Well, Momma Gozt and I are looking to make more of the HAMB gatherings, along with other sights and get togethers along the way, but the idea of ponying up hotel fare each time we stop kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Worst thing is, I feel like Goldilocks or the Princess and the Pea when it comes to sleeping in/on one of those beds - I just can't get comfortable and they screw my back up royally. So... We've been looking at a cabover type camper, or - as another alternative - converting my '03 Dodge 3/4 ton into a ramp truck to both haul the RPU and pull a travel type trailer. If I converted my truck into a ramptruck, I'd then be able to dump my car trailer and just have a camper. Thing is - we've never really been around campers or anything like this. With me being 6'3" and 250+ pounds, I want to be comfortable, have easy access to a toilet and a fridge (think intake AND exhaust!), and be able to sleep comfy in my own bed. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear some of your ideas and opinions. Thanks! ~Gozt
I've tried them all (motorhomes, toyboxes, travel trailers), and I have a 11.5' cabover for the last 5 years and pull a car trailer when needed. I'm 6'8" and 235#, and it works fine. the 11.5s have a big bed over the cab, so it's about the same size as a 18' travel trailer. it has AC, gen, micro, awning and all the other stuff the girls need. plus it's easy to put on the truck with electric jacks, doesn't tie up the truck all the time. works for me. Dave
I have never had a ramp truck but wanted one. I have camped my whole life and have owned 3 Motorhomes and one Slide in camper. I currently have a Motor home. I pulled a bronco II to Wyoming from Chicago with little problems. This year I towed my Explorer to Tennessee from Chicago and it is Ok on the Straight roads. On the hills and twisties the Front of the explorer wants to push the rear of the Motor home and gives a bad feeling. I had a 11.5 Slide in camper on my 1969 Ford F250 Camper special, I used 2 in solid bar 3 foot long to clear camper to tow my boat and never really liked the rocking up and down motion it gave me. If I were to do it again I would go with 8 ft camper and use normal Reese type hitch and think it would be no problem. I dont know what your car is but flat towing it seams better to have a light car. I have towed ******s and tempos with no problem, behind my Motor home.
This is my current rig setup, along with the RPU I'd be towing. It's just too much and too small to drive that long of a distance for me right now at least. I've been told that I look similar to the Roth cartoons when I'm in it and driving, or like Herman Munster. We're just looking and thinking more than anything right now. I'm hoping to come across a great deal on a cabover, as I can sell it if we don't like it. I figure though once I change my truck over to a ramp (OR a rollback - which is a dream - lol) I'd be pretty much committed to keeping it for a looong time. Anyway, here's what I've got right now. 2003 3/4 ton Dodge and 20' dovetail.
I have a gooseneck ball/hitch plate in the bed of my truck. I'd have to build a 'false floor' for the bed of my truck in order to clear the ball. Would this be a problem do you think? This would make the bottom of the camper sit about 4" or so above the bed floor.
I also have a gooseneck setup, but the ball is easily removable by pulling a lever, no interference. Mine is a 1-ton Dodge diesel. if you're going to be doing a lot of pulling with your 3/4 ton you may want to consider an 8 footer. The cl*** 5 hitch I have uses an extender to get behind the 11.5 camper. no problems but the duallys really help. my camper is over 5000#, so I don't tow anything too heavy with the extension, maybe 6000# max towed load. I don't recommend a false floor, they're already very top heavy. Dave
My dad has an 11.5 cabover. he first tried it on his 3/4 ton with air bag helper springs and didn't like it at all. Said it wobbled around to much. Ended up getting a dually 1 ton and it works great.
Be sure to check into the insurance angle if you're trying to use a ramp truck non commercially. You might be shocked at the rate you're quoted. Otherwise the plan sounds good but you're starting to drag a lot of **** around. Be careful of making too much stress trying to prepare & maintain the traveling setup. I've also known a lot of people who embarked on these projects, and didn't get em done during their traveling years Also, ever thought about a toybox trailer? Camper up front, Car out back. The new ones are pricey, but converting a used car trailer shouldn't be too difficult. IMO anything you can do to condense this down to one project (ie not customizing/buying a truck AND a trailer) makes it much more realistic to complete good luck
I'll second that on checking on insurance. Here in SC four rear wheel means commerical tags which means more money. And along with that if your truck can carry another vehicle then the insurance is about 3X the norm. I've got an 85 Ramp truck sitting in my back yard rusting away just because of the cost to operate. I now run a E-350 Cube van that has been changed into a camper and registered as a RV (cheaper than a car) and insurance is a lot less. It tows a trailer like there is nothing there. Another set-up is to get a long Car Hauler and convert it into a toybox, 1/2 camper and 1/2 cargo, goose neck is best here. I've been thinking of putting my 55 Ford cab on the ramptruck and selling it.
If you got the space to do it, and the time to do it... You just might want to consider one of these: http://trx.punknet.org/TikiWiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=1 Yea, that particular one os over the top, but you dont have to be quire that fancy. You could leave the back "car toter" area opento the elements and just have a set of fold up ramps, then finish out the front 1/2 to your liking. Check out e-bay motors for used busses... $2500-3500 will get you a NICE unit with a fleet maintained ***mins "P-7100" diesel with under 100k miles. In my part of the country, I can buy 1980's model travel campers with bathrooms and kitchens in rough shape with rotted out wooden floors all day long for $500 each... Get yourself one of those and transfer all the plumbing and appliances into the bus. Get the wife involved with making curtains, carpet selections, decorating, etc. You would be surprised how "wife friendly" one of these can be. Check out www.skoolie.net for more freaks who live, eat, and breath this crazy stuff. Then... Check out www.frybrid.com or www.greasecar.com to learn how to run it on used cooking grease... Free fuel!!!!! Mount additional tanks to hold ~3-400 gallons of veg-oil, and take off cross country! I'v built 3 S'koolies over the years, and I'm fixing to do a 4th. And I'v sold every one at a VERY nice proffit! Like I said. You gotta have time and space to build one... You also got to be a little nuts. But since your already on the HAMB, I figure you fit right into that crowd. Just to put it into perspective for you. My folks got a Bluebird Wanderlodge RV sitting in their driveway, and a $2000 a month payment to go with it... I got a $2400 1988 Bluebird 72 p***enger bus with a 5.9 ***mins, MT-645 ******, and 93k original miles sitting behind the barn... I'll have about $7k more dollars in the conversion, and when I'm done, you wont be able to tell the 2 of them apart! But mine will be paid for, and it will run on free fuel that I can get from the dumpster behind any Chinese Buffet in the country. Sorry I'll get off my soap-box now... I just got a little carried away on a topic I'm p***ionate about.
Geez I love this place! I've been contemplating the different ways to do things, and really hadn't thought about the bus route. The school where my MIL works sold 2 school buses last year - low mileage and well maintained - 1 '99 and 1 '01 for $750 each. I may look into going that route instead down the road. Nice thing about something like that is I could still pull my trailer if I needed to. I've looked at the 'toyhauler' trailers, and they are just too expensive for me right now. No way I could afford the 5-10K they want for them now around here - even used. I didn't think about the insurance part for the ramp truck, but it does make sense. I'm mainly trying to figure something out to make it a bit easier on us. We're contemplating a trip as we speak to George Ray's Wildcat strip and it'll be at least an overnight trip. At $100 for gas and $100 for the hotel, it's not too expensive, but it is rough enough on us right now. This is why I'll probably look for a 8-9 foot camper for the meantime. Worse comes to it, I'll just punch a hole in the floor and let my gooseball poke up through.
I bought this one from a local racer guys. Its a 1993 International schools bus. Diesel 366turbo with allison auto. Has generator, roof air, two beds one a futon couch and a large chair. Side awning etc... We love this thing. Car ( or truck) on back , can pull a trailer pretty well and we sleep in it. getting ready now for a 5 day model t tour. We will haul one car and trailer another one on the rear as well. Camping at a fiargrounds and driving the Ts every day. Pretty comfortable....these buses are fairly cheap to buy and insurance ( as a truck) is fair... Four of us drove non stop to the salt flats in about 34 hours straight thru, watching movies , sleeping etc.........
I'm likeing the way that looks. Not too big, not too small, but manageable. I've also been halfway looking at the wide 'slant' horse trailers. If I could find one that is about 30' or so long, I could have a 18-20' long by about 6'6" wide interior area for hauling and a 6'6" by 12' apartment type area. Problem is finding one of them reasonable enough as well.
That's our plan for the Goodguys at Bowling Green next month. Two nights in the Beech Bend campground is less than half what one night in a motel costs. If we shove the car all the way to the back at night, we've got almost 12 feet of space for a bed, etc. We'll cook outside on a small grill. This will be a test of sorts, and if it works we may make more a permanent set-up, like a generator, small fridge, etc.
Hey Bubba, Sheet metal some of those windows over for some added privacy. Got any interior shots? I like that setup... Simple and functional. BTW, thanks for posting that pic. It's actually the exact type of s'koolie I was looking for to show, but I couldn't find the right pic on the net.
I'd like to hear how it all turns out and what you guys wind up doing with your truck/trailer setup. I'd like to see some interior pics of this rig as well. It's a great idea. I like the dropped ramp in the rear for easier loading.
O. K. guys if you want to haul a gooseneck trailer you should use this hitch from B&W: http://www.turnoverball.com/turnover.asp Its the turnover ball hitch. The ball lifts out when you pull the lever inside fenderwell, turn it over and you have a flat bed in the truck. If you need a 5th wheel hitch, B&W makes a fifth wheel hitch ***embly which attaches to the turnover ball. My brother-in-law has the turnover ball hitch in his Dodge Ram pickup and wouldn't have anything else. One of these is going into my F1 pickup. Phil
My hitch cost me $40 and hauls exactly the same amount of weight. The only difference is that my plate bolts in the bed, uses a spacer to fill the gap between the bed and framerail, but the ball is mounted solid to the plate. I didn't see a price on that hitch, but I'd ***ume it is between $300-400. Thats alot of money to pay for something that just allows the ball to be flipped over.
Saw a nice conversion on an enclosed car trailer once, the front had a bathroom and kitchen set up, and when the car was out he set up cots in the cargo area for sleeping. Had roof air and an rv style side walk in door. The guy did all the work himself and it looked like a factory conversion.
I've got this old thing. It's been a hauler since the late 60's-early 70's. It's registered as an RV and ins. is cheapo.
Ya know, I've been thinking thru this homebuilt toybox idea quite a bit, and you know what would make it over-the-top perfect????? Build in an expanding section, wouldn't have to be a pullout like a high end RV, could be as simple as adding folding sides from a popout camper or possibly a raised roof portion (ala VW bus). Would allow ya to clutter up the central area a lil more with built-ins, but still be able to sleep a handful of people.
Actually it has curtains all the way around inside with black outs with snaps for the entrance door etc. I will get ya some interior shots next week at the shop.
I was thinking something like this too, but with a twist - I'd want to make it somewhat solid sided like some of those little scamp type trailers. Just a snap together sealed wall setup that'd allow some insulation and sound deadening from the inside to outside.
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