So, you are considering a vehicle for road trips or full-time living. We’ve come up with a few different things to think about when looking at both vans and truck campers.

1. Versatility – Truck Camper

The van is entirely customizable, however, once it is built to have a bed, kitchen, and possibly bathroom there isn’t much moving it around. With a truck camper on the other hand, you’re able to take the camper out of the bed of the truck and use the truck for whatever you want. You can even switch trucks if need be and the only thing you need to account for is bed size and payload capacity.

2. Stealth – Van

Now stealth may not be important to some people but it can come in handy. If you plan on traveling through a city or want to stay overnight somewhere without being too obvious, vans allow you to do this. With a truck camper you might be attracting a lot of attention if you drive through NYC and sometimes its not the kind of attention you want.

3. Get up and Go – Van

When I think of the biggest hassle of truck campers I think of having to load and unload the camper on to the truck ( If you choose to take it off in the first place ). You have to back the truck up underneath the camper and lower the camper down into the bed. After that you need to pull the jacks all the way up and tie down the camper to the arms attatched to the frame of the truck. This is much easier and less time consuming on paper. With a van you get out of bed, hop in the driver seat and go.

4. Breaking Down – Truck Camper

So lets say you saved some money and got a used truck or van. What happens when you break down or have a problem? With a truck camper you take the camper off while your truck is in the shop. If the problem is too big or expensive you can start looking for a new truck. When your van breaks down, well now you have to find a place to live while it is getting serviced. Forget about buying a new van and converting it while your out on the road, that will take too much time and money.

5. Comfort – Van

It is all about how you make it. With a van you have the opportunity to build it however you want or search from various different layouts that meet your specific needs. You love to ski, surf, or bike? Great, you can build your van around your hobbies. You can design a van to have a huge bed, beautiful kitchen, and even a bathroom!

Truck campers come as they are. Some campers have all of the amenities mentioned above but certainly not all. Don’t get me wrong, truck campers do have room for customizations leading to higher comfort but not in the same way that a blank canvas van does.

6. Cost – Truck Camper

If you are buying a truck and a camper or a sprinter van the cost can vary widely depending on what you want. For a new van with all of the bells and whistles, costs can easily be upwards of $100,000. Same with a new truck and a new camper. However, if you are willing to look for something a little older ( like we are ), then you will definitely be able to bring the costs down. We got our hands on a used camper for less than $10,000 and are looking for a truck that is hopefully under $30,000. If I had the same mentality going to buy a van, I would get the van itself for under $30,000 and then have to buy all of the materials I need to convert the inside. Not to mention the time you spend to build the van exactly how you want it.

Conclusion

There are many more things to consider when picking the right vehicle for your journey. We have decided to go the truck and camper route in order to have peace of mind, the ability to adjust to whatever life throws our way, and to (hopefully )save money.