Couldn't find much information on Palomino Backpacks on here. So, I thought I'd post up camper and some of the things we're learning about these affordable campers as well as changes were making to suit our travel style.
We're coming from this rig, which served us well, but is a bit too small for the four of us and really didn't do the 3/4 diesel justice in terms of available payload.
So, we went on the hunt for a pop-up camper and ran into an issue - Ramboxes. With a 50" bed width that pretty much ruled out anything from FWC without a bed swap or flatbed. I actually really like the Ramboxes, they are the most accessible truck toolbox I've ever owned.
After a fair bit of research online, I found the backpack line of Palomino truck campers. They have a reasonably low weight ~1500lbs, Aluminum frame and will actually fit a Rambox bed, albiet a little tight!
Enter the 2016 Palomino Backpack SS-550.
I was actually surprised how poorly our 2014 Ram 2500 handled the load. She wallowed like a pig all the way back to East Texas. When we got home, I added Timbren bump stops front and rear, which took the sway out of the rig at highway speeds.
Next came the interior. It started out like this, nothing wrong with it, we'd just like to make some changes.
We wanted to open up the camper a bit, remove some of the storage cabinets we didn't need and make a sleeping area for our two kiddos.
At the moment "the box", as my four year old calls the camper, looks like this, being prepped for a new "kitchen" ceiling. The jury is out if it's going to be wallpaper, a stain or white paint.
Cushions are being recovered, considering pulling the three way fridge and dropping our Norcold fridge in its place. I don't have much experience with these three way fridges, but they seem like a bit if a pain.
Previous owner installed these lights, which are my kiddos favorite feature.
I need to figure out how to best secure the camper to the truck, install our old awning, maybe figure out a tailgate extension and finish out the interior.
I'll post some pictures along the way, for anyone looking at these campers they seem like decent construction and are very affordable on the used market.
This is what I could find online about how they're built. Not a FWC for sure, but with some reinforcement I think it will serve us well.
Factory Tour showing aluminum framing near the end.
Article that covers the switch to aluminum framing in recent years.
We're coming from this rig, which served us well, but is a bit too small for the four of us and really didn't do the 3/4 diesel justice in terms of available payload.
So, we went on the hunt for a pop-up camper and ran into an issue - Ramboxes. With a 50" bed width that pretty much ruled out anything from FWC without a bed swap or flatbed. I actually really like the Ramboxes, they are the most accessible truck toolbox I've ever owned.
After a fair bit of research online, I found the backpack line of Palomino truck campers. They have a reasonably low weight ~1500lbs, Aluminum frame and will actually fit a Rambox bed, albiet a little tight!
Enter the 2016 Palomino Backpack SS-550.
I was actually surprised how poorly our 2014 Ram 2500 handled the load. She wallowed like a pig all the way back to East Texas. When we got home, I added Timbren bump stops front and rear, which took the sway out of the rig at highway speeds.
Next came the interior. It started out like this, nothing wrong with it, we'd just like to make some changes.
We wanted to open up the camper a bit, remove some of the storage cabinets we didn't need and make a sleeping area for our two kiddos.
At the moment "the box", as my four year old calls the camper, looks like this, being prepped for a new "kitchen" ceiling. The jury is out if it's going to be wallpaper, a stain or white paint.
Cushions are being recovered, considering pulling the three way fridge and dropping our Norcold fridge in its place. I don't have much experience with these three way fridges, but they seem like a bit if a pain.
Previous owner installed these lights, which are my kiddos favorite feature.
I need to figure out how to best secure the camper to the truck, install our old awning, maybe figure out a tailgate extension and finish out the interior.
I'll post some pictures along the way, for anyone looking at these campers they seem like decent construction and are very affordable on the used market.
This is what I could find online about how they're built. Not a FWC for sure, but with some reinforcement I think it will serve us well.
Factory Tour showing aluminum framing near the end.
Article that covers the switch to aluminum framing in recent years.
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