34 replies to this topic

[billharr]

I’m betting $200,000

 

Price starts way less than I would have guessed.    F350 or Chevy 3500 4x4 chassis

• Starting as low as $138,000! (for gas engine models)

 

 https://www.rvt.com/...209596-UX362583

[Occidental]

I believe with the truck we rented would be in the neighborhood of $160,000. They recently had a sililar one posted at that price built for someone who's situation changed during the build. It can fluctuate based on the truck you choose and add on options.

[Spitfire]

I would love to have one but I'm going to stick with my Hawk for now.

[Ted]

Our Tiger was only two builds away from this one, so they are a similar generation. Like this one, we have the 400 watts of solar and 2 100 Ah lithium batteries. More power than we could ever use.
The oven is an option we skipped to have extra storage. We are still on the fence as to whether that was a good call or not. The oven does come with a 3 burner stove top. Otherwise you get a 2 burner. We left off the microwave, generator, TV, AC, and stereo. We typically go for 10 days and the fridge does hold all we need for that.
I believe the fresh water tank is 33 gallons and the hot water is 4 gallons, for a total of 37. The standard tank monitors are very inaccurate. After we dump all tanks the black tank reads 35% full. I highly recommend upgrades on those.
The bathroom is cramped. Some WTW members have left the sink out for more room. We aren't big people but I could see doing that in hindsight. Edit: Mrs. Ted says she prefers having it and would not leave it off.
As to the bed, Occidentals description is pretty accurate. Bed is fine but not much headroom, east west setup, froli system is standard, ladder can be awkward. To be honest, because of my health issues I sleep on the fold out couch while Mrs. Ted sleeps in the upper bunk. So I have only napped up there a few times.
Wish we had known about the Lagun table option. We will definitely be modifying to that.
Base cost is about $92k after you provide the vehicle. We were credited for not including the normally standard generator, AC, TV, microwave, and radio. But we added more than that in options. So our build, including a brand new F350 XLT with 7.3L gas engine was right about $150k. Picking it up vs shipping and your state's taxes will vary for costs above and beyond that.
Occidental said they are looking into retirement vehicles. After 18 years in FWCs while working, this is what we chose for our retirement vehicle. We spend at least 10 nights a month in it. We like the open layout, good vehicle clearance for off road, pass through, and storage. Mrs. Ted does 99% of the driving and it is a small enough Class C that she can handle comfortably.
And if you think people ask a lot about your FWC or ATC when they see it, you have no idea. Get ready for constant questions, tours, comments, etc at gas stations, campgrounds, even at home.

[Ted]

We had the external propane run for using appliances outside as well. In hindsight, that was not worth the effort. RV propane is regulated down to about 0.5 psi and the interior appliances are designed for that. The regulator on my Partner stove reads 20 psi, not sure what it is on my BBQ but I'm guessing similar. Neither will run on the external camper propane. For some reason our propane fire pit seems to work ok though. So either a separate line needs to be run that skips the RV regulator or you still need to carry a propane cannister to operate appliances outside.

[pvstoy]

Ted... Thank you very much for posting some of your observations.  Those are appreciated!  

 

After watching some videos, Occidental, lqhikers and your assessment of the upper bed space experiences I would agree if we had one we would also possibly use the two bed system for convince for getting in and out with the second person sleeping near the edge.

 

 

Ted i'm sure you will like the tiger.

When we ordered ours we requested to leave the sink out of the shower as it gave more room

and the kitchen sink was enough.

We also had a escape hatch installed over bed, comes with screen and shade made it real nice to have open at night

plus easy access to roof.

As much as we liked the tiger the upper bed was the downside, not enough head room to set up

in and a pain to climb in and out off.

And yes the people at tiger were great to work with.

 

Les,lqhikers

 

Each person will have different ways of setting one's unit up, but as the bed goes here are three similar opinions as I might have, even though I have not set foot in a unit to see for myself.

 

When we had the Casita trailer I put a DC powered TV in and only used it twice for a movie.

 

Cheers...

Edited by pvstoy, 27 October 2021 - 06:07 PM.

[Stray Dog]

Thanks Ted and others for observations.  Very helpful.

 

we're in the process of renting the same unit Occidental used.  Looking very much forward to it...

[Occidental]

I see Ted mentioned the faulty tank readouts, and this one had the same issue.  Apparently it's a known problem, so disappointing to see they haven't switched to a new tank sensor.  Also, drats on the low pressure RV propane fitting, but good to know that as we didn't have the opportunity to use that.  We cook about 95% outside, and I'd hate to carry another tank for that, but we don't carry the disposables for a few reasons.  

[goinoregon]

ted , thx for your real-world observations, and use.  this kind of info can be very helpful

[iowahiker]

The bed and head room:  The over-the-cab head room is ok but... the mattress and froli combined are too tall. The froli does not make sense to me since the mattress is an all-in-one box spring and mattress.  So why the froli?  Better head room over-the-cab would be to combine froli with only a thinner foam mattress where the froli would act as the "box spring".  My wife sleeps over-the-cab and I sleep on the couch converted to a bed.  Climbing the ladder and entering the bed from the ladder is tough.

 

The tank level indicators:  The manual says a high reading at zero inventory indicates poor adhesion of the gauge to the tank.  We told Provan/Tiger that they were having issues with adhesion as one of our tanks reads high at zero inventory.  A repair would require carefully installing another gauge next to the high reading gauge and rewiring.  Our gauges have worked well enough for three years that we think the technology is good but installation must be done very carefully.  

 

I have no self control:  "I told you so"  on the bathroom sink and I still recommend not getting any windows over-the-cab. 

 

The Bengal is a one-of-a-kind camper and we would buy another after 400+ nights of camping over three years.  

Edited by iowahiker, 29 October 2021 - 09:13 PM.