TCM EXCLUSIVE: Chalet RV TS116 Triple Slide

Gordon White | Wednesday, 25 November, 2009

Every once in a while, a news story hits us from absolutely nowhere. Today, perhaps more than any other day, is one of those days. Meet the TS116...

Today we welcome back Chalet RV as a sponsor of Truck Camper Magazine and announce their brand new TS116 triple-slide truck camper. We only learned about this yesterday afternoon. When we came back to our senses, we scheduled an interview with Gary Hubbard at 6:00 am PST this morning. And here it is. But wait a minute. Chalet RV is building a triple-slide truck camper? Like we said, out of nowhere.

To see TCM's coverage and photography of the Chalet TS116 at the National RV Trade Show, click here.

The TS116 is available exclusively in New Hampshire at Truck Camper Warehouse and in Oregon at Camper Outlet.

TCM: Before we get to the new TS116, what’s happening with Chalet RV’s first truck camper, the Oregon Camper?

Gary: Right now the Oregon Camper is on hold. Until the Oregon Camper, Chalet had never built a truck camper before. The concept of the Oregon Camper is fantastic with the hard side walls that fold-up. It just wasn’t a good retail product. Someday we may resurrect it, but it’s on the back burner for now.

TCM: How is it possible that Chalet RV, a company that hasn’t built a non-slide hard side truck camper, can now be debuting a triple-slide camper as it’s first hard side camper?

Gary: As Bill Penney of East End Campers said, “Why did you start at the top? Why didn’t you start with a small camper?”

Here at Chalet, we have people with the ability to build recreational vehicles. We are just building a different recreational vehicle. It’s just a camper instead of a trailer. Our team stepped up to the plate and we can do it.

TCM: And you’ve built it in under a month?

Gary: Yes. I came to work here at Chalet on October first of this year. It was around the fifteenth or so when we had the ability to start building. Carl starting drawing plans and three and a half to four weeks ago we started building. Carl Kern and myself have been here at the Chalet RV plant twelve to fifteen hours a day since we started building.

TCM: How have you built the frame and structure to handle three slide outs?

Gary: All of the panels are interlocking to add strength and integrity to the structure. And our lamination process is second to none. Here at Chalet, after a panel is off the vacuum press, we can drive a truck over it. It’s ultra strong. With the interlocking panels we are able to build a box that I believe is the strongest in the industry.

TCM: Can you give us some specifics on exactly how you make this camper structurally strong?

Gary: The floor that you walk on in the camper is three inches thick, yet it’s light enough that I can lift it and walk around with it with no problem. The floor is laminated like a piece of plywood. There’s a layer of luan, expanded polystyrene, luan, expanded polystyrene, and then the flooring material. It’s all sandwiched into one piece. This reduces weight and increases strength. The floor does not flex.

The camper ceiling is four inches thick, yet one person can pick it up and walk around the shop with it. It’s similar to how Okanagan built their roofs. We took one of the roof panels and put it on two saw horses. A guy who works here who is 280 pounds stood on it and jumped on it. It didn’t even flex. We wanted to put a new Chalet RV Curve trailer on top of it at Louisville, but we don’t think the RVIA will let us.

TCM: Probably not, but that would of been great. Is the TS116 frame aluminum or wood?

Gary: The TS116 is aluminum framed with structural block foam insulation. It’s all laminated together and interlocked so it doesn’t need the amount framing that other campers need. Because the panels are strong, we didn’t have to stuff the aluminum framing with wood. We also used heavier aluminum so the aluminum will hold the screws. Some of the aluminum does have wood in it.

Our camper structure is made out of wood, aluminum, and steel. There is steel in the corners for jack support. We used aluminum frame where it’s needed and wood where it works out better to not have aluminum there. Some manufacturers have a tremendous amount of aluminum in the camper where it’s not needed.

Our designer and engineer, Carl Kern, worked with Sunline for many years. He learned that more is not necessarily better. You can overkill. He looked at every single part and tried not to overbuild it. We have built what is needed and have left the rest out.

TCM: What is the dry weight of this camper?

Gary: 3,898 pounds is the dry weight of the TS116.

TCM: Does that include all three slides?

Gary: Yes, that includes all three slides. It also includes the U-shaped dinette, full length cabover wardrobe, high gloss exterior finish, and the Rieco-Titan jacks. The dry weight is not with the camper full of options, but is the base weight of camper. Everything that people need is included with the dry weight.

TCM: Are you willing to submit a certified weight scale ticket for this camper?

Gary: We will submit a certified weight ticket to Truck Camper Magazine once we have a production model.

TCM: Were there any breakthroughs during the development of this camper?

Gary: A breakthrough came with our slide mechanisms. Lippert just recently came out with a slide mechanism that is different from a normal slide mechanism. It has two inch clearance on all slides. The slide-out is all the way to the floor so there's only a two inch step into the dinette. And the whole slide-out mechanism weighs seven pounds! The Power Gear slide mechanism that others use weighs about 100 to 150 pounds per slide. It’s a big breakthrough in slide mechanisms.

TCM: Seven pounds? How does it work?

Gary: The slide operates like a drawer. Instead of being carried by the bottom, the slide is carried by the sides. The slide lines up perfectly and goes in easily. By using this Lippert component, it reduces the weight of our camper by almost 600 pounds. All the gaskets are part of the unit that slides in, so it needs less framing around it. We don’t have to build super strong floor because the slide does not sit on it, it sits next to it.

TCM: And the motors for this new slide mechanism?

Gary: The motors are about two inches in diameter. They are super small and super light weight. They work beautifully. Without the slide-out mechanism in the floor running the slides in and out, we can run them all the way out. The dinette slide-out is about thirty-six inches. That gives us about eighteen inches more floor space.

TCM: Does the new camper look like Chalet RV’s towable products inside or is there a new interior aesthetic for the TS116?

Gary: This is something new and different from Chalet RV. For starters, all of the exterior lighting is LED. It has a high gloss gel coat exterior with two inch thick walls. The furnace, the water pump, the generator, and the batteries are all on the outside of the interior box, which means they are not contained in the living area of the camper.

In the basement, we have two inch walls with a three inch floor. You will hear no sound from your water pump. The storage compartments are fully insulated. There is no wiring or plumbing in the storage compartments. It’s all smooth and insulated. You can open the outside compartments in zero degree weather and you are not going to feel it in the camper.

The basement has thirty-eight cubic feet of storage. You could put five people in the basement and close the door. The basement storage is completely insulated and heated. The heat is ducted to the storage area in the basement. You don’t have to worry about anything freezing. And all of the plumbing is contained in the basement.

The storage under dinette and under the galley are completely sealed. You could be out in the cold opening your storage compartments and won’t get cold air coming into camper from it. With the generator and battery outside of the main box, you will not have heat or sound transfer. It’s quiet and well insulated. Plus, there’s huge storage doors on the back. Everything is easily accessible.

At the entry door, we have lighted steps and a lighted grab handle. There are porch lights and a wall switch that turns lights on in the inside. There is also a grab handle on the inside when you come out. There is almost 8’ x 11.5’ foot floor on the inside of the camper. It’s like being on the inside of a Class A motorhome.

One of the complaints of consumers, is that they need a dinette that will make into a bed that will fit their son who is six feet tall. So we have a 46 x 72 inch long bed in the dinette and a 46 x 72 inch bed on our flip lounge sofa.

The U-shaped dinette is standard, which for most brands is optional. Under the U-shaped dinette, we give you a seventy-two inch storage area from the outside. Instead of breaking up that space into two smaller storage areas, we’ve made a seventy-two by twenty-two inch storage area. There are also two full extension doors on the inside of the camper under the dinette.

The sofa is twenty-eight inches deep and seventy-two inches wide. There is also an open storage area in the inside of the camper to put sleeping bags or other large items. There are doors instead of drawers to store big items under the sofa with no plumbing or wiring blocking access.

TCM: With all the plumbing in the basement, have you allowed for access to the plumbing for maintenance?

Gary: For access to your tanks, we have a four foot wide by twenty-eight inch access panel that comes out so everything is in front of you. The tanks can be slid out through an access panel in the basement. You can literally open the cargo doors in the back, climb in, sit down, pull six screws out and have access to all plumbing and wiring in the camper. I once saw that at a show with a Marathon Class-A and had to do it for our new camper.

Inside of the camper, all of the drawers are full extension drawers. In the kitchen, we have a country sink with extends out beyond front of the counter. For the counters, we used Formica FX180 which looks and feels like granite. The cabinet doors are all hard wood.

In the bathroom, we have bathroom mirror that measures 32 x 24 inches. It’s huge! And the bathroom cabinet slides out from behind the shower in front of the large mirror and over the sink. It’s amazing and something you have to see.

The lighting in the camper is wall switched. Even the fan in the bathroom is wall switched. The furnace is ducted through the floor and the air conditioning is ducted through the ceiling. There are no ducts running through the cabinets.

TCM: What are the specifications of the TC116?  

Gary: There is 11’6” of interior floor length. The interior height is 6’6”. The exterior length is 20’. With the rear slide-out out, the exterior length is 21’6”. The dry weight of the camper is 3,898 pounds. The fresh tank is 66 gallons and it sits on the front wall of camper for better weight distribution. The gray tank is 38 gallons. The black tank is 38 gallons. And the camper has two 30-pound tanks and two of almost any sized battery you want to put in it.

TCM: And the MSRP?

Gary: The MSRP is $37,799 with all three slides and the U-shaped dinette. It will be just under $45,000 fully loaded.

TCM: When can we expect to see this camper at RV Shows and on RV lots?

Gary: First part of February these will be on dealer lots. None of the dealers have seen it yet so they haven’t placed any orders. That will change next week at Louisville.

TCM: How about the warranty?

Gary: One year structural limited warranty. All components are covered by individual manufacturers.

TCM: Now that you’ve developed a triple-slide truck camper, what can we look for from Chalet RV?

Gary: Four more models are coming out by early spring. A 10’6” double slide, 9’4” double slide, 8’ non-slide, and a 9’ that might have a slide-out. The 8’ non-slide and 9’ camper will be ultra light weight models.

TCM: What is the vision for Chalet RV and truck campers? Where is all this going?

Gary: We’re going to be a major player in the truck camper industry for a long time. We didn’t spend all this money to be spit in the frying pan.

TCM: Is there anything we didn’t ask you that you would like to ad?

Gary: Yes. The camper has jack lights. The jack lights are LED lights that shine down on each jack. If you are going to load this camper at night, you can see what the jack is sitting on. The jack light switch is by the door.

And one more thing. The camper has crown moulding all the way around the interior of the camper. I’ve just scratched the surface with our interview. You’re not going to believe this camper.

TCM: We’re looking forward to seeing it next week.

Gary: See you soon.

For more inforamtion about Chalet RV, visit their website at www.chaletrv.com.