Newby to 4WC (and RVs in general, unless travel and sleeping in an Army M113 APC in Colorado and Germany counts). have spent the last 15 years vacation traveling by car and staying in hotels, motels and B&Bs, predominately in the Canadian Rockies and CO/UT/WY/MT areas. Hadn't been "camping" since getting out of the Infantry in '84; went car-camping one time with an queen-size inflatable mattress and a big REI tent last October. The wife loved it, and we talked to a lot of people that told us how much they loved their little pop-up trailers. Was about to pull the trigger on a Jayco 12' til I had the sales crew show me how it set up. Inside the showroom, two men, both knowing what they were doing... took about half an hour, from full down to ready to sleep.
While searching for a vehicle to pull it, I discovered FWC. Watched the video showing a 3 minute set-up and no trailer -- never looked back.
Despite all the 3/4T recommendations, got a 2011 F150 4x4 (5.0L v8 gas) in November last. Only 3/4s remaining were crew cabs with 5' boxes or single cabs. Didn't want either. Used 3/4s in the Midwest are typically utility or farm vehicles with the crap run out of them by folks who don't care if they break or hold up. Looked at a lot of posts here, compared a lot of prices, weighed a lot of options. Still wish I could get an extended cab F250 with the 6.5' box, but it's a special order, not much give on price. Of course, this was back when we were paying $2.79 for a gallon of gas. Now I could probably get a good deal - they're trying to give away trucks.
BTW, never had a Ford truck before, always been a Chevy guy. Father-in-law (a career truckbed camper builder, Chevy guy and truck custom shop foreman) is likely spinning in his grave. I like how it feels driving.
Talked to ATC about getting a shell wired for 110v AC - no go. Asked about getting AC in a full-feature model - no go. Went to 4WC, AC was only an option on a full model, not a shell. Plans changed. We ended up getting a Hawk with many of the options we thought we wouldn't need, but pretty stripped down. Delivered on Jan. 21st in IA, across the river from Omaha. Lucky break, the warm winter gave us a 62-degree day, but windy. installer from 4WC is an awesome representative of their company. We ordered on Dec 30th - only a three-week wait til in our hands.
Options/setup ordered:
Furnace, Air Conditioner, arctic pack, Fantastic fan on the stock vent, 1 battery and converter, rollover couch, screen door, jacks, a wood cabinet instead of an icebox. No frig, hot water, shower, awnings, outside lights, roof racks or solar panels. I expect I'll never put water in the onboard tank when I can buy a gallon jug for $0.87 and refill it at the campgrounds or gas stations. We probably won't ever be major offroaders, mostly just using it to go where we want / stay where we want without hotel bills.
When it arrived (we met them 220 miles from home to save delivery cost and time) a stock icebox was sitting where the wood cabinet was supposed to be. We accepted it because we didn't want to wait for it to be returned. When I contacted 4WC about this the next day, I was give the semi-official "****-happens" shrug by the salesman.
We've used it twice in February; one three-day weekend at Montauk State Park in southern MO (arguably some of the best trout fishing in the Midwest) and once at 1000 Hills State Park in northern MO. Couple weeks ago we gave it an official multi-day road test down to Fall Creek Falls State Park in south central Tennessee, over to Cumberland Falls Resort State Park in southeastern KY, and a night in a IL state park I can't remember the name of on the way back home. By then we were running from bad weather - backtracked from our original southern IL destination due to tornado/thunderstorm warnings. All our overnights so far have been plugged in at State Parks.
On the first night, we were running late so we called an old Army buddy in Indiana and asked to sleep in his driveway - out in the dark on I-64 in rural IL, I got my first Bambi strike ever by vehicle. Kinda sickening when you only have 3200 miles on your new truck. When I saw I couldn't avoid contact (and not gonna roll my new camper), I centerpunched it, got very lucky with limited damage (still about $2k). Would like to replace the cosmetic bumper with a Ranchhand or Buckstopper, but I know I'm pushing weight limit already. Still considering it.
Fuel Mileage BTW runs about 15.7 on the highway with the camper and gear loaded, altho I was measuring up to 17.1 on the leg going into KY from TN, running a mix of back county roads and Interstate. I keep speed down to around 60-65. No hurry, no worry. Also we don't pack a lot of clothes, water, liquids, etc. Not in a desert, don't have to carry like we are.
About some issues talked about on the forums:
The new factory furnace is awesome - really quiet and puts out enormous heat, really sips propane. Glad I didn't go with a 3rd party and have to monkey with it. We picked up a super lightweight ceramic electric heater at Costco and used it to maintain cabin comfort. Has a thermostat, fan control, and is made out of plastic - doesn't get hot enough to damage anything, but blows nice 100 warm air at a good low volume. A good $35 add, fits under the sink.
Fantastic Fan and artic pack handles condensation well, and we like to sleep with vents or windows open in winter anyway unless under frigid conditions.
We caught a sudden and brief hailstorm coming into Louisville, KY - dimpled up the 1-piece top a bunch, despite what folks have posted here. Just cosmetic.
The 4" mattresses are abysmal. I recommend donating them for use with Al Qaeda inmates at Gitmo to replace waterboarding. We had one and bought another 3" Thermarest WaveMat air + memory foam mattress, ($149 ea. at Bass Pro). It's a pain to have to unroll and inflate / deflate and re-roll them, although they stow well behind the couch back when traveling. We have now pulled out the queen-size foam and bed platform inserts you have to carry and just use the air mats by them selves. Thin enough to allow us to keep bedding up top as well. I have pretty bad arthritis and joint pain from years in the military (20% VA disabled) and have no sleeping discomfort, and I am used to a fabulous 100% urethane foam mattress at home. It's always been our main gripe that you pay up to $200 for a decent hotel room and sleep on a $50 mattress that's hard as a rock. To get past the 1/2" difference in the slide out shelf, we bough yoga mats from target for $29 each and besides adding to the cushioning, it perfectly levels out the platform on the outside position.
We had an 80-degree day a couple weeks ago and tested the little stock GE AC unit in the driveway. Very quiet, got the camper very comfortable pretty quickly. I hate sleeping in humid conditions, might as well sit up all night.
Replaced the incandescent bulbs with some LED bulbs with the same base bought on Amazon for $7 ea. Not as bright, but real power savers according to my meter. Keeping the incandescent in the truck in case I need/want them.
Put Airlift™ air bags on the back, and carry a Sears 12v inflater for tires and bags. Works like a charm. I've found 40lbs each side feels best. Despite not being used to driving a big pickup with a top-heavy camper on it, this combo is very comfortable even driving severe twisty backroads through the hills of TN and KY.
The 5.0L v8/six-speed tranny Ford F150 doesn't even seem to know the camper is there (I considered the new Ecotech v6 but was not really interested in beta-testing a new and very complex engine for Ford). Accelerates like a mad beast if you want to. I'm very fuel consumption conscious (coming from a 25-30mpg Chevy Equinox 4-banger). Gets about 14.6 city with the camper on, 17.5 with it off. I calculated $0.07/mile more to run with the camper on all the time at $3.80/gal. I want to build a dolly and get the use out of my truck bed, though, but not looking forward to loading and unloading the camper. Getting an estimate to raise my garage door header to 8' so I can park it inside rather than build a $12,000 RV barn (HOA architectural committee and neighbors' approval required.
Thanks for letting me post a fricken' book.
