After 13 years of living on the road, first in a 2007 27′ Fleetwood Lynx travel trailer and then in a 2007 36′ Hitchhiker 34.5 RLTG fifth wheel, we switched gears and moved back into a sticks-and-bricks home.
But we didn’t want to give up the thrill of the open road completely! Since we still owned our 2016 Dodge Ram 3500 dually pickup truck, we decided a truck camper would do the trick for shorter duration adventures.
A 2005 Arctic Fox truck camper turned up on Craigslist in excellent condition, garage kept and barely used. Counting our lucky stars, we took the plunge, bought it, and have been having fun setting it up and taking it on a few short trips.
Here’s a quickie tour of the camper that will be our new little home on wheels.
Our new little buggy!
The Arctic Fox 860 has one slideout on the passenger side and is on the smaller size for a long bed truck camper. It is designed to be carried by a single rear wheel pickup truck so it is an easy load for our dually.
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One of our goals was to be able to travel with our Polaris RZR in tow. We had triple towed the RZR on a small flat bed trailer behind our fifth wheel for two years. That worked, but it was cumbersome.
Having the RZR right behind the truck now rather than 40′ behind us makes it a lot easier to bring the RZR along on our travels. One thing that Mark has found, though, is that because our utility trailer is only 5′ wide, he can’t see it in the rear view mirrors when he’s driving unless he makes a very sharp turn. This makes it a bit tricky to back up!
Also, because our utility trailer is only 10′ long, it holds our Polaris 900 series UTV but can’t carry our bikes at the same time. I have a secret wish for a larger utility trailer which might solve both problems… we’ll see!
We can tow the RZR easily with this new rig.
The Arctic Fox 860 does not extend beyond the back of the truck. Many larger truck campers hang out a foot or two beyond the back bumper of the truck. With those campers you need a hitch extension to tow anything behind. With this model, the RZR trailer hitches directly to the hitch receiver on the truck without an extension.
The camper doesn’t hang far off the back of the truck, so the RZR can be hitched directly to the ball mount in the truck’s hitch receiver.
FLOOR PLAN
Arctic Fox 860 truck camper floor plan
CAPACITIES
Here are the tank and HVAC capacities for the Arctic Fox 860:
Fresh Water: 46 gallons, including 6 gal. hot water heater
Gray Water: 25 gallons
Black Water: 25 gallons
Propane: 14 gallons (60 lbs.)
Furnace: 20k BTU
Air Conditioner: 11k BTU
INTERIOR
Oh look, there’s Mark at the door. Let’s head inside!
Come on in!
The interior is open and bright.
The slideout (right side of the pic) gives the interior an open feeling.
The dinette is on the passenger side as you walk in and it’s very comfortable for two. Since there are no recliners or sofa, we both like to turn sideways on the benches, lean against a cushion behind us and stretch out our legs!
The louvered window makes it possible to keep the window open even when it drizzles.
The dinette is comfortable and the window brings in lots of light.
The three-way 6 cubic foot refrigerator can run on 12 volt DC electricity, 110 volt AC or propane. The fridge is the same size as the one in our Lynx travel trailer that we lived in during our first year on the road. Our fifth wheel had an 8 cubic foot refrigerator.
The 6 cubic foot refrigerator is a 3-way (12v DC, 110v AC, or LP) .
The bathroom is on your left as you enter, behind a sliding door, and the kitchen is beyond that.
The bathroom and kitchen are on the left (the driver’s side) as you enter.
This camper has two showers, one in the bathroom and one outside. Back in our days of camping in our little popup tent trailer, we made good use of our outdoor shower and got a kick out of bathing in the fresh air (in remote places, of course!). Mark used to love showering on the back of the boat too!
Wet bath (ie., the toilet is your shower companion)
Wet bath
The kitchen is small but very workable and I’ve found it easy to make good meals in it.
Sliding pantry rack
The cupboards and drawer space are sufficient.
Years ago, for the boat, I bought a stainless steel Magma nesting pots and pans set which has several sizes of pots, pans and tops that all stack into each other along with two removable handles. I’ve always said this high quality, handy dandy compact kit would be ideal for a truck camper, and it is! (I just noticed that Camco and Stansport make similar smaller sets that are much less expensive).
I’ve never used the plastic cutting board sink covers in our previous RVs, but I find I tend to cover one side of the double sink all the time in the camper to get a little more working area when cooking.
Small but functional kitchen
When we took the camper out for our first overnight, we quickly realized we needed a little trash can. Mark improvised and converted a Deschuttes Pale Ale 12-pack box. Ya gotta have a little whimsy in life, so we’re keeping it for now!
Mark’s Deschuttes Pale Ale trash can is working out well!
The bed is in the cabover part of the camper and is a queen size 60″ x 80″ mattress.
The bedroom 🙂
On either side of the bed there are two shirt length hanging closets with mirrored cabinet doors. There’s also an alcove with a window on each side. This makes the bed feel wider than a queen.
Each alcove has lift-up tops to access a deep storage area underneath. We can easily fit two week’s worth of summer clothing with plenty of room to spare.
Each of the window alcoves has a deep storage area beneath cabinet doors that lift up.
At the foot of the bed on the driver’s side there is a TV cabinet with a slide-out tray for the TV.
There is a large cabinet for a TV at the foot of the bed on the driver’s side (kitchen side).
On the opposite side at the foot of the bed a small door opens to reveal a full-length hanging closet that goes deep below the level of the bed.
Behind this door is a full length hanging locker.
And that’s the tour!
I’m heading out — I think there’s a hammock under the trees waiting for me out there!!
A sweet little home that fits right into the bed of our truck!
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More info about the Arctic Fox 860 truck camper:
Old 2004 brochure for the Arctic Fox 860 camper
Our other rolling and floating homes:
- Our rigs over the years – Overview of our RV and truck migration
- 2005 Colonial Popup Tent Trailer – First RV for weekends / vacations
- 2007 Fleetwood Lynx Travel Trailer – First full-time RV (1 year)
- 2007 Hitchhiker II 34.5 RLTG Fifth Wheel – Second full-time RV (12 years, some years split with sailing)
- 2008 Hunter 44DS Sailboat – Our cruising home on Mexico’s Pacific coast (nearly 4 years split with RVing)
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- Genesis Supreme 28CRT Toy Hauler – Why We Chose It!
- Truck Camper Pros and Cons – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
- 2005 Arctic Fox 860 Truck Camper – Grand Tour!
- Finding a Fifth Wheel Trailer or Toy Hauler to be a Full-time Home!
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