Canada Truck Camper Builder Fills US Void

Yakima, Washington -- A Canadian truck camper manufacturer says it's rolling campers off the line at a fast clip, but not in Canada--down south in the U.S.

You may associate this desert town with the now defunct Western Recreational Vehicles company, which built the Western RV line of campers and Alpenlite fifth wheels. Earlier this year the company folded up shop, leaving a lot of manufacturing employees on the unemployment line. But now some of that void has been filled as Adventurer RV has stepped in and hired some of those idled workers.

According to the local CBS television affiliate, KIMA TV, Adventurer could be rolling up to 10 campers off the assembly line per week for the next several months. As other manufacturers are giving up the ghost, Adventurer is picking up the slack. Sixteen former Western RV employees are now on the line, and the company is looking to hire 10 more workers over the next couple of months.

Toy Hauler Truck Camper? It's an Alpenlite

You can hardly drive anywhere without spotting a "toy hauler" or "sport utility RV" in the form of a 5th wheel or travel trailer. But now America's love affair with taking the 4-wheelers, the motorcycles, the golf cart has arrived in the truck camper arena.

Western Recreational Vehicles out of Yakima, Washington, is the first one on the block with the new concept. A truck camper that "sleeps six," the Alpenlite sport utility truck camper has room for up to two ATVs inside, when "empty." You load at ground level, then when the toys are inside, load the camper onto your pickup truck with electric jacks. We can see some groaning on the part of those who have separation anxiety every time they have to mount their camper on the truck bed.

Just how this all works out as far as the interior layout is concerned isn't clear in our minds. We tried reaching WRV for more information, but they weren't answering their phones at press time. At this point, there's nothing on their web site about the new rig, recently shown at trade shows in Pomona, California and Louisville, Kentucky.