Everything you wanted to know about how to select the right camper
How do you pick the right camper? How do you pick the right tow vehicle? How do you make the right choice when there are so many options? These are great questions. Let’s tackle them all! The first question is the hardest. Do you want a traditional travel trailer, 5th wheel, or a motorhome? You could also go with a truck camper. How do you choose? There will be a few factors as to which direction to go. The first being budget. Second normally comes down to what type of camping you plan on doing. These are the 2 largest driving factors. First, let’s look at the budget.
Budget-
Budget is the driving force on most camper decisions. The vast majority of campers out there are travel trailers. This is due to the vast amount of trucks out there. If you have a truck, you can tow some sort of travel trailer. If you have the most common truck, a ½ ton (F150/1500) truck, that will give you the ability to tow most travel trailers. If your half ton was purchased with towing in mind, has the right engine and gearing, you can almost tow any trailer. You can also start towing lighter weight 5th wheels also! Smaller ¼ ton trucks, (think Colorado) can also have a surprisingly high towing capacity also, upwards of 7,000lbs. This will give you the ability to tow a very nice medium sized trailer.
Since most people will have a truck like this and use it as a daily driver, picking out a trailer that goes with it makes a lot of sense. They are only adding the cost of the trailer to the mix, which will offer some of the lowest entry costs available. Costs will range from teens to pushing the $100k mark.
If you have a larger truck, say a ¾ ton unit (think F250/2500), you can tow any travel trailer and most 5th wheel campers. 5th wheel campers typically cost more than a travel trailer. Typical price of entry would be in the mid to high $30,000 mark and go up from there. Most units you will find on a dealer’s lot will top out somewhere over $100,000, but the sky is the limit. You can get into some high end units that will surpass this figure easily. The larger units will require a 1 ton (F350/3500) truck and even require dual axles on your tow vehicle.
A Truck Camper is another option for the back of the truck bed. Truck campers can be very small, very basic, and some will be very large, 3 slide outs and have enough room to live in. The size of your truck will dictate the size of your truck camper. Generally, the larger the truck, the larger the camper!
What if you don’t have a truck? If you have a smaller SUV or other vehicle you are still in luck! A pop up is a great low budget option as well! They will weigh somewhere between a few hundred pounds and a few thousand pounds. As the name suggests, the camper “pops open” to give you more camping space. Think of it as a tent on wheels, with most of the features of a travel trailer. Modern pop ups are very easy to open and close.
If you are not worried about the price, there are motorhomes. These are campers with engines! There are a few different types of motorhomes available. Simple and smaller Vans that have camping amenities in them. Then there is the traditional class C motorhome. This is what most people think of when someone says motorhome. They have the bunk over the cab and are usually built on a van type chassis. Then there are the larger class A motorhomes. These are the ones that look like a coach bus going down the road. All of these options are great for the traveling family, but do cost more to maintain. There is another engine there with all of the moving parts to go with it. Pricing starts out in the $60,000 range and from there the sky’s the limit.
Camping locations-
Let’s talk about where you are going to use the camper next. Your selection of camper will rely somewhat on how you intend on using it. Will you bring it to a campground and leave it there? Will you use it to visit all of the National Parks? Keep that in mind when selecting your camper. You wouldn’t want to use a 40 foot park model to travel the country. That is not what they were designed for. Generally speaking, campgrounds will vary in the amenities offered. Some will simply have a place for you to park, nothing around but nature. Others will be a paved pad for you to park on, electric, water and sewage hook up for everything that you need. Where you camp will depend on the experience that you are looking for. Do you want to be one with nature, or do you want to go to a campground that has a water park and activities to keep the kids busy all day long? There are an unlimited number of options available. Most people camp within 2-5 hours of home regularly. See what is available nearby and start exploring!
Back to camper selection for a moment. There are parks out there that have a length limit. Some are as short as 32’, most if they have a limit is going to be 36’. 36’ should allow you to camp almost anywhere. A Lot of national parks will limit you to 36’ overall. If you get a camper in the 40’+ range, keep in mind that will limit you to specific campgrounds and sites at those campgrounds. You will not fit everywhere, and site selection and availability will be reduced. If you get a shorter camper, you will have your pick of all the sites available!
