Wow, full timing in a truck camper in Colorado - - no way, baby. They are not equipped for it. You will not charge up a battery (typical camper has one small battery) sufficient with a little driving to hold you thru the night. And, you have to park that puppy somewhere at night and generators not welcome in the middle of the night. You need to find somewhere that is a lot cheaper than $680 per month - - that is Florida rates in the winter. You could then leave a fifth wheel, have power and water and sewer and live like a human. I think you are over simplifying living in an RV in the winter. There are a lot of fivers that are not rated for freezing weather, much less pickemup campers.

 

I have lived in my camper for a week at a time. I have a sportmen it is kind of cheep made. You can learn some tricks to save on water. Keep in mind the loaded weight of the camper so you done over load truck. You can see mind in photo on this sight. Neil

 

I don't see the 3000 series listed for 07 yet, either. Maybe there haven't been enough on the market for NADA to judge what they go for.


One of the guys at work lived in an Artic Fox for quite a while, and I guess he was OK, but he had full hookups. Those are also well built, heavily insulated campers.

Anyway, along the lines of what Fiver Bob was talking about, I'd bet you will want a big pair of commercial deep cycles, and maybe you can get occasional access to a power outlet at work?

Although that Bigfoot is a small space and well insulated, I think it would take a long run time on either the generator or truck to keep the batteries up from the furnace draw.

Maybe the Boss would give you permission to run an extension cord over to a plug in at night? Solar would also help, but you have to keep the snow off...

 

Most of the campers I have looked at have had 2 deep cycle batteries, same as most of the fifth wheels I've looked at. I plan to add 2 more if I can find the space, maybe in the bed space in front of the wheel wells.

When I first hatched this plan I figured that I would need to run the generator about 2 hours a day. I was told by the knowledgeable folks over on rv.net that it probably wouldn't take that much with a little drive time and a solar panel. I guess you're never sure til you try it. I can always convert to a catalytic heater that doesn't use battery power.

 

On a truck camper, you will generally have room for two batteries. Generator run time to recharge would depend on the converter/charger. A built-in generator on a camper will be propane powered, and they usually only have 2 5 gallon propane cans...

You will likely see something less than 25 amps or so from the truck's charging system.

Those catalytic converters concern me a bit, but I think if you know what you are doing, get one of the high end ones, and only use it when you are awake, they can probably be used safely...

If night temps are down in the 20's or so, and I keep the thermostat down to 50 most of the time (when I'm not there, or asleep), I can generally get somewhere around 5 days out of the batteries, and will also go through about 7 gal of propane in that time...

The camper you are looking at would be less space, and better insulated, but then you would probably be using it in much colder temps.

As you say, trying it would be the only way to know.