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Newbie with questions about purchasing a FWC.


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#11 trikebubble

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Posted 09 October 2020 - 06:50 PM

We leave our Hawk on the Tundra full time. We've had it 4 years now and spend at least 30 nights a year in it. Aside from camping, it's great to have to be able to haul along a place that you can stop and fix an impromptu picnic, or have your own porta-potti and a place to use it. We go snow shoeing in the winter and will sit in the camper with the furnace on after, sipping on hot chocolate to warm up as well. I've found that leaving it on just opens up a few more options and possibilities for uses of the camper.

As far as resale goes, I figure if we amortize the cost over the years of use we get, and the enjoyment we get out of it, it has more than paid for itself. When we do get around to selling it, I'm sure it's residual value will be far better than pretty much any other regular camper or trailer out there (though that is not why we bough it).


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#12 Karlton

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Posted 09 October 2020 - 08:14 PM

Taking it off is easy, putting it on requires some familiarity with how things look in your mirrors when you back in. I had it dialed in with my old truck.  The thing I find most time consuming is raising it by hand as I don't do more than 6 cranks per jack before moving to the next jack.

 

Camper removal is facilitated by a level surface.  My new driveway has a 3" difference from front to back of the camper, which creates a situation where the load isn't aligned with the jacks causing stress on the attachment point.  I put down some pavers and leveled the pavers with shims so that the jacks were not stressed under the load.  


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#13 jimjxsn

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Posted 11 October 2020 - 02:56 PM

I don't leave the camper on the truck unless we plan to use it in the near future.  It doesn't take much time to mount or remove it.

 

I stuck a piece of tape to mark the center of the camper and a matching piece in the center of the bed for alignment.

 

The hardest thing about taking the camper on and off is all the cranking.  I extending the height of the rieco-titan camper dolly to match the truck bed height.  That way, I just have to give it a few cranks and can drive under it.  Then, lift it a few cranks to drive out from under it and slip the dolly in place.  We use the drill attachment to raise the jacks for driving.

 

20181020_173847-M.jpg

 

It actually doesn't seem to take longer to load the camper than it did to hitch up our old camping trailers with equalizer hitches.


Edited by jimjxsn, 11 October 2020 - 03:04 PM.

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~Jim
2000 Tundra AC- 2000 FWC Ranger

2017 Tundra DC - 2017 ATC Panther


#14 AWG_Pics

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Posted 12 October 2020 - 01:29 AM

We have had our Hawk for 10 months and have not taken it off the truck. We plan to leave it on permanently and use it as a convenient picnic and stay dry place on short jaunts in between longer trips. Not worried about depreciation. A year ago September, we ordered it nearly fully built out (meaning everything except a toilet and hot water heater.) We received it on January 7th and have taken two 3 and 1/2 week trips. We go pretty much anywhere we want with the Tundra 4WD and love it. Hope this helps.


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lived for several years each in Montana, Utah, Idaho, Texas, Washington, Oregon.

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#15 CurranC

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Posted 16 October 2020 - 03:10 AM

I am also new to this camper game ... had a small motor home for a while but now that the kids are all grown and doing their own thing we just ordered the flatbed Hawk edition and I’m so excited I can barely stand still , can’t wait to get my hands on it but it’s looking like it’s gonna be at least 6 months. I looked at all the other options thoroughly and this is the one . I have a truck I’m dedicating so not gonna take camper off truck unless an unforeseen issue presents itself. I am off half the month (12 hr shifts) so we plan on using at least twice a month minimum. Also just found out I’m gonna be a grandpa, I’m 49,my daughter is 29 and having her first ,she lives by the Olympic national rain forest In Wa so that is a whole other area I look forward to exploring. I live in Ventura Ca please don’t hold it against me 😐 I have found in our travels people don’t particularly care for people from SoCal but after a few beers they are fine 😃. Can’t wait to explore the Sierras which are just a few (5) hours away Anyways I’m rambling just happy to be here ... will be asking questions in the near future hopefully I posted this in the correct spot .
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#16 Vic Harder

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Posted 16 October 2020 - 06:36 AM

I am also new to this camper game ... had a small motor home for a while but now that the kids are all grown and doing their own thing we just ordered the flatbed Hawk edition and I’m so excited I can barely stand still , can’t wait to get my hands on it but it’s looking like it’s gonna be at least 6 months. I looked at all the other options thoroughly and this is the one . I have a truck I’m dedicating so not gonna take camper off truck unless an unforeseen issue presents itself. I am off half the month (12 hr shifts) so we plan on using at least twice a month minimum. Also just found out I’m gonna be a grandpa, I’m 49,my daughter is 29 and having her first ,she lives by the Olympic national rain forest In Wa so that is a whole other area I look forward to exploring. I live in Ventura Ca please don’t hold it against me I have found in our travels people don’t particularly care for people from SoCal but after a few beers they are fine . Can’t wait to explore the Sierras which are just a few (5) hours away Anyways I’m rambling just happy to be here ... will be asking questions in the near future hopefully I posted this in the correct spot .

Welcome to the cult!  We want to see pictures... start with the truck and flatbed!


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#17 JCO

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Posted 16 October 2020 - 03:59 PM

I have a 2016 Hawk that I take on and off my 2011 Tundra regularly. I’m getting better at it, it’s still a “process” getting in on. I put circle marks on my garage floor so I put the stands roughly in the same spot each time I take it off. I put a piece of electrical tape in the center of the camper vertically below the front window. I put a piece of painters tape down the center of the truck bed. I line up the tape on the camper and the tape on the bed kinda like a “sight” It helps keep it all aligned when I’m backing into the camper. As for new vs used. I’m happy with all the options I specked out in my Hawk. Hopefully it’s a one time purchase !
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