See, it's funny... some people will happily sleep on a 2" thick mattress with 1 pillow. And they will happily take a dump in an outhouse (or in a port-a-potti) and clean themselves with baby wipes. But if you suggest eating on a bed while holding your plate then they will SCOFF at you like you're crazy person. Reminds me of the NRA or something, "you can pry my dinette out of my cold dead hands". The funny thing is if you ask around on here, most people (note: not "all", but "most") will tell you they hardly ever use their dinettes. If people want a crappy sleep on a 2" mattress they can go buy a Four Wheel Camper for $16,000. Why would they spend 6 figures for an earthcruiser?
EXD 350 - EarthCruiser on flat bed
- Thread starter lanceatm
- Start date
Clutch
<---Pass
I just don't know how you're going to make it fit??? Seems like a horrible waste of interior space in that size of camper.
You can look at the XP Cube on a Dodge chassis...which I am assuming the EC is going to be similar in size.
A lone queen bed in here would make things very tight. And you loose a nice table to work, eat, etc at.
https://www.exploringelements.com/vehicles/eexp/
Spending 6 figures on a EC...for that kind of money I am not holding my plate while I eat. I can handle a 2" mattress, 1 pillow and a sleeping bag, but I draw the line at that!
Didn't you say you want to cook outside too? $100K seems like an awful lot to spend to give up a lot just to have squishy mattress...heck, if you're gonna cook outside and hold your plate while you eat...could save some money and just toss a mattress in the back of the truck with a topper and call it good. Plenty of storage under it for the camp kitchen and chairs.
Find it odd that people don't use their dinettes, would think it would very popular. From eating, over flow for cooking, working on the laptop, playing games, etc. We used the hell out of it in my buddy's Class C motorhome.
You sound offended, not sure why...I think it is good idea, but in a larger camper. Maybe buy a Global Expedition Turtle??? Or the EC EXP???
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Clutch
<---Pass
Perfect!
Of course $100K buys an awfully nice Airstream with plenty of room to stretch your legs.
Park it at the trailhead, and then use the truck to go exploring without fear of flipping $150K worth of truck and camper off the side of some back country mountain road.
The Earth Cruiser, XP Camper, Global Expedition vehicles sure are cool and all, seems like an awful lot to spend to go beat the living crap out of in the back country....think I'll save that for the motorbikes and UTV's....
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Some of us would rather not camp in a parking lot. With all due respect.
Clutch
<---Pass
Some of us would rather not camp in a parking lot. With all due respect.
Non-sense!
Pffft....anyone can drive an F350 offroad, takes a special kind of crazy to drag an Airstream off the beaten path. Hell man, if some of us need a 10" mattress 'cause we are getting old might as well go all the way! ( I might be included in that group
)
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Non-sense!
Hell man, if some of us need a 10" mattress 'cause we are getting old might as well go all the way! ( I might be included in that group
Yeah, me too!
lanceatm
Founder and CEO of EarthCruiser
Getting some brain space back this project this week. Thank you to all that chimed in, it s fun to play around with ideas.
We are think it will only really work on a eight foot bed, has to comfy inside and needs room. Spent some time with a tape measure on 2018 F350 extra cab with eight foot bed , perfect. Weight distribution looks good as well, that is important.
As for the camper it self, no reason we cant have with or with out pass through depending on the customers needs. The basic lay out could have plenty in common with EXP - https://earthcruiser.com/our-vehicles/earthcruiser-exp/ we just keep coming to it because it works well in a small foot print.
Still doodling........
We are think it will only really work on a eight foot bed, has to comfy inside and needs room. Spent some time with a tape measure on 2018 F350 extra cab with eight foot bed , perfect. Weight distribution looks good as well, that is important.
As for the camper it self, no reason we cant have with or with out pass through depending on the customers needs. The basic lay out could have plenty in common with EXP - https://earthcruiser.com/our-vehicles/earthcruiser-exp/ we just keep coming to it because it works well in a small foot print.
Still doodling........
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lanceatm
Founder and CEO of EarthCruiser
Again thank you to all who have put there points of view and experience in print, what makes this place great.
We have settled on none cab over design, there are a couple of reasons why we think it is the go.
We have settled on none cab over design, there are a couple of reasons why we think it is the go.
- Weight and where that weight is.
- Drivable ( wind noise, vehicle handling and driver comfort , touring visibility)
- Roof top tents (privacy for mum and dad when travelling with kids) and many other common accessories can still be used.
- A place to sleep when on the road. When stealth camping or giving ones travelling companion the chance to get a decent sleep when driving is very important. Not possible with cab over design.
- Last but not least, with most pop top type cab over camper one is sleeping "beside" the fabric. With our designs this is not the case, the bed area is surrounded by hard walls. Much better insulation for noise and temperature. It feels better and there are real windows.
- We think we have a good design for bed/dinette, it is not "off the shelf".
- External storage
- Air circulation.
Sounds really
Sounds really cool. Thanks for sharing and being open to ideas on here. The pass-through will be a nice feature but of course with a pass-thru comes a major trade-off of space inside. The problem I have with pass-thru's is that the area they take up (DEAD CENTRE, FRONT OF CAMPER) is the ideal place to put HEAVY items like water tanks and batteries... ideal because of the COG. If this design has a bed at the rear (like the existing earthcruiser) and water tanks/batteries go under that area, then you are putting the heaviest items behind the rear axle. Again, it is a toss up. If the pass-thru will be a full size walk-thru large enough to easily fit then so be it, but if it is just going to be an emergency hatch (hole) that no one will ever use (except for emergencies) then it is pretty wasteful. Also, the pass-thru and keeping the camper removable from the truck bed will be a complex system. If it were me I'd leave the pass-thru out, put the bed at the front.
Sounds really cool. Thanks for sharing and being open to ideas on here. The pass-through will be a nice feature but of course with a pass-thru comes a major trade-off of space inside. The problem I have with pass-thru's is that the area they take up (DEAD CENTRE, FRONT OF CAMPER) is the ideal place to put HEAVY items like water tanks and batteries... ideal because of the COG. If this design has a bed at the rear (like the existing earthcruiser) and water tanks/batteries go under that area, then you are putting the heaviest items behind the rear axle. Again, it is a toss up. If the pass-thru will be a full size walk-thru large enough to easily fit then so be it, but if it is just going to be an emergency hatch (hole) that no one will ever use (except for emergencies) then it is pretty wasteful. Also, the pass-thru and keeping the camper removable from the truck bed will be a complex system. If it were me I'd leave the pass-thru out, put the bed at the front.
F350 Joe: Do you have any info on this truck camper setup?
hobbsrt
Member
I like the idea of this and like the pass through. There aren't enough options for affordable flatbed campers. I love the XP but its way out of my budget. One option is a FWC Grandby flatbed model which I just bought and will mount it in the next couple of weeks on my custom aluminium flatbed which is on a 2001 GMC 2500 HD crew cab. It appears like this is the best quality of affordable flatbed campers available. I like the idea of a cab over for the bed too and while it looks like plenty of storage in there we will see when we start using it. The beauty of the flatbed is to put storage under it increasing total storage.
Not trying to be rude to anyone but I don't think the word affordable and earthcruiser go together very well. I imagine that this type of vehicle discussed here will probably be in the 6 figures. Similar to an XP V1 I would imagine. So we probably wont see any affordable flatbed campers (expedition quality) anytime soon. I agree FWC Grandby is probably the best option but the soft top really kills the deal for me.
F350joe
Well-known member
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The one in the picture is mine. What would you like to know? It’s a 1960ish Kamper Kabin I found on Craigslist. I fixed it up, polished it, then destroyed it. It was a nice little camper until I got ahold of it, rattled all the nails out.