Perhaps you should look at a slide in truck camper.
For most of the mid sized truck campers, you would need a 250/2500 or larger truck. They have all the amenities of a Class C except that you can size the "engine" (truck) to whatever size you want. You can also remove the camper from the truck if you want and if the campground/rv park allows it. To me, the truck campers are like a modular Class C (I've owned a Class C too) where you can upgrade the "motor" part if you choose. The downside is you can't walk from inside the cab into the camper part. It's not a problem for us (two women) even though we park overnight in parking lots when traveling.
I have a 40 ft bus conversion and my daughter has an older Lance camper on a standard cab F-250. It's a "daily driver". The camper unit is rarely off the truck. It's great for grocery shopping and we always have a bathroom with us. The dog stays in the camper when we go into town. My daughter used to stay in it overnight if she had a back-to-back work schedule (off at midnight or later and back in before 9AM) due to the 20-30 minute drive home. But the town has gotten too dangerous to spend the night (her store was broken into twice in one week). She still takes it to work and hides in it for her rare lunch breaks (In NM, companies are not required to give you a lunch break even if you work 8 hours or more).
Some private parks won't allow a truck camper to be taken off the truck. Some will only allow it with a Stabile Lift (which is what my daughter's camper came with). We spent 3 weeks/3000 miles (2 adults & one 40lb dog) in the truck camper. The size allowed us to go to a NF campground that had a 26ft max length limit.
We both drive the truck, not a whole lot of difference between with camper and no camper except the truck rides better with the camper loaded. the in-town mileage is about what my vintage V-8 AWD Jeep gets. Interstate mileage is about 8-6 mpg so we avoid interstates (which we don't like anyway). It normally takes me 3 tries to get lined up and the camper loaded.
If you go the truck camper (or Class C) route, keep in mind the bed area tends to rot out if it is framed in wood. Try to get a metal frame.
BTW, we always park out at the edges of the parking lots when shopping or traveling, even in the Jeeps.
Me personally, I would buy a truck that can be towed 4 down, slap a small slide in camper on it and drag the thing behind my bus conversion. But after living with and traveling in a truck camper, I have found I like them. I just don't like the wet bath my daughter's camper has. But I didn't like the wet bath that was in the Class C. But I still learned the tricks to using one. I don't do public bath houses.
For most of the mid sized truck campers, you would need a 250/2500 or larger truck. They have all the amenities of a Class C except that you can size the "engine" (truck) to whatever size you want. You can also remove the camper from the truck if you want and if the campground/rv park allows it. To me, the truck campers are like a modular Class C (I've owned a Class C too) where you can upgrade the "motor" part if you choose. The downside is you can't walk from inside the cab into the camper part. It's not a problem for us (two women) even though we park overnight in parking lots when traveling.
I have a 40 ft bus conversion and my daughter has an older Lance camper on a standard cab F-250. It's a "daily driver". The camper unit is rarely off the truck. It's great for grocery shopping and we always have a bathroom with us. The dog stays in the camper when we go into town. My daughter used to stay in it overnight if she had a back-to-back work schedule (off at midnight or later and back in before 9AM) due to the 20-30 minute drive home. But the town has gotten too dangerous to spend the night (her store was broken into twice in one week). She still takes it to work and hides in it for her rare lunch breaks (In NM, companies are not required to give you a lunch break even if you work 8 hours or more).
Some private parks won't allow a truck camper to be taken off the truck. Some will only allow it with a Stabile Lift (which is what my daughter's camper came with). We spent 3 weeks/3000 miles (2 adults & one 40lb dog) in the truck camper. The size allowed us to go to a NF campground that had a 26ft max length limit.
We both drive the truck, not a whole lot of difference between with camper and no camper except the truck rides better with the camper loaded. the in-town mileage is about what my vintage V-8 AWD Jeep gets. Interstate mileage is about 8-6 mpg so we avoid interstates (which we don't like anyway). It normally takes me 3 tries to get lined up and the camper loaded.
If you go the truck camper (or Class C) route, keep in mind the bed area tends to rot out if it is framed in wood. Try to get a metal frame.
BTW, we always park out at the edges of the parking lots when shopping or traveling, even in the Jeeps.
Me personally, I would buy a truck that can be towed 4 down, slap a small slide in camper on it and drag the thing behind my bus conversion. But after living with and traveling in a truck camper, I have found I like them. I just don't like the wet bath my daughter's camper has. But I didn't like the wet bath that was in the Class C. But I still learned the tricks to using one. I don't do public bath houses.
