Stealth Camping Advice - based on your experience, which camper should I chose?

[Aja_1220]

Hello, how is everyone?
I am looking to buy a camper to and am wanting to stealth camp for about 3 months in a residential /suburb area.
I was thinking about buying the Alaskan.
This camper is able to go into a down position and the manufacturer says that a person can climb into it from the truck if it’s connected with a rubber dam.
I’m hoping I can sleep in the camper virtually unnoticed.
I had wanted to know from experienced stealth campers if you think that when the camper is in the down position, does this make the truck look like a small work truck? Or like a truck cap?
Just want to go unnoticed maybe in overnight parking lots like hospitals, parking garages, off street in the villages that allow overnight parking on some parts of the road, etc. If possible, I would not want to get harassed by police or troublemakers.
I could use advice about what camper to buy.
Thank you,
Aja
Links to both models are below.


CABOVER MODEL:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...QEwBA&dur=2468


NON CABOVER MODEL:
http://www.campinglife.com/rv-and-tr...t-non-cabover/

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Certainly I maybe misinformed on this but I as always under the
impression that " stealth camping" meant camping with or without
a tent in a manner that hide one completely from sight among the
rocks and plant cover .
Using a pickup truck mounted camper does not seem likely to achieve
such near invisibility.
Nevertheless you should be able to park it nearly most places
where parking is permitted and you think the neighborhood is
safe enough . Out in the countryside in Canada and the USA
you should have no great trouble in finding free spots to park for a
night .In towns is another matter , the problem of getting worried and
suspicious residents calling the police , but there are always Walmart
parking lots.
Either one of your campers would be effective.. but not stealthy

[RustyStuff]

From what I know about alaskans, you probably wont be able to get into the bed, if it's down. They are only like 3-4ft tall when in the down position. To sleep in the cab over, it has to be lifted up. If It's a non cab over, I belive there are storage boxes that would be in the bed.



I have a Non-colapseing 8ft Non-cabover Camper, and I think it would be more Inconspicuous , as long as you don't have lights on at night, or make noise. I would reccomend a normal hight camper, because your going to draw alot of attention to your self, while your cranking your camper roof up. With the solid walled one, you just park, open the door, and get it, alot less work/noise..

[jkam]

Forget the truck camper and get a van.
With the van you can park anywhere and be stealthy, especially if you find the right van.

[HeadShrinker]

I have a Sprinter Class C motorhome and rarely use campsites. I've camped on the main drag in many cities, WalMarts, Sams Clubs, rest areas, and downtown Chicago. No one has ever bothered us.

So my advice would be choose the best camper and don't worry about being hassled.

[John Fabian]

The only place to stealth camp in an RV is in a Walmart parking lot. Any RV will do.

[Colemanfu]

Click for more info: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/off-ro...mp-set-up.html

[fullmetalscooter]

yahoo groups has a forum from this. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/VanDwellers/ It s full of people that do it year round.

[gregdee]

Check out the Expedition Portal - it is a site like this but much more vehicle related. Another cool place to go and see, touch, smell, feel, and talk to people about this stuff would be the Overland Expo coming up in May. Awesome event for those looking to get into Overlanding.

I have a Hallmark Ute in the back of a Dodge RAM 2500 - nothing stealthy about it, especially with the top popped, but I have it so I can camp in the middle of nowhere and don't really care about being stealthy.


As stated earlier, a van will be the most stealthy option. The plain white E350 should work just fine. A friend of mine picked up a used cargo van with 100k miles on it for about $9k, He modded the heck out of the suspension, made it 4WD, put studded tires on it, built a raised platform for a bed and stores all his gear under the bed frame. Mountain bikes go in the back next to his tool case. Sweet setup done for very cheap. Next he's considering a Sportsmobile style pop-top but they charge ~$5k for the roof mod so not sure if he's going this route.

[lost...]

Originally Posted by jkam

forget the truck camper and get a van.

+1

[kantuckid]

Originally Posted by John Fabian

The only place to stealth camp in an RV is in a Walmart parking lot. Any RV will do.

But not just any Walmart-most allow overnight parking but some don't-the "list" is in the back of their Rand-McNally atlas they sell. Beware of the list as they shift locations.