Slide-in Camper and 1500, no go?

smurfs_of_war said:

You can get some nice hybrids that will play well with your payload rating too. Maybe check some of those out? If you're happy with a tent trailer, then by all means, your logic is sound, but with 1600lbs payload available, you can have a pretty decent trailer on there to sleep 4 with the tongue weight you could handle. Our older JayFeather sleeps 8 with a 535lbs tongue weight

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metalfab said:

Thanks for that info. By hybrids you mean brands like Palomino and Northstar? As those pop-up slide-ins appear to weigh too much.

Funny thing is a 2012 2500 spec'd similar to my 1500 is going for $3000 more at a different dealership. Too late to go for it now. It doesn't diminish the fact that I still like my 1500 though ;-)

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CDN Ram said:

I towed a hybrid trail cruiser by R Vision for years with my old truck an F150 great little trailer 25ft long. about 4500 lbs empty I think 5700 lbs loaded. The F150 towed it fine, so your 1500 should have no problem. Only problem was with the hybrid, we found that sleeping in the hybrid was damp all the time as it is in a tent trailer. the rest of the trailer would be warm and dry but your sleeping area was cold and damp. We had the hybrid for 6 years and had alot of fun with it but we(wife) grew tired of the dampness every night. bought a bigger truck and now moving on to a biggers non hybrid trailer.

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Thaylin said:

I will also confirm the dampness, and cold of the bunk ends in a Hybrid Trailer. We bought the Kodiak Express single axle hybrid and it weighs 3100lbs. But the condensation in the bunk ends requires daily drying. It even was "raining" inside with so much moisture on the canvas, and standing water under the mattresses. We tried everything from opening all windows, running fans, heaters, AC Units, finally we just told our two girls to stop breathing. That seemed to be the only thing that worked. We never had this issue with our previous Tent Trailer, only the Hybrid. Do your research on Hybrids. It's known issue that no manufacture is talking about, and the only thing that seems to help is having heated mattresses. We will be upgrading to a full travel trailer with motored slide outs, no more canvas ends for us.

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metalfab said:

I didn't even think a slide-in camper would be an issue with the 1500. I saw Tacomas and Dakotas with them all the time and thought nothing of it. So when we went truck shopping I didn't even have that in mind. My lack of research caught up with me and apparently only 3/4 ton trucks are allowed to carry slide-in campers. Meaning the 2500 series and up.

There are the pop-up type style that fit in the truck bed but they are really small, most sleep 3 people, I need one that sleeps 4. On that note the 1500 can carry 1600lbs in the back. Even these small pop-ups weight in at about 1100-1600lbs. Add 2 adults, 2 kids and we'd hit the 1600lbs mark and thats without gear, etc we bring along.

After some thinking I'm going for a tent trailer. They cost about the same, there is more room, most sleep 5 which is plenty and towing it is no problem for the 1500. Also, with that solution we won't have to carry everything with us when doing day trip from the campsite(s).

If my thinking above is off, any other solutions from members here would be great.

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TRCM said:

Don't forget, that 1600 lbs also includes you and any other passengers, so if you have a normal family of four, that would mean 500-600 lbs of that would be eaten up by just the family, not counting any supplies or gear, keaving you with maybe 1100 lbs at best.

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WhiteExpress said:

Here's my opinion based off of camping in / with others and their experience.

A slide in camper immobilizes you once you arrive. Once you're setup, you're not going anywhere till you break down. This sucks. Comfort level in a truck camper is somewhat low, at least any I have been in.

Pop-up trailers are a step in the right direction. They are nicer than tent camping because you have a solid floor, and in general are more 'water tight'. They still have that 'dampness' mentioned by others, as will anything with a canvas / fabric component.

Standard (even if small) trailer, hard sided - man these are the deal! You can get even a 17' design with a queen over king setup that'll sleep a lot of people fairly comfortably, and they are dry, warm and require virtually NO setup once you arrive at your destination.

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loveracing1988 said:

With the new campers with electric jacks make it so easy to detach and go it litterally takes 5 minutes to unhook and drive off, about the same amount of time it takes to back your fifth wheel or travek trailer into its spot, unhook and leave.

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h2oman said:

Nope. You can lift it off with the jacks and live in the camper without it being on the truck. Just like a trailer.

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