![]() ![]() The dinette is in the back, so when you back up and face the water you’ve got the big window to look at the lake. We also felt more comfortable with a non-slide camper like the American Hero. ![]() Some of those places do not have room to put out a slide. Karen and I get into tight spaces while truck camping. Some of the people I’ve talked to who have owned slide-out truck campers have had problems, like the slide-out motors seizing up and having to crank the slide-out in by hand. A flatbed truck camper gives us the additional room and floor space without slides. What made you change to the Northstar American Hero flatbed camper?ĭick: We needed more room, but we’re not crazy about slide-out model truck campers. TCM: The Northstar Freedom is a nice camper. Plus being able to drop the camper and drive the truck away was attractive.Ībove: The dinette of the flatbed camper is in the rear so the Parsons back up and face the water when camping We love camping and the truck camper seemed to fit our need to get into four wheel drive places in the wilderness. It would have been much better to choose our truck camper first, and then get the truck we needed for that camper. We had already purchased a truck and then decided to get a truck camper. After researching truck camper dealers in our area, we purchased a Northstar Freedom.ĭick: The Northstar Freedom was the smallest hard side truck camper Northstar made at that time. In the summer of 2010, we decided to go a different route and purchase a truck camper. ![]() As we got older, tenting and canoe camping become more and more difficult. We have always been tenters and canoe campers. Karen: We are fairly new to the world of truck camping. What does it take to actually put together a flatbed truck and camper? Are there some strategies involved when ordering the truck? What’s it like to load? Thankfully, Richard and Karen agreed to an interview so we could share their story. Like many folks at that rally, we were full of questions. When we met Richard and Karen Parsons at the North-East Truck Camping Jamboree in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, we were very exited to see their Northstar American Hero flatbed truck camper rig. In theory, all you lose are the truck rails. It’s like building above the rails, if the rails were the same height as the wheel wells. The truck deck is essentially the full width of the truck, at wheel well height. With a flatbed truck, there are no side rails. The simple answer is to build a flatbed truck and truck camper. What if there was another way to get the wider floor space without the high center of gravity, additional weight, and higher cost of building above the rails? A Ford F550 would be an even better idea. Don’t even think of anything less than a late model one-ton Ford or Chevy dually. Furthermore, the higher center of gravity and additional material necessary to build these campers mean you’ll need a serious truck. Unfortunately, building above the side rails also means raising the center of gravity and adding material (increasing cost and weight) to these designs. With no wheel wells or side rails in the way, everything is wide open. This means the floor of the truck camper is literally above the side rails of the truck giving these models significantly wider floor plans and enormous basements. Richard and Karen Parsons share their story of assembling a Northstar American Hero flatbed truck camper with a Chevy Silverado 3500HD crew cab flatbed truck.įor the past five years or so, a few truck camper manufacturers have been building their multi-slide basement models above the side rails. ![]()
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