Over the years I鈥檝e spent nights in everything from ultralight backpacking tents to 24-foot Airstreams, and can say without a doubt that the (from $15,625) is the one of the most unique and innovative shelters I鈥檝e seen in that time.
Most manufacturers give midsize truck owners a camper light and low profile enough for their rigs by combining a shell with a rooftop tent, creating a spartan cabana in the back of a pickup that owners are free to outfit (or not) however they鈥檇 like. SkinnyGuy took the opposite approach and designed a low-profile camper that comes with everything you鈥檇 find in a standard RV鈥攁n electrical system, running hot water, lighting, a furnace, a shower, and even a flushing toilet鈥攖hat also gives you access to your truck bed.
Rather than sliding into the bed like a it sits on top of your truck鈥檚 bed rails and is secured to proprietary mounts that help distribute the camper鈥檚 800- to 1,000-pound weight. The initial install is a chore, but once the mounts are in place, the camper comes on and off via three removable jacks in about 10 minutes. Since it鈥檚 only cab-high when folded up, you won鈥檛 see a big impact on your truck鈥檚 fuel economy and you鈥檒l still be able to park your truck in the garage, which isn鈥檛 the case with virtually anything else on the market.
The camper鈥檚 design also means you鈥檝e still got space in your bed underneath it for hauling things, or running a drawer system. That鈥檚 also not something you can do with other full-featured slide-ins. Those campers may offer a bit more protection from the elements given their hard sides, but I tested the SkinnyGuy in below-freezing temps and was able to keep the temperature near 70 thanks to the Truma Combi furnace.
SkinnyGuy makes six different sizes of their camper to fit nearly every truck bed on the market, and offers four different trim levels, with a shell model starting around $15,000 and the fully specced out model coming in at a whopping $36,000. At first glance, that may seem expensive for what looks like a tent鈥攂ut when you consider the compact footprint, the top-of-the-line systems, fuel economy, storage benefits, off-road capability, and the use of your truck bed while the camper is on, it鈥檚 competitively priced, if not a downright deal. For the overland enthusiast who wants a truly full-featured camper that won鈥檛 hold them back off road, the SkinnyGuy is hard to beat.