2018 Four Wheel Camper Hawk Flatbed

A sturdy aluminum framed pop-up camper mounted to a flatbed tray on a Ford F350.

In October of 2018 I made the trek to Woodland, CA and ordered a Hawk pop-up camper and flatbed tray from Four Wheel Campers. Four Wheel Camper is a well respected off road truck camper builder. They specialize in light weight heavy duty campers that are built to last and go off road.

My time with the Earthcruiser led me to think that I needed something larger like a travel trailer if I was going to go full time on the road. Even though I was working on the home front to trim down my personal possessions I could not see moving everything I owned into a camper the size of an Earthcruiser.

A large sized trailer would be pretty limiting for exploring so I decided to get a truck camper for exploring and a larger trailer for glamping. Kind of a like a best of both worlds approach.

That led me to get a Ford F350 with a poptop camper. The F350 would be enough to handle the camper and pull a good sized trailer.

It didn’t take long until the mods on the F350 began. These pics shows the truck stock and with the King 2.5 leveling kit, Deaver leaf springs, new wheels and Toyo Open Country 35″ tires. These were completed by of Califabrication in Sacramento, CA, whom also added some custom rock sliders and rear valance for the flatbed.

Here is the install of the Norweld flatbed tray by Four Wheel Campers at their shop in Woodland, CA.

Norweld is an Australian company that has been making high end overlanding gear for quite awhile. More on them later.

Five months later I had a kick ass truck camper.

The F350 and Four Wheel Camper was not as comfortable as the Earthcruiser but it was much more capable off road and less than half the price.

Instead of the high end diesel Webasto appliances I had in the Earthcruiser I was now back in the world of mortals and their Suburban/Dometic propane counter parts. The propane heater used by Four Wheel Camper was a huge improvement over the model used by Casita. The heater could cycle in the middle of the night and not wake me up every time.

Four Wheel Camper straddles the line between quality and cost effective extremely well.

I relocated the batteries a few inches to the side to allow enough room for a 1000W prosine inverter to be installed in the battery box.

Four Wheel Camper could use a refresh as to its battery and solar charging options but they are making changes to this area.

The optional remote Overland Solar Panel is a very well made and functional.

I spent the next six months hitting all my favorite spots and finding some new ones along the way.  Living with the Four Wheel Camper was effortless.

Getting used to the F350 however was going to take some work. I found the driving position to be lacking. I am 5’8″ and 150 pounds. I would guess that the truck’s seating was designed to either make people feel small or assumes that all the drivers are over 6’2″ and weigh in excess of 200 pounds.The seat bolster is very wide and provides no support for someone my size.

I replaced the rear flange bolts that hold the seat down with longer ones with a small spacer. This raised the back of the seat and allowed me to see better over the trucks hood when the seat was raised. Being able to see out over the hood is very desirable when driving off road for wheel placement and seeing obstacles.

This helped somewhat but I am still on the fence about these seats. If I had the funds I would replace the stock Lariat seats with some Scheel-Mann seats.

What the truck lacked in suitable seating it more than made up for in sheer horsepower. The F350 was more capable than the the Earthcruiser both on and off road.  Granted it’s not as practical or capable on the trails as the FJ Cruiser it is good enough to get off the beaten path and stake out some remote camping. Plus you have all the comforts of home once you got there.

Pro’s

Cost effective and capable

Good quality

Functional layout

Con’s

Manually raising/lowering the top can be challenging in high winds

Windows are positioned too low to enjoy the view (Earthcruiser had the same issue and I would guess this is a common complaint with any pop-top style camper)

Single pane windows not great for cold weather

Condensation could be an issue in cold weather even with the artic pack insulation option.

In Conclusion

All around good camper for off road style camping. Integrated stairs, electric lift on pop-top, dual pane windows and a diesel heater would make this platform a serious contender to rigs costing far more.