First look: Box Campers Boss

Born out of a necessity for the owner/manufacturer to have comfortable sleeping quarters well above ground level, the Box Camper has evolved since the first version arrived in 2011 to become a safe and practical way to enjoy the outdoors without all the clutter and large footprint of a hard or soft-floor fold-out trailer.

So what is it?

The Boss is a teardrop-style, hard wall camper construction utilising a one-piece, monocoque design. The panels are German-made 2.5mm thick fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) for the inner and outer skins with an insulation core of American-made high density, fully waterproof structural grade styrofoam.

During construction of the Box, the panels are fitted with conduits, stiffening materials and steel plates before assembly, resulting in what appears to be a flawless and seamless finish. This type of construction also ensures full insulation through all the walls, roof and floor, while ventilation comes via a double glazed window in the front wall and a large entry door on each side.

Interior living

With the mattress taking up all the interior space, those large solid doors also ensure that both occupants can enter and leave without climbing over one another. Separate flyscreen doors with small profile amplimesh, lockable from inside or out, are also fitted for added security.

The Thule roof vent has a variable speed reversible fan and insect screen as well as a block-out blind.

While the head of the bed is located along the front wall, the other end features an overhead, four-door cupboard with a Fusion entertainment centre installed in the fascia and a pair of speakers in the rear wall. Also mounted along the wall is an an inverter, a double 240V power point, a couple of 12V sockets and a USB socket.

Rear door kitchen

Back outside, lifting the door at the rear reveals a smart kitchen with stainless steel bench top and a lift out kitchen sink/tub with a flexible faucet plumbed to a 70 litre water tank slung under the chassis.

Lift the tub out of the bench and you discover the water pump and filter inside, along with some space for kettle and pans. One of the under-bench drawers pulls out to reveal a Smev two ring gas stove under a glass top, which connects via a bayonet fitting to a 4.5kg gas bottle mounted to the rear offside wall behind the wheel mudguard. The pull-out drawer next to it is for cutlery.

The four-door kitchen cupboard sits above the bench with two more Fusion speakers below, along with a Redarc battery management system and various switches.

The heavy-duty Rhino racks fixed to the roof can be optioned up with various optional awnings and tents as desired. The review camper was also fitted with a Supa-Peg Stand Easy Deluxe side awning on both sides and a Supa-Peg Erv 180 Rear Wing awning for shade over the rear kitchen.

It’s worth noting that a small dinghy or pair of kayaks could easily fit on the racks on the roof (which is rated to carry 150kg when moving) and not interfere with the set up or pack away of the three awnings. Static payload of 300kg on the roof should also cover a roof top tent to accommodate extra family members.

Aeronautical touches

There are a few touches hinting someone with a background in aeronautical manufacturing has been involved in the design of the Boss, like the fuel tank rack on the nearside rear corner. Profile cut from aluminium, it looks smart, strong and doesn’t weight too much.

Other airborne influences are seen within the front storage box doors that when open reveal profile cut ribs and gussets for further strength and weigh reduction. Ditto the gas bottle holder and frame for the underslung water tank…

A Waeco 50 litre fridge sits inside the front box on a pull out tray whilst the door opposite provides access to the single 125Ah lithium battery and Redarc BMS. The components of the electrical system are spread out on the floor of this compartment but we’d prefer a neater arrangement along the wall that would free up more valuable storage space. Perhaps a removable shelf over the componentry would provide a quick fix.

Strong underpinnings

Complementing the first-class build quality of the Boss body is a steel chassis designed to be both light and strong. The chassis members are laser cut and interlocked before welding and hot dip galvanised; the finish was exceptional and without the dags and patchy colouration often seen in local and imported galvanised metal products these days.

The chassis varies in thickness from 3mm to 8mm, and with two 1500kg recovery points fitted through the rear cross section.

Vehicle Components’ DO-35 hitch is at the pointy end of a drawbar manufactured from pressed 6mm steel rather than the usual box section. Al-Ko has been designing its chassis and components using this method for many years and it's a proven design.

Also fitted to the Boss was 16x8 inch steel off-road rims with 265-75 R16 All Terrain tyres, with the spare underslung just forward of the 30-degree departure angle at the rear.

Top-secret suspension

The suspension is a proprietary swinging arm design with single Kings off-road coil-over shocks on both sides; all set up in a manner that we’ve never seen before, with 200mm of wheel travel.

As the design is patent pending we are sworn to secrecy and not allowed to show any pics of the unique shocker installation at this time. Suffice to say once the cat is out of the back this design may well cause the chassis industry to have a serious look at current systems and we expect a flurry of activity from those trying to circumvent the patent laws.

For now, we can say that we took the Boss over some well abused 4WD tracks on the banks of the upper Brisbane River and it performed faultlessly, remaining stable in tricky positions and while the 4WD towing it was pushed to the limits.

Verdict

You’d go a long way to find better build quality than that found on the Boss camper, which at around $50,000 is priced for the discerning buyer.

The secret suspension is another head-turner (stayed tuned for further details) and we'd only suggest minor design tweaks like better location of the electrical gear and perhaps a fold-down table coming off the offside mudguard that could be used instead of a dining table stored inside on top of the queen size mattress.

Specs: Box Campers Boss

Overall length: 4770mm
Overall width: 2200mm
Internal body length: 2070mm
Internal body width: 1540mm
External box width: 1600mm
Internal height: 1240mm
Travel height: 2100mm
Tare: 880kg
ATM: 1650kg
Ball weight (tare): 90kg
Body/frame: Fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) with waterproof Styrene insulation
Chassis: 3-8mm laser cut pressed steel, hot dipped galvanised
Wheels: 16 x 8in off-road steel
Brakes: 10in electric
Cooking: Smev 2 burner gas
Fridge/freezer: Waeco 50 litre
Toilet: No
Shower: No
Central heating: No
Gas: 4.5kg
Lighting: LED throughout
Battery: 125Ah lithium
Solar: 120Ah folding panel
Price as tested: $49,500
Supplied by: Box Campers, Nerang, Qld