After our first cross country camping trip we were sold on the benefits of camping as a family, but we were ready to upgrade from tents. We have seen some families make tents work, but the constant pack and set up required on a cross country trip was just too much for us. We started looking into pop up campers and slide-in truck campers as a next step. After talking to another family who did similar camping, we didn’t think a pop up trailer would do enough in the area of pack and set up times. We were also told packing all of our gear like bikes was difficult with a pop up. All of the slide-in campers we looked into were too heavy for my truck. There was talk of a drivable RV since we loved our experiences renting them to visit family, but we would have to finance this option. Thinking back, I’m so glad I didn’t finance one because I don’t think I would be able to do what I’m doing today…starting a company around a patented design.

The Hybrid in our name is the combination of a fiberglass truck cap, slide-in truck camper, and pop up trailer into something brand new. Our outer shell that clamps to the bed rails is the fiberglass truck cap piece. All of our slide options that provide support from the bed of the truck allow us to expand wider and longer than the bed rails like a slide-in camper. The idea of a canvas/net covered stand up space under our large hatch door gives us the necessary stand up space like a pop up camper. However, instead of sleeping under canvas our set up has you sleeping in the hard-sided area of the camper.

There are several things I like about starting off with a pick up truck base. Trucks generally maintain their value better than an RV, and even the shorter bed smaller trucks have decent towing power. The camper part of a truck camper can be removed and sold separate from the truck unlike a van build. Once we became a family of 7, we added a roof top tent to the small gear trailer we were towing. The kids loved being in the roof top tent. You could also consider purchasing a smaller towable trailer for another sleeping area. There is a lot of flexibility with a pick up!