13 replies to this topic

[Henricksen]

A friend has a single cab 8 ft. bed pickup and is concerned about putting on a 10 foot cabover where the cabover extends 12 inches beyond the top of the front wind shield.  His question is whether that situation will create hazardous wind currents underneath the cabover and also intolerable noise when traveling.  

 

Thanks for your opinions,

 

Henricksen 

[fish more]

Should trade it in for for Pop-Up, problem solved

[Freebird]

IF it is/was any kind of a problem, don't you think the problem likely would have shown up somewhere on one of these MANY truck camper forums? Through the decades (6?) the Alaskan Camper has been mated to most of the different truck body styles/models/brands, all with somewhat different aerodynamic characteristics, likely a few driven at fairly foolish high speeds, diven by all kinds of interesting people, and some drivers likely are sensitive to loud noise or radical air currents.....
My new-to-me Northen Lite is up in the air 11'3" (including the air conditioner). I would think if that big camper, with its huge bow wave of air, doesn't cause an issue, how likely is it for a foot-and-a half-or-so height above the cab to cause a problem, even if it sticks out beyond the windshield a ways..... As do MANY brands/kinds of truck campers, especially on standard cab pickups.
I'd tell your friend to relax about his concerns.....

Edited by Freebird, 03 October 2015 - 09:25 AM.

[Ripperj]

The only issue I have heard of related to visibility of stop lights and signs. The situation that the OP describes is definitely aerodynamically worse than a much taller camper that does not stick forward past the cab. Whether it's an issue I don't know.

[Ripperj]

'Should trade it in for for Pop-Up, problem solved' I assume that because he posted here that he has a popup

[Henricksen]

Well, my friend already has a popup and is wanting to get a solid sided camper like an Alaskan for more comfort and durability. So, for him getting a popup is not the answer.  The question he is grappling with is weather his regular cab 1996 or 1998 Dodge 2500 8 ft. with a 10 ft cabover Alaskan that extends 1 ft. or so beyond the truck cab front windshield will present safety/travel issues (wind blowing up under that 1 foot of overhang, I presume).   I agree that if this was an issue to contend with, that this forum would have addressed it already and I haven't seen any posts commenting on any problems.

I was thinking also of visibility issues, but can't wrap myself around that being a problem and on the contrary it may tend to reduce sun glare coming into the cab sometimes.

[Buckwheat]

I don't understand how getting a pop up is an answer for Henricksen's question. Wouldn't a pop up overhang hang over the cab as much as the Alaskan overhang causing the same problem if there is one?  

 

 I have seen some campers cabover have a pillow type device between the camper and the cab, I don't know what it is for.

[ntsqd]

The pop-top answer is irrelevant because that's not what the OP's friend wants, though the contention is (as I understand it) that pop-tops typically do not extend as far over the cab (true of FWC & ATC, not necessarily true of Hallmark, Outfitter, Phoenix, etc.) and thus with one the problem goes away. We want north/south cab-over sleeping which is going to put us in the OP's friend's position or close to it even with our ClubCab. It is a concern for me too. Mostly on the fuel mileage front.

 

I have seen hardsides that extended forward of the windshield. I would guess that is a situation where a hardside intended for a extended cab or crew cab was used in a truck with a shorter cab. Without my having seen it ever explicitly stated the hardside mfg's don't seem to want to build a camper that extends forward of the windshield.

 

Is a truck with a longer cab an option?

[Henricksen]

All you folks are amazing in spending the time to respond to my friend's dilemma.  I appreciate your thoughtful comments.  Today, as it now turns out, he has decided that dealing with the 10 ft. cabover on his regular cab pickup is too much of a jump.  So he is now in the market for 8 ft. non-cabover.  Issue dropped it looks like.  Thanks again for your inputs.

Henricksen

[ntsqd]

And I just stumbled onto this picture of an Earthroamer: