The lightest-weight full-bodied pickup truck camper we have ever coated has by some means gotten even lighter. Whereas the common pickup camper producer struggles to construct merchandise any lighter than 1,500 lb (680 kg), Texas startup Peak Efficiency spent 2024 getting the phrase out a few pop-up camper weighing in at a mere 550 lb (249 kg), as midsize truck-friendly as you will discover.
Peak is pushing the envelope once more in 2025, this time with a hard-sided camper that manages to weigh even much less than final 12 months’s Stealth pop-top. The brand new Nest camper additionally makes use of the corporate’s absolutely modular part set so patrons can lock in precisely the proper mix of consolation, weight and worth.
Standard knowledge holds that hard-sided pickup campers weigh greater than pop-ups. It is sensible since a pop-up replaces thick, absolutely insulated wall segments with a decrease profile building of cloth and struts.
The all-new Nest camper that Peak introduced this 12 months does not fairly upend that typical knowledge, nevertheless it comes shut. When constructed for a 5-foot brief mattress on a midsize truck just like the Jeep Gladiator or Toyota Tacoma, the R8-insulated four-season composite camper has an extremely gentle estimated dry weight of simply 500 lb (227 kg), lighter than the 550-lb Stealth pop-up as we coated it a 12 months in the past. Nevertheless, Peak has managed to shave some weight off the Stealth estimate, which now lists as little as 475 lb (215 kg) when constructed for that very same 5-foot midsize truck mattress.
Peak Efficiency
All in all, these are each fairly unbelievable figures in an trade that also struggles with the thought of designing campers that do not require a heavy-duty full-size truck simply to remain inside payload. The subsequent closest full-blown camper opponents we have coated are the 600-lb (272-kg) non-alcove TC teardrop Truck Camper and the 634-lb (288-kg) Scout Tuktut, which is designed to work with the 4.5-foot Ford Maverick mattress. The midsize-friendly RoverKing Capra had an estimated weight of 640 lb (290 kg) once we regarded it over three years in the past, however that is been amended to 550 lb, bringing the pop-up camper near Peak territory however not fairly there.
Peak is at the moment growing a full lineup of Nest campers for truck mattress sizes between 5 and 6 toes (1.5 to 1.8 m), with base weights topping out at 550 lb for the 6-foot-bed mannequin. It additionally says its smallest mannequin can work with smaller truck beds for those who pull the tailgate off, so it might even be an possibility for the Ford Maverick or Rivian R1T.
Peak Efficiency
Greater than only a fully empty shell, every base mannequin is supplied with a mattress-topped alcove double mattress and a pair of vis-a-vis cushioned benches, giving patrons indoor seating for mornings and evenings and a mattress for overnighting. Homeowners might simply carry an affordable folding desk and rework the dual-bench flooring right into a eating and sport room.
Every base mannequin additionally contains options like a Tern door and home windows, inside LED lighting, a solar-routing gland, and inside and exterior L-track for mounting equipment and tying down cargo. These trying so as to add lavatory capabilities can go for the mudroom configuration, which provides a teak-covered bathe drain within the entryway. Customers can then add their very own bathe system and privateness curtain. The moist lavatory possibility provides the identical bathe flooring plus a recessed console with transportable bathroom. The heavier of the 2, the total moist tub setup provides 50 lb (23 kg) to the overall camper weight.
Peak Efficiency
So far as extra full flooring plan choices, Peak was based on the concept that the feature-loaded layouts frequent throughout the truck camper trade add unnecessarily to value and weight, as not each purchaser desires the identical mounted characteristic set. So it deconstructed the entire camper proper all the way down to the bones, making a easy plug-and-play ecosystem of modules that patrons can use to create precisely the proper setup inside their worth vary.
The Nest follows the Stealth on this spec-it-yourself program, which Peak has additional fleshed out since final 12 months. For module set up, Peak depends on a mix of L-track and Modu-Lok {hardware}, the latter comprising greater than 120 structural wall studs that mount the corporate’s modules in addition to MOLLE panels, cargo nets, soft-shell cupboards and different organizational options. Past underpinning the modularity of its campers, the studs make sure that not a sq. inch of area has to go to waste.
Peak Efficiency
As for Peak’s personal equipment, the catalog kicks off with a kitchen that brings in a combo single-burner gasoline range/sink, 38-L contemporary water canister, AC/DC countertop outlet strip, slide-out rubbish can, storage crates and worktop area. Peak additionally presents a slimmer kitchenette with out the worktop or storage.
Consumers can complement that kitchen with a number of fridge/freezer choices, together with a Dometic CFX3 55 chest fridge and a storage console constructed round a Dometic NRX35 door fridge. Additionally on provide is a cushion-topped “energy bench” that may be put in on the rear to attach the 2 facet benches right into a U-shaped seating association, bringing alongside a 300-Ah battery, 3,000-W inverter, AC outlet and entrance MOLLE panel.
Peak Efficiency
Peak integrates these particular person modules into plenty of configuration choices, a lot of which delete half or all of a facet bench. The corporate even invitations potential patrons to submit written or rendered concepts of their very own optimum flooring plan so it could work with them to develop simply the proper modules and layouts for a extra personalized setup. And on the finish of the day, nobody is locked right into a single flooring plan because the modules are designed to be eliminated and rearranged.
Past full modules, Peak additionally presents non-compulsory elements like a multi-positional swivel desk, decrease mattress choices for growing sleeping capability to 3 or 4, skylight, air flow, year-round local weather management, and rooftop photo voltaic charging.
Peak Efficiency
Peak’s modular True-Switch prewiring system will increase consumer flexibility by spreading 5 wiring harnesses across the camper, every of which permits the proprietor to hook up an influence draw, provide or each. In different phrases, the battery (or batteries) and elements do not need to be positioned in a particular place however may be put in (and moved) to wherever works greatest. The True-Switch structure additionally permits for simple upgrading of batteries and elements, growing of photo voltaic capability, and even integration of a conveyable energy station the client already owns to extend storage with out the price of a brand new battery.
Peak Efficiency
Nest base campers begin between US$20,375 and $21,625, relying on measurement. The modules may be added individually or by way of a number of package deal choices. Peak meticulously lists the load of every module and part in order that patrons can observe precisely how a lot they’re including to the ultimate dry weight of their camper.
The truth is, Peak’s configurator mechanically updates the load and worth for every possibility you add. We designed a midsize 5.5-ft-bed variant with moist lavatory flooring plan, electrical energy bench, kitchen, Dometic CFX3 55 fridge, roof vent, swivel eating desk, and True-Switch prewiring package deal. This robustly outfitted camper costs in at $32,449 and has a still-impressive base weight of 835 lb (379 kg). We teetered on including an LPG furnace package deal for winter tenting, which might add $1,999 and 35 lb (16 kg).
Supply: Peak Performance
