Mark Marano

** UPDATE: read why i chose a Camper Van Conversion after having this truck camper here: markmarano.com/2019/01/01/why-i-chose-a-ford-transit-van-to-convert-into-a-camper-vanlife/

i’m selling my four wheel campers keystone truck camper. it’s in great condition and hasn’t seen that much use. most of its life it’s been in the garage. i’m open to reasonable offers on the selling price. i’m also open to keeping the compost toilet and maybe the refrigerator, tripod jacks, dolly, and perhaps a couple other components that i could sell separately. the camper came with a thetford cassette/cartridge toilet that is practically new — it was only used a couple or few times and i did not even fill up the cassette once before dumping it. this camper is 9′ long and is designed for a long bed truck. it can be bolted down or tied down with a built-in turnbuckle system. an alternate method for usage, transportation, or storage would be to place it on a flat trailer.

here is a very detailed full tour video i made going over everything it has: www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4oFCYPtEx8

if you’re interested in purchasing it, or know someone who is, please send me a message here: markmarano.com/contact/

i found most of the original invoices and receipts for the camper. here’s a list of all the options and add-ons the camper has, along with the original prices i paid for everything:

— four wheel campers keystone base model $13995
— 12v/110v low power compressor fridge $1400
— furnace, forced air w/thermostat $495
— hot water/outside shower package $595
— DSI optional electric start for hot water heater $155
— screen door $235
— fan-tastic fan $295
— front opening window $175
— awning $695
— awning rail $32
— auxiliary battery system with separator $395
— second battery $275
— small drivers side window $175
— gas strut roof lift assist system $250
— bolt down and wiring $495
— arctic pack $475
— roof hatch $995
— 2 Sharp 130W pv modules $1314
— charge controller $329
— cable kit $79
— installation of solar $498
— propane pressure reg + purge/fill $42
— rv water hose $13
— aqua-kem holding tank deod $9
— rv water pressure regulator $10
— 600 watt true sinewave inverter + installation $366
— custom sink drain tubing $112
— compost toilet + installation $1484
— additional power outlets + installation $238
— custom camera mounts $117
— freight / destination + pre-delivery inspection $1980
— taxes on camper and dealer additions $1663
— rieco-titan tripod jacks $500
— parts for dolly $201
— labor to engineer + build custom heavy duty dolly $?
— hitch step $27
— longer shower hose + piece to hold above shower $31
— extra window frame for screened window in front $53
— screen for extra window frame $?
— longer shower pan $58
— rv water filter + hose extension $?
— addition of locks to cabinet doors so won’t open on their own $?
— storage area dividers $21
— storage bins/crates $?
— rv dish drying rack $?

adding everything up comes to a total of at least $30,277 — this is counting $0 for everything with a $? above. if you don’t count the $3,643 for tax, freight, and pre-delivery inspection (that were part of the actual acquisition cost of the camper), and take off the base model price, you’ll see all of the options, modifications, and add-ons come to a total of at least $12,639 (again, not counting some things i don’t have the receipts readily accessible for).

it’s a little difficult to determine the exact value as this is now a rare unit (as four wheel campers is no longer producing the larger keystone model). the biggest model fwc is currently making is the grandby which is a foot shorter — this is most likely either a marketing decision or to save on manufacturing costs by trimming their line, as lots of people are buying trucks with shorter beds (which wouldn’t be recommended for the 9ft keystone model). being a rare model and harder to find (especially loaded with most of what fwc offered plus extra additions professionally installed that they didn’t offer from the factory), its value will be a bit more than the high value four wheel campers already hold.

this camper hasn’t seen that much use either. it went on two long trips: one from the chicago area to the west coast and then back to florida (over a total of 72 days), and another from chicago to maine and then down the east coast to florida (a total of 22 days). it also saw a few shorter trips: the original trip home from the dealer in north carolina to florida, a trip back to the dealer in north carolina (from florida) to install additional components (and then back home), two trips to chicago from florida, and a couple/few trips in florida. most of its life it’s been in the garage. i purchased it new in october of 2011 and it’s been in the garage (in florida) since august of 2013. i sold my truck in january of 2014 and am not going to be getting another anytime soon so the camper is ready for a new home. it’s very clean, in great/excellent condition, like new.

this is your chance to get a unique camper that’s ready to go on new adventures. please contact me to make a reasonable offer and arrange to come pick it up in florida. if you can’t make the trip here, i can possibly make arrangements to deliver or ship it to you.

*** UPDATES below

i’ve gotten some questions about the price.. i’m open to reasonable offers on the camper and can consider keeping some components to go a little lower on the price. altogether, i’ve got over $30k in it and it’s in great condition with not that much use (and rare), so somewhere in the lower $20k’s would be good.

*** truck requirements ***

i’ve been asked about what truck it will fit, the weight, dimensions, etc. when i ordered the camper i didn’t know what truck i was going to buy, so i think they built it as a universal model to fit any truck. i don’t know its exact weight — the sticker on the back says 1095 lbs though that’s probably empty and was before adding the additional options. terry at four wheel campers estimated that my camper probably weighed close to 1500 lbs with everything. the bottom of it is 9′ long so it hangs past the end of the truck bed a little (and a few inches past the back of the bumper). it’s designed for a truck with a full size bed though i’ve seen others use theirs on a short bed truck (but this is probably not recommended by FWC). the cabover part adds just under 4′ to the overall length (making it right about 13′ long from the front of the cabover section to the back of the camper). the width is 80″ and another 3.5″ for the awning on one side. the height from the bottom of the camper (where it would sit on the bed of the truck) to the underside of cabover section is 48″ or just under 48″. if you have a very tall cab (or big lights or something on top of it), you could place a wood board or something under the camper to lift it up a bit. it’s also recommended to place a rubber bed mat under the camper as that helps prevent it from shifting around when driving (though this is probably only a potential issue when off-road). the width of the part that goes between the wheel wells is 48″ (or 48.125″). the height of the camper from where it sits on the bed of the truck to its top is just under 57.75″ with the solar panels adding just over 2.25″, making the total height from the bottom of the camper to the top of the solar panels right about 60″. i recall the overall height of the truck and camper (when it was on the bed of my heavy duty F-150) being right around 7.5′ from the ground so it worked really well in low clearance areas. (all these measurements are for when driving or storing it, with the top/windows/awning/door/etc closed)

*** more on price + value ***

i just looked at the numbers to determine a fair price for the camper with everything it has. i looked on nadaguides and the options they are showing seem like they might just be generic as they’re not exactly what FWC was offering. they also don’t show a high retail condition, only a low and average. i would say the condition of my camper in not seeing that much use and being very clean would fit into a “high” or “clean” retail or very good / near excellent condition, which basing on the $1700 difference between low and average, would put a high retail around $11,400 for the camper without any of the additional options. its hard to get an exact estimate on the value of all of the additional components without doing lots of research, though based on the $11,400 “high retail” being 81.5% of the $13,995 suggested list price, the more than $12,639 worth of options would be worth at least $10,301, bringing the “high retail” with all the options to $21,701. (this is not factoring in any of the $3650 that the freight, tax, and pre-delivery inspection cost — if you consider these, the total cost to buy everything new was over $30,277. at a price of $21,701, the camper would be almost 30% less than it cost new, and considering the number of days it’s been used compared to sitting in the garage, it’s seen under 10% use and is in like new condition.) if the calculation of how i got to the $21,701 doesn’t make sense, i can explain it better if you like. as i mentioned above, i’m also open to keeping certain components for a different price.

*** details of option prices ***

i had someone ask about how much the options really were worth so i went over to nadaguides again to try to figure out where they’re at for the options. here are some of the things i’m seeing that are close to or the same as the options i ordered:

looking at the power roof vent they offer, their low value is 130 and average is 155, making the “high” or “clean” value 180, which is 61% of the 295 i paid for the fantastic fan. and since power roof vent is generic, it might be worth more being a fantastic vent as that’s one of the major rv vent brands.

looking at the water heater 6 gallon gas/elec w/DSI — they have low retail as 190 and average retail as 230 — this would make “high” or “clean” retail 270. the outside shower low is 100 and average is 115, making high 130. both the heater + outside shower together add up to 400 — i paid 750 (595 for the hot water + outside shower and 155 for the DSI electric start option), making high retail 53.333% of the new cost. their numbers don’t add up exactly as the DSI option adds 100 above their water gallon average price, making it add 110 more at the calculated high price, which would be 71% of the new price for the DSI option.

looking at the solar panel 130 watt, they have low as 700 and average as 800, making high 900. they have the solar battery charger low as 430 and average as 520, making high 610. i have 2 130 watt panels so their total would be 2410 (900+900+610) as a high price. i actually paid less than this, 2220 total for the solar + install (1314+329+79+498), making the high retail 108.555% of what i paid new.

for the awning, they have 380 low and 455 average, making high 530. i paid 727 (695+32) for the awning + rail, making it worth 72.9% of the new price (or 76.3% if you don’t count the rail as it was a separate option when i ordered it). their awning doesn’t specify the brand and its a Fiamma, one of the major rv manufacturers for awnings, so not sure if that makes a difference or not.

the numbers do exhibit a wide range of % compared to what the new cost is. if we add up everything above to get an overall average, at the high value/condition, their #s would be 3520 for those specific options (400+180+2410+530). i paid 3992 for those options new (750+295+2220+727), making them worth 88.2% of what i paid new.

if we were to go by their average price rather than their high price, their total would be 3075 for the above comparison (230+115+155+800+800+520+455), making them worth an average of 77% of the new cost.

i’m not looking at their fridge as i didn’t order the regular option and got a special low power + better quality compressor one instead. i did see some furnace options there though they didn’t list the thermostat option separately like they did for the DSI for the water heater, so its hard to determine exactly where that would sit. if we counted it at their price without the thermostat and went with the lower unit (as i have to go look to see if it says the BTU’s on it or not), its high value would be 100 (70 for low, 85 for average — though the more powerful one is 85 low and 105 average, which would be 125 high). adding the 100 to the total high above makes everything above 3620. i paid 495 new for the forced air furnace with thermostat, making the total new for the above options 4487, bringing the overall average high value of the options down to 80.677% of the new cost (but its likely really higher than this because i have the thermostat with it).

they do also list values for some options like dry bath (290 low or 350 average, making high 410), lpg gas/smoke detector (120 low and 140 average, making high 160), and toilet-electric flush (330 low and 400 average, making high 470, or more as the cassette toilet was barely used) which i got from FWC but was not charged separately for by the dealer, so this effectively brings the $11,400 high value of the camper up another 1040 to $12,440 or 88.888% of the $13,995 i paid.

so it’s tricky to come up with the exact value and fair price for it, though it seems like somewhere in the lower $20k’s is about right.

if we go by the 80.677% as the overall average high price of the options they had listed, the $12,639 the options cost new are now worth $10,196.77, though if we consider that i also got the few options that have value included in the $13,995 i paid, the high value of the camper is $12,440, making the high/clean value of the camper with options $22,636.77, which is 76.77% of the $30,277 total i paid for everything new including the tax, freight, pre-delivery inspection, etc that were part of the acquisition costs (it was actually more than $30,277 that i paid but i don’t have the receipts for all the little things so didn’t count them)

*** package options ***

based upon the last calculation using nada, the fair value of the camper is at least $22500 to $23000 (or perhaps much more as it’s rare and in great condition with little use). as that may be beyond your desired budget, i’m offering several different package options where i’d keep certain items to go lower on the price. i’m open to other offers as well — let me know what price range you want or what options you want and i’ll come up with something.

— $ 22,500 — you get everything listed above
— $ 21,500 — i keep the compost toilet and dolly (with any of the packages, you still get the original cassette toilet that is practically new, and i’ll leave the ventilator, mounting brackets, and wiring in place so its ready for a new compost toilet to drop right in if you want to add it later)
— $ 20,500 — i keep the compost toilet, refrigerator, and dolly
— $ 20,000 — i keep the compost toilet, refrigerator, dolly, and tripod jacks
— $ 19,500 — i keep the compost toilet, refrigerator, dolly, tripod jacks, arctic pack, and power inverter
— $ 19,000 — i keep the compost toilet, refrigerator, dolly, tripod jacks, arctic pack, power inverter, solar panels, solar charge controller, and gas strut roof list assists (i’ll leave the internal solar wiring in place so you can hook up your own panels later if you want)

buy it this month (April) and i’ll take $500 off any of the above packages (i can keep it stored safely in the garage if you are unable to come get it right away, though i will need the majority of it paid in order to hold it for you more than a couple days). yes, the middle or higher packages are a better value, though with the $500 discount for buying it this month, you can get a rare Keystone camper in great condition and ready for new adventures for as low as $18,500.

please write me here to buy it: www.markmarano.com/contact/

UPDATE: my camper has been sold. the Camper Dolly is available For Sale & my Camper Van is available For Sale.

** UPDATE ** read why i chose a Camper Van Conversion after having this truck camper here: markmarano.com/2019/01/01/why-i-chose-a-ford-transit-van-to-convert-into-a-camper-vanlife/

** UPDATE ** read why i chose a Camper Van Conversion after having this truck camper here: markmarano.com/2019/01/01/why-i-chose-a-ford-transit-van-to-convert-into-a-camper-vanlife/

To watch on youtube, click on this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4oFCYPtEx8

This is a detailed tour + demo of the Keystone pop-up truck camper I had custom built by Four Wheel Campers in 2011. I go over all of the built-in features, custom added equipment, and modifications/hacks/tweaks I made to it. It is currently available for sale (in Florida) with a custom built dolly and tripod jacks. If you’d like to purchase it (or know someone who does), you can reach me by sending me a message at the following link:

UPDATE: my camper has been sold. the Camper Dolly is available For Sale & my Camper Van is available For Sale.

** UPDATE ** read why i chose a Camper Van Conversion after having this truck camper here: markmarano.com/2019/01/01/why-i-chose-a-ford-transit-van-to-convert-into-a-camper-vanlife/

Here’s a link to a very long, detailed article I wrote about why I chose this camper and truck after doing lots of research on various rv options:

Here’s an interview I did with Truck Camper Magazine about my journeys in this truck camper:

At these links you’ll find videos of my 72 day “life on the road” journey out west, from Chicagoland to California and then to Florida:

markmarano.com/what/truckcamperfilms/

youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYlEKn8xkNmVcJzBPGDznWUqHbu51wGC3

Here’s a faster version of all those videos combined into one:

Here are just the time-lapses (mostly of the stars) from the videos:

This is a time-lapse video of the removal of the bolted-down camper from the truck:

More I’ve written about my truck camper and photos can be found here:

Sped-up 1 minute instagram versions of the truck camper life on the road videos can be found at the following link along with some writing about each day:

To see my photos, videos, writings, perspectives, etc, visit:

here are details of the price and components it has:

thanks for watching! please share with anyone who might be interested.

UPDATE: my camper has been sold. the Camper Dolly is available For Sale & my Camper Van is available For Sale.

** UPDATE ** read why i chose a Camper Van Conversion after having this truck camper here: markmarano.com/2019/01/01/why-i-chose-a-ford-transit-van-to-convert-into-a-camper-vanlife/

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYlEKn8xkNmVcJzBPGDznWUqHbu51wGC3
 

to see pictures from my truck camper journeys or read more about the adventure, visit this link:

markmarano.com/what/truck-camper

(you’ll need to scroll past all the videos as they’re also on that same page)
 

see the short one minute videos i’ll be posting on instagram (and read a little bit about each day), look here:

markmarano.com/what/truckcamper+instagram/