Hi! 👏 I’m Sarah and I help out with customer support and sales here at Hiatus Campers. I get to talk to people all day about their traveling adventures and help them figure out what they want when building their campers.  Aren’t I lucky?!  

People ask me all the time (mostly the same questions) about the vertical walls option.  There must be something to it because over 40% of our customers have upgraded! That number is growing too, because it wasn’t an option in the early days. So here is a quick rundown of the benefits and potential drawbacks of straight walls as well as answers to the questions I get over and over again!

BENEFITS

🛏️💤 11 more inches of width – the #1 benefit to the vertical wall option is the increased width of the sleeping platform.  For some this is all they need to hear to click the vertical walls box on their order form and shut down the discussion.  Especially for the mid-size truck owners!  This extra space makes a big difference in smaller trucks and who doesn’t want an extra wide sleeping platform?! 

But maybe you are camping solo most of the time or you have plenty of width because you drive a roomy full-size truck.  If that is you, then read on!

🛠️ Right angles to work with for your build out – If you plan to maximize indoor space inside your camper, you might be thinking about adding benches or cabinetry.  Which is arguably more comfortable and easier to build out if you are working with right angles (i.e. a flat, vertical wall).  Of course a build out is quite possible with angled walls too! But it takes a little more skill and finesse to work around a sloped wall. 

👇See what I mean?👇

DRAWBACKS

💰 Price – Vertical walls are considered an optional upgrade.  The entire camper is larger so we have to increase the amount of materials used and labor to build.  Because of this, it is not included as a standard option.

↔️ Wider profile – If you often take your rig out in the backcountry on some rugged roads, you might like the angled walls for ease of passing by trees and limbs on narrow paths! 

QUESTIONS

Q:  Are the angled walls more aerodynamic?

This isn’t something that we have taken to a wind tunnel or closed course to test.  We would need the same exact truck with an angled walled camper and vertical walled camper to collect data over time. To truly test the difference, the driving would have to be identical too. 

Regardless of lower wall choice, our customers only report a 1-2 mph loss (at most) after their Hiatus is installed.  So, while we think it is possible that the angled walls are more aerodynamic, we also believe that the difference is negligible.

Q:  Don’t the angled walls simply look better?

Well, yes, according to many of our customers! The people who like the angled walls tend to feel very strongly about the way it looks. It is a personal choice and I am not here to judge. 

Either way, you can’t really go wrong! With our patented hard-sided pop top design, your cozy camper will transform into a sleek canopy, making your home base the perfect adventure rig. Here are some photos of both options!  I hope this makes your decision easier!