The Cube Series truck camper – an ultra-light-weight folding entry into the market – made its debut at the RV Dealers Association (RVDA) meeting in Las Vegas this week (Nov. 8-11).
A towable unit featuring the same foldable technology is in the works and will be available in 2022.
Bend, Ore.-based Cube Series was co-founded by Rick Wise and Joe Orr, a pair of former auto-industry veterans. Wise was the general manager of a Toyota dealership before moving into a role at All Seasons RV & Marine in Bend in 2011. Orr was the general manager of a Honda dealership before becoming a business consultant and co-owner at Studio Meraki and Turbo Painting.
Wise said when he entered the RV industry he noticed that there were few campers available for a small or mid-sized pickup.
“There was nothing in the way of a camper that went on like a Tacoma, a Chevy Colorado, a Nissan Frontier, a Ford Ranger,” Wise said. “Anything that was available had the cantilevered bed that went over the top of it, and it was canvas. So we came up with a hard-sided, folding camper. It’s all fiberglass and aluminum. It’s completely waterproof and it comes in at less than 1,200 pounds.”
The new unit fits on any standard small or mid-sized pickup and all the tiedowns are on the inside of the bed.
The towable will come in at 16 feet in length and weigh less than 1,600 pounds.
“It can be pulled by a Prius, or by a Subaru Forester, or a Jeep Wrangler,” Wise said.
Both employ a patent-pending folding technology that allows the units to collapse to roughly a third of their “open” size for ease of towing.
“Power actuators put the two sides up – the load-bearing walls – and then the two inside walls are just pushed up manually and lock into place,” Wise said.
It appears it was a good move for Wise to debut the Cube Series at RVDA.
“In two days, we signed up over 30 dealers who want our product as much as they can get,” Wise said.
The bottom of the unit is a one-piece molded fiberglass tub with four aluminum walls and a fiberglass cap.
“We use Roton hinges. It’s all completely sealed. It’s waterproof. They’re really tight,” he said. The roof can support up to 400 pounds, so a rack system for bikes, kayaks, surfboards, coolers or generators is in the works.
Helping Wise and Orr with design and execution of the Cube Series camper and trailer are Vice President of engineering Jonathon Smith and Assistant VP of Engineering Zack Beall.
Features include:
Gray Stone or Walnut Bark interior, wood-look vinyl flooring, leather-look 44-inch dinette and Olympic twin XL memory foam bed, 2-burner stove/sink combo, aluminum cabinet drawers, storage doors and Corian countertops, 18,000 BTU gas furnace, 1.7 cubic-foot built-in refrigerator, 1.0 cubic-foot built-in microwave, three ceiling LED lights, four power sockets and four USB ports, LP leak/carbon monoxide detector, Thetford electric flushing cassette toilet, plug-and-play solar panel, 7.5-gallon built-in LP tank, exterior outlet and patio light, electric powered roof with remote, tankless water heater with outside shower and a 21-gallon fresh water tank.
MSRP for the Cube Series Camper is $32,457. MSRP for the similarly-equipped Cube Series travel trailer is $44,892.
