Does anyone rent truck campers?

[davepl]

I think it'd be a lot of fun to take my Custom Camper camping, but I really don't want to purchase a camper for it.

From my initial searching it looks like the answer is "No", but I'm wondering if any of the rental places like CruiseAmerica and so on rent truck campers. I imagine the market is much bigger for trailer campers, but it doesn't hurt to ask...

Worst case I could rent a towable unit, but it'd be a lot more fun to have it right on the truck like it was intended. It's also how this truck spent most of its life before I got ahold of it!

[Coley]

Geez. ..I wish I still had my period camper Dave....you could have used that. I had it on a 72 1/2 ton with overloads and heavier tires....it was an 8 ft'er.
They can be pretty cool but we switched to a vintage trailer so we could drop it at the campsite and have the truck free and available to run around in.
Is your truck rigged for a camper?....camper wiring plug, front rear hold downs or a frame cross bar?

All good

Coley

[FirstOwner69]

I've never heard of anyone renting truck campers. Even if you find someone who does, you'd have a tough time finding one to properly fit your Longhorn unless it's an 8 footer that does not extend beyond the truck bed.

You don't want to mess up that fancy bed or wheel housings anyway.

Jim

[davepl]

Oh crud, I forgot I had a Longhorn.

That's pretty silly of me! I guess in the back of my mind I actually thought all campers were long and just toppers were short, but of course they build them to fit the trucks they make today, not my speciality unit! I was even willing to put boards and padding where needed to protect things, but finding an 8' temporarily would be unreasonable.

[FirstOwner69]

I think part of the problem back in the day that led to the demise of the Longhorn was that there was not a big enough buying audience to make it profitable for most manufacturers to make the specialty campers that properly fit a Longhorn. The introduction of the "Big Dooley" in 1973 sealed the Longhorn's fate by providing a much more stable platform.

Jim

[Coley]

In my opinion the 8ft-ers are the best campers because they are typically light and simple.
Most of them will push all the way into the front of even a Longhorn leaving a 6" gap back near the closed tailgate so long as they don't have the 2 back end side kickouts interfering with the back of the box.
The bigger campers (9'+) tended to be that way in order to have a toilet on them, which I am absolutely no fan of in the least.
Its better to train the family to use external/outdoor washroom facilities than to have to empty that thing after each and every trip....OR...make the arrangement that whoever uses it...cleans it out at the end of the trip, which usually puts an end to that...lol.
My wife and I have a simple agreement on this....if she has to go in the night...we both go for the walk...no problem. Way better option than another 1-2 hr rubber glove ending to a camping weekend...lol.
The big advantage of the 8ft-er tho is its simply lighter and usually simpler and that to me helps define good camping....just my two bits.

All Good
Coley