Louisville 2011 Part 2: Lance Campers, Northern Lite, and Northstar

For part two of our Louisville 2011 coverage, we explore the 2012 Lance 855S, the 2012 Northern Lite 10-2 RR dry bath, and the 2012 Northstar Liberty. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...



Day two at Louisville 2011 was a lot more productive and successful for our reporting.  We managed to take more photographs, get more information, and actually do some writing.  In fact, we are now set with notes and photography for First Look follow up reviews on at least two campers, maybe three.  After all, our Travel Lite is already winterized.  It’s going to be a long winter and I’ll have plenty of time to write some First Look reviews!


Lance Campers

Above: The Louisville Lance team lines up for a TCM group shot.  It took us three days to get these guys together.

Lance Campers had some good news, and some bad news for Truck Camper Magazine at Louisville this year.  The good news was the announcement of two new models.  The bad news was that both new models were travel trailers.  Since we don’t cover no stinking travel trailers ‘round here, we were initially a bit disappointed.

When I asked the Lance team if this was a sign of a shifting interest away from truck campers, they were quick to say “no” and give us the secret skinny on new Lance truck camper models they’ll be introducing in the new year.  If what we heard is any indication, 2012 will be an exciting year for new truck camper models at Lance Campers.  You just wouldn’t know it from Louisville.

With nearly the entire Lance Camper catalog on display, we took the opportunity to check out their newest model, the 2012 Lance 855S.  The 2012 Lance 855S debuted in Truck Camper Magazine this past August and is most notable for how it offered a longer floor plan, wider dinette, and improved design over the 861 model it replaced while lowering the weight by approximately 450 pounds.  Lance claims the 855S is the lightest short bed slide-out camper on the market.  Technically, that award should go to Adventurer’s 80GS, but the 855S with its full booth dinette slide is in another category from the 80GS with its comparably much smaller kitchen slide.

I was personally quite impressed with the 2012 Lance 855S as it offered a high-end and fully-featured truck camper experience in a short bed size.  And you can’t gloss over the fact that this camper represents Lance’s state-of-the-art approach to making a light weight, high quality camper using SolidWorks design, CNC technology, and cutting edge materials such as Lite-Ply and Azdel.  A well executed wet bath and a full booth dinette are just icing on the cake.


Northern Lite

Above: Keith Donkin, General Manager for Northern Lite (left), and Mac Donkin, President of Norhern Lite (right)

Mac Donkin, President of Northern Lite, and Keith Donkin, General Manager for Northern Lite, managed to haul six Northern Lite truck campers 3,802 kilometers (2,362 miles) from their factory in Kelowna, British Columbia to Louisville this year.  Naturally we went right to the new 2012 Northern Lite 10-2 RR dry bath, a camper we debuted in October but had not seen until the show.

Above: The 2012 Northern Lite 10-2 RR dry bath at Louisville featured a Phat latter, assist handle, and a large rear awning

Even without taking into account the dry bath, the 10-2 RR has a very different floor plan than the 10-2 CD Special Edition model we are familiar with.  First of all, the full-booth dinette is on the passenger side rear and the camper has a mid-kitchen.

Angela and I are both big fans of the 10-2 CD Special Edition and had a long conversation about what we liked and disliked about the 10-2 RR dry bath in comparison to that model.  Rather than hash all that out in our Louisville coverage, we took about fifty photographs of the camper for a First Look follow up review.  For now, I can tell you we were impressed with the dry bath and are very happy to see this option available on a Northern Lite.

Above: The Northern Lite 6-10 Lite was the first model Northern Lite manufactured

The other camper that caught our eye in the Northern Lite booth was a 2012 Northern Lite 6-10 Lite.  This is not a new model for Northern Lite, but it had all of the refinement and quality Northern Lite is known for, just in a six-foot, ten inch size.  Angela loved it, but said it needs a “potty”.  Yes, we’re spoiled.

A Northern Lite 9-6 Queen Sportsman was on display as well.  This new model for 2012 is essentially a scaled back 9-6 Special Edition but with oak cabinetry, glass windows, smaller 5.5 cubic foot refrigerators, mechanical jacks, and no bumper step.  The 9-6 Sportsman at the show had Sapele wood as found in the Special Editions.  Keith explained that Sapele wood is an option if a Sportsman is ordered from the factory.


Northstar Campers

Above: Rex Willett, Vice President of Northstar Campers (left), and Rory Willett, President of Northstar Campers (right)

The big Louisville 2011 news at Northstar Campers is the introduction of the 2012 Northstar Liberty.  The Liberty is a hard side short bed truck camper aimed at the half-ton market and will likely replace the Freedom in the Northstar 2012 model line-up.

According to Rex, the Liberty weighs in at 1,750 pounds.  With options, fully wet, and loaded with your stuff, the Liberty will likely hit about 2,500 pounds.  I immediately thought about matching the 2012 Northstar Liberty with a Ford EcoBoost truck.  According to Ford’s website, a 2011 Ford F-150 EcoBoost SuperCab 4x2 offers 2,700 pounds payload.  Now that’s a smart match.

Rex went on to explain that while he’s quite pleased with the Liberty, he’s not done tweaking it.  He’s going to add capacity for an additional propane tank bringing the capacity to two twenty-pound propane tanks.  More importantly, Rex was very excited to incorporate some new materials which he believes will pull a significant amount of weight out of the Liberty as well as the rest of the Northstar model line.

Above: Northstar campers are sporting a refreshed logo for 2012.  I guess this means I need to update all the Northstar logos on Truck Camper Magazine.  Work, work, work!

Angela gathered photographs and information from Rory on his fourteen day truck camping adventure this past summer into British Columbia, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming.  It’s always exciting to see industry leaders use their products and Rory was full of stories about his trip.  Look for Rory’s truck camping journey in the magazine sometime early next year.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Louisville 2011 coverage.  We still have four more companies to cover.