A neat row of used S&S campers in front of the S&S facility	Doug Sieler shows us the screws under his over cab	Merdie Hartsoch works on interior wood framing
Alan Nielsen is the base builder for S&S	Uncle Chuck and the CNC machine	Uncle Chuck designing his top-secret CNC programs
S&S winterizing directions on the inside of an access door	Doug Sieler shows us a camper wiring harness	James Moore in the S&S cabinet shop
Terri Mansfield staples cabinet doors	The S&S production line from the front bay door looking back	Christopher Alt installs insulation in an LP compartment

Kalispell, Montana – After making good time from our scenic campsite on Flathead Lake, we arrived about fifteen minutes early at S&S Campers.  Rather than rush our morning, Angela and I got into our truck camper and prepared for our day.  A few minutes later, we spotted two men outside closely inspecting our rig.

Recognizing one of them as Doug Sieler, President of S&S Campers, I quickly cranked open the window and said, “Hey, get out of here!”  The other guy turned out to be John Sieler, Doug’s younger brother.  Both were enjoying the opportunity to check out a new truck camper from a competitor.

Both Doug and John answered my knucklehead comments in kind and warmly shook my hand.  Doug then told us that the package Angela had ordered from Amazon.com was ready and waiting in his office.  Angela didn’t miss a beat.

Once inside we met Crystal Sieler, Doug’s wife.  Angela and I first met Doug and Crystal at the 2007 Truck Camper Show in Ogallala, Nebraska.  It was fun meeting them again on their own turf.  Crystal walked into Doug’s office and pulled out the cat stroller.  Angela’s eyes beamed.  Mine rolled.  Harley, our cat, was in the camper oblivious to the ridiculous contraption that awaited him.  Thank you, Five-Star.

As Doug went to help a customer, Crystal gave us a quick tour of their main building. She showed us their retail sales offices and their well-stocked RV supply store.  Having a RV supply store at S&S makes a lot of sense when you realize that thousands of RVs of every description pass by their facility on their way to and from Glacier National Park.  

Behind the RV supply store are several offices including Crystal’s and Doug’s.  Behind the offices are several busy RV service bays.  Behind the service bays is a warehouse and metal working area.  And tucked into the warehouse and metal working area is an office for the parts manager.  We never did find out what the parts manager did to get stuck way back there.

Crystal then took us upstairs to what she fondly called the Lizard Lounge.  The Lizard Lounge is a room where Doug and Crystal’s two teenagers can hang out.  Down the hall from the Lizard Lounge is the kitchen, which is where we caught up with Doug again.  As he filled his coffee mug, Doug took over our S&S tour.

Doug walked us over to the S&S camper manufacturing facility, another long building with multiple additions.  The first person Doug introduced us to was Merdie Hartsoch.  Merdie has been with S&S for sixteen years but just started working on the interior wood framing.  She happily compared framing to sewing and referred to her task as assembling a big puzzle.  If the way she confidently handles a staple gun is any measure, Merdie is well on her way to being a master framer.

Just down a bit from where Merdie was staple gunning away, we caught up with James Moore, a twenty-year S&S veteran and the resident cabinet builder.  Maybe it’s something in the Kalispell water, but James seemed equally happy as he reflected on his time at S&S.  James told us that he’s done just about everything there is to do at S&S including working most of the assembly line, working in the RV supply store and in the RV service bays.  He also told us that he really likes building the best and hopes Doug keeps him in the cabinet shop.  We’ll see what we can do James.

Doug then brought us past rows of fiberglass bathrooms awaiting installation and onto the main assembly line.  Doug walked us past many campers in decreasing levels of completion until we reached the back of the building.  There we met Uncle Chuck and the CNC machine.

Uncle Chuck is really Allen Sieler, Doug’s Uncle, but everyone calls him Chuck.  And for those of you that aren’t down with the whole CNC scene, CNC stands for computer numerical control.  That’s a fancy way of saying that Uncle Chuck has a big machine that cuts wood exactly the way he programs it to.

At first blush, one man and one machine wouldn’t seem to be that important to a company.  But, like King Arthur and Excalibur, or Luke and the Force, Chuck and the CNC machine are a team to recon with.  From design to production, Chuck and the CNC machine have fundamentally changed S&S Campers.  We’ll have more on Uncle Chuck and the impact of the CNC machine for our second S&S installment.

Moving forward on the line, we observed Allan Nielsen, another twenty-year S&S veteran and S&S’s dedicated base builder.  From what we were told, Allan is an old-school builder who takes his work quality very seriously.

As we walked further up the line, Doug stopped many times to show us how his truck campers are assembled.  He showed us a wiring harness and explained how he keeps his wiring neat for easy maintenance and servicing.  He showed us a huge saw machine that he built to accurately cut the bow curve in his roof beams.  And then he showed us why he only uses wood for the framing in his truck campers.

Hold on.  Wood?  Isn’t the entire truck camper industry seemingly going to aluminum frames?  I put this to Doug and he explained his reasoning.

First, Doug and his father before him have been using wood frames for over thirty-five years.  They know wood.  

Second, Doug cites how the manufacturers who use aluminum frames often use wood inserts in order to get a quality grip for their screws and staples.  Doug says an all-wood frame offers a superior grip for longer and stronger screws resulting in a stronger frame.  

Third, Doug explained that aluminum sweats and can draw moisture and cold into a camper.  Doug believes that wood not only doesn’t have this effect, but actually acts as an insulator.  

Fourth, Doug explained how he can easily repair a damaged wood frame but has concerns about the cost and procedure of repairing a damaged aluminum frame.  

And fifth, Doug has his doubts about the weight and cost advantages of aluminum over wood.  He believes the truck campers that have gone to aluminum framing are actually heavier than the wood framed campers they replaced.

While our jury is certainly out about the aluminum versus wood debate, it was good to get Doug’s opinion on this hotly debated topic.  For those who are passionate about the whole aluminum versus wood thing, please send Doug your mail.

On to less controversial topics, Doug showed us how he designs his fiberglass exteriors to have as few seams as possible.  He showed us the screws under the over cab exterior which he believes gives the fiberglass a superior grip to the wood frame.  He showed us the standard S&S camper insulation designed to support camping during Montana’s cold winters.  He also showed us the winterizing instructions S&S puts on the inside of an external valve access door.  And he smiled wide when he told us that everything on a S&S camper is screwed, glued, and stapled.  Indeed.

It’s hard to miss that Doug is very proud about his truck campers.  And he really believes in his products.  He may be bucking the trend with his all-wood framing and construction, but he has his reasons.

Later in the day I returned to the S&S assembly line without Doug to meet more of the workers and learn as much as I could about the S&S construction methodology.  Not far from where Merdie Hartsoch continued to happily staple gun away, I met Terri Mansfield as she assembled cabinet doors.  When I asked what her job was at S&S she told me that she was a door framer, a skinner, and finisher.  Then she highly recommended that I observe her skin a camper the next day, an invitation I accepted.

In the middle of the assembly line I caught up with Christopher Alt as he cut and built insulation boxes for the battery and LP compartments.  He explained that he installed many of the camper systems and that it took him between ten and twelve hours to complete his installations for each camper.  Christopher and Terri both seemed to really enjoy their work.

By the end of our first day at S&S, we had seen a couple of campers get completed and a few new ideas emerge from the CNC machine.  Doug and a handful of crew members hung out in front of the RV service bays and talked, laughed, and behaved as fun loving Montanans do.  It was as good day.

For part two of our tour visit at S&S, we’ll talk about forklift madness, meet more of the team, catch up with Terri as she skins a camper, and dive deep into a world of CNC innovation.  Stay tuned!

For more information about S&S Campers, visit their web site at www.s-scampers.com .