakage anywhere

 

4. no issues with parts breaking although fit and finish in some areas in our  model left something to be desired. We corrected it all ourselves and it’s fine now. I know Scott was tackling that as his number 1 issue. It would have been our only serious complaint with the unit

 

I would suggest the following:

 

a) lift the roof before you buy. Ours is a bit heavy mostly because we have two fans and had the cabover was extended by 12” adding to the weight. Again, I believe this issue has been resolved in newer models. Be careful how much weight you add to the roof

 

we bought a new counter top and redesigned the layout to make it more space efficient and it made a huge difference. Bob’s old designed was terrible. You can see it on our website

 

c) do not get the standard furnace ( Atwood/ Suburban ). They are ghastly. Big, heavy, noisy with no speed control. A Propex propane unit would be MUCH better or an Espar/Webasto diesel unit. Worth the extra money if you go anywhere cold. Truly.....

 

Ours has served us well and with the upgrades since Bob Ward sold the company they have addressed the few shortcomings the units had.  

 

Happy camping !

[Taku]

Note: I have been looking at a Caribou Lite 8 and did ask Scott about installing a Propex which he is not willing to do. You might be able have them not install the furnace and do your own install of a Propex. One question on the interior - it appears they use vinyl to cover the interior walls - is this correct? 

[4wanderers]

Not sure why they won’t install a Propex but if not just buy it without and do it yourself or have someone do it for you. Bit more money, but better, smaller, and quieter. One tip - install it lower down ( given hot air rises ), perhaps to the left of the door as you step in. Easy exhaust points nearby and it will keep your feet warm. Not only do we not like the Suburban unit but ( in our camper anyway ) it is installed up high, to the left of the battery just under the counter. Takes up valuable drawer space and never heats below that point.

 

Re the walls, yes it is a vinyl product I think. It does not look too bad and is very durable. It’s not something that bothers us and I am not sure what else would look, work better ?

[Sedro F. Woolley]

Caribou Lite 6.5 in NW
We currently have a 2009 Tacoma long bed with a 2011 4WD Finch, but are seriously considering upgrading to a Caribou Lite 6.5. The initial main attraction at least for my wife was being able to use the east-west bed without having to slide it out. I liked the part about not having to use the slide-out, but wasn’t at all keen on being the one sleeping on the cab side all the time like I was in our old Jayco Sportster 7 that we had before the Finch. She said if we got the Caribou, she’ll take that side of the bed. Hmm, maybe I’m not so keen on being the one who gets crawled over all the time either. So, what about the extended cab over, north-south bed option? Now we need to learn more about that, like does it give you a full length bed without having to slide it out?

Most of all, though, is we would really like to take a look at one before we order. Maybe at some point I’ll be up for flying down to Denver and going up to the factory in Longmont, but I’m not sure when that will be. We’re in NW Washington. Does anyone have, or know of someone that has, a Caribou Lite 6.5 somewhere in the Washington-Oregon neighborhood that we could come take a look at?

Edited by Sedro F. Woolley, 01 February 2021 - 06:59 AM.

[4wanderers]

I am in Kelowna, BC so not far away but my Caribou is in Chile right now ! We have the custom extended cab with a 15 inch slide out and that gives us 75 inches of bed length. It’s plenty and we really really really like sleeping North South versus East West. The pull out is easy to use. It’s a 60“ x 60“ cab over with the mattress of the same size and two 30” x 15“ mattress extensions that we pop into the pull out when it’s extended. The reason we have a 15 inch mattresses extensions is simply to make handling them a little simpler -it’s easier to store and handle 2x 30 inch long mattress extensions than 1x 60 inch mattress when you are in a confined space.

When it is daytime and we are staying in the living area of the camper those mattresses should be thrown up on the bed.

[Sedro F. Woolley]

Thanks for your reply, 4Wanderers. I have enjoyed reading about your amazing journey south.

Thanks too for explaining how the north-south bed works. It sounds like it’s basically the same setup we have in the Finch, where you have to push the slide-out portion of the bed back in and stow the bed extension cushions during the day. At this point, I’m thinking that wouldn’t be enough of an improvement over the Finch to make it worth spending so much money. It would also be quite a bit more weight on the Tacoma than the Finch, but you have a Tacoma too, correct?

Any idea when you’re going to pick up again with your trip? At this point, it seems like it would be easier for us to see your rig in Chile than it would for us to drive up to Kelowna. Joking of course, but this time last year we were staying at Sani Lodge on the Napo River in the Ecuadorian Amazon as part of a three week natural history tour. First time in South America for both of us, but hopefully not the last.

Things are really rough for the indigenous folks down there right now due to COVID and a nasty oil spill that happened on the Coca River, a tributary of the Napo, back in April. You probably took the main Pan American Highway route through the mountains on the E45. If you took the E45A along the eastern slope of the Andes, you would have passed right by where the two major crude oil pipelines collapsed into the Coca, as well as the San Rafael waterfall, formerly the highest in Ecuador before being destroyed by the same runaway river bed erosion that took out the pipelines. That happened a year ago tomorrow, but we didn’t find out about it for months. If you’re interested in any of this, I’d be happy to send more info.

Meanwhile, I hope you stay safe and healthy and are successful in your quest to reach the end of the road (and, presumably, drive back up again).

John