Opinions on a more capable motorhome/camper
 

Over the years I've owned a number of motorhomes, a couple of class C's , a Travco and now a Bluebird Wanderlodge FC 35. I like the Wanderlodge since it has lots of room and amenities but it's strictly an on-road vehicle given its size.
I've been reading about people who take more adventurous road trips such as the Paris-Peking club and would like to do some things like that, if time and life permits. So, I'm thinking about adding a Fuso FG 4wd camper to the stable. Carl Hunter drove his around the world a few years ago after building his own design. I'm curious as to people's opinion of the rig. Here's a thread from an expedition web site on the designs people have come up with:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16861

I'm not thinking of dropping big $$$. I'm thinking of a used truck and a used camper.

Do you mean trailer camper? 5th Wheel or Truck camper?

I'd do it in this order

1. 5th Wheel
2. Trailer
3. Tent
4. bivouac
5. Truck Camper

The only one with off roading ability would be the pickup with truck camper, but that would have stability challenges with the center of gravity. Perhaps a pop up truck camper would work.

Tom W

Unimog with a radio cab!

Truck camper like some of the ones in that thread. Some have mounted a trailer on the truck frame. At the moment I'm toying with the idea of a Fuso FG with a utility body and a pickup camper, perhaps one that pops up. The utility body would give tons of storage.
I'd considered a Unimog but they are not a very good on-highway vehicle. I'm looking for something capable of very rough roads and on-highway, not necessarily something like a Unimog or Tatra or Man which really come into their own completely off road.

That has real possibilities, I think.

Tom W

Think "tree limb's" then high pickup camper, regardless of terrain you will be stopped dead by the tree's you came to enjoy, been there done that you can take a lifted pop-up almost anywhere...and you don't need a pick up.

Yes, and that would be light enough to do it too.

Tom W

I think it'd be a great rig. Those Mitsu's are great little trucks, lots of golf courses and landscapers around here use them and I've always heard good things from the owners/employees about them (we're contemplating a change from diesel F-450's to the equivalent Mitsu for fuel mileage reasons).

If you're going "open" off-road, the utility body with slide in camper would probably be fine as long as it wasn't too tall to affect the center of gravity. A modified pop-up camper mounted to the truck would keep things real low and stable for when your driving, especially along tree lined trails. A cross-frame toolbox behind the cab would give you a lot of storage and a long, low profile underbed box on either side would give you handy storage for a Hi-Lo jack, winch anchor, straps, etc. without sacrificing too much ground clearance (and keep you on the lighter side, too).

While I can't speak first hand for the Mitsu's, the guys rave about their fuel mileage and reliability. We had a IH500, which was just a rebadged Nissan 19.5K GVW diesel box truck, that got considerably better fuel mileage than our Ford F-450's even with a much taller and longer box (and 2.5 tons more carrying capacity). Those Japanese trucks just keep ticking along.

If I could do it all over again I'd have bought a 48K GVW Mitsubishi instead of the 53K GVW IH we have right now. That Cummins is thirsty, we're lucky to get 5-6 laden MPG with it, 7-8 unladen. The Mitsubishi would be about double that.

Now you've got me thinking about all of the possiblities...dang you! :D

Kerry, I think one consideration would be parts availability. Where do you plan to travel and what are the predominant vehicle makes sold there?

Another side benefit of the light pop-up is a few guys can lift it out of ruts and its easier to unhook and turn around if you get in a jam.......not from experience of course:D

That's one of the main reasons why I and others consider the Fuso. It is basically sold everywhere in the world--US, Asia, Europe, South America, Africa. The only other brand that comes close to fitting the category is Mercedes but it sells no 4wd medium duty trucks in the US and most people that chose Mercedes are using the large heavy duty 4wd Mercedes trucks which are less fuel efficient. There is a 4wd medium duty van (814?) in 4wd but it is very rare. Isuzu makes comparable 4wd medium duty trucks but they don't import them to the US.

I think one of the reasons that pop up trailers are not popular amongst world expedition travelers is that they are less secure than fixed body on a truck.

Almost ready to pull the trigger on this one:

http://www.truckpaper.com/listings/detail.aspx?OHID=1741217&dlr=1&guid=A8B19B5E30A64B969D19FF1A851DD007

Looks like properly shod with more "offroad" tires, would go lots of places.

How are you going to sleep in the camper - it's got a lot of strange doors and no windows ;)

Drop down one of those longitudinal doors, crawl inside and sleep like a baby.