TCM checks out a 2012 Adventurer 86FB at Five Star RV. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...



For 2011, we debuted the “Our Experience” series which blends a personal truck camping adventure story with a full on truck camper review.  To date we have published “Our Experience” reviews on the Lance 1050S, Wolf Creek 850, Northstar Escape Pod 750, Palomino Maverick Max 2902, and Travel Lite 1000 SLRX Ultra.  With each “Our Experience” story, we have honed our reviewing craft and pushed the “Our Experience” concept further.  Before this year is out, one more experience story is on the way.

The problem with the “Our Experience” series is time and money.  These articles require a week or more away from our normal work flow.  In short, it’s not practical to do more than a handful of “Our Experience” stories each year. 

So how do we do more camper reviews without blowing our budget or throwing our aggressive publishing schedule out the window?  The answer is simple, review the campers where we find them; at dealerships and RV shows.  These reviews will not be as in-depth as the “Our Experience” series, but they will allow us to review many more campers.  With that, let me introduce to you our new series, the “First Look”.

The subject of our very first “First Look” is the 2012 Adventurer 86FB.  We published a “New Camper” announcement for the 86FB back in April but we finally saw the camper for the first time last month at Five Star RV in Henderson, Colorado.  While we looked the camper over, we hatched the idea for the “First Look” series.  We also decided a follow-up with Greg Tucknies, Adventurer Manufacturing's National Sales Manager, was in order to get more information on their extensive changes for 2012.  Based on what we saw, there hasn’t been an idle hand at Adventurer in 2011.


First Look: 2012 Adventurer 86FB

One of the disadvantages of giving our impressions of a camper from a dealer lot is that we can’t take it somewhere and properly photograph its exterior.  This was the best shot I could get.  You can see the electric awning, ladder, Comfort Step, and Happijac jacks.  It’s a good looking camper.

The outside of 2012 Adventurer 86FB is very clean and well laid out.  We didn’t have any trouble finding all the usual exterior amenities and we both liked the tasteful but understated decals.  The front nose is filon wrapped and no longer features a fiberglass cap.  As long as the exterior seals are well done by Adventurer and well maintained by the consumer, I don’t have a problem with the change away from the fiberglass end cap, especially at this price and weight point.

Angela and I wish every camper could have a service center like this.  As the photograph shows, the 86FB has the outside shower, water fill, city water connection, and electrical connection all in one place.  Other manufacturers have done similar multi-purpose compartments, but it’s great to see Adventurer add the service center to the 86FB.  We even like the cable and hose pass-throughs that allow the cables and hoses to exit the bottom of the compartment and the compartment door to be kept closed.  Very slick.

The whole industry has gone batty with LED fever.  For 2012, Adventurer has caught the LED bug and changed all of their exterior lights to LED.  Here you can see the rear LED tail lights.

When we had our 2010 Adventurer 90FWS, it was the Comfort Step aluminum bumper system that always stole the show.  Whether at rallies, campgrounds, or gas stations, people would come up to the camper to share their praise for the steps.  After they had the opportunity to use the Comfort Steps they were even more impressed.  The steps look and feel like residential style steps and make entering and exiting the camper a pleasure. 

Thankfully, Adventurer has put their Comfort Step system on the 86FB.  If you own this camper, get ready to do a little of your own show and tell as people come up to compliment and test the steps.

When I opened the rear compartment door and saw how clean, neat, and orderly the dump facilities, plumbing, holding tanks, and wiring looked, I was ecstatic.  To be honest, the 2010 90FWS did not show nearly as well.  Even better, the dump valves are easy to reach and color coded (if you can call black and grey colors).  If this is any indication of the production quality changes at Adventurer, we are impressed.

On our 2010 Adventurer 90FWS, you also had to remove a step to access the rear compartment where the dump valves were.  This was a real pain in the butt and I even managed to break the compartment door once when I absentmindedly used it as a step coming out of the camper (long story). 

For the 2012 Adventurer 86FB, Adventurer has removed the step.  This is great as it makes accessing the dump facilities much easier and faster, but it also makes the final step-up into the camper a little tall.  I don’t think this is a big deal (the final step-up is not much higher than the Comfort Steps), but it’s something to be aware of.

Often little details add up to big improvements.  For 2012, Adventurer has added a gas strut to hold the entry door open.  As someone who uses campers in all kinds of environmental conditions, this is a very welcome detail.  On a windy day, the 86FB door would stay open.  If we parked on a slant, the 86FB door would stay open.  And the 86FB door doesn’t need one of those fragile latches to hold itself open.  Perhaps, in use, there would be a negative about a gas strut on the rear door, but I can’t think of one.  Nice addition Adventurer.

If you missed the comment earlier, the 2012 Adventurer 86FB features an electric awning.  Just inside the back door is the switch to extend or retract the awning.  As someone who doesn’t like the fuss of manually extended awnings, having an electric awning with the switch right at the back door entry way would probably make me actually use awnings. 

For the record, we have borrowed five campers from the industry over a one year period each and never once used an awning.  We always return the campers with the awnings still tied up as they delivered them.  Having an electric awning so easy and convenient to use might change that.

Just inside the back door, there’s a drawer where you could keep the camper jack remote among other things.  It’s a neat place to see a drawer and I’m sure 86FB owners will put it to good use.  I also liked seeing the steel drawer roller guides.

The view when you enter the 2012 Adventurer 86FB is that of an open, well laid out camper with a narrow hall leading to the cabover bedroom.  For a non-slide camper, this means the camper effectively has two distinct rooms.  The floors, cabinets, counters, dinette table, and fabrics are warm, work well together, and are all relatively neutral.

The dinette is a home run.  It’s attractive, comfortable, functional, and features storage under the seats.  The dinette table is a dream dinette allowing the dinette to be easily converted into a bed.  The shape of the table maximizes the size of the dinette while not crowding the camper.  For a non-slide dinette in a small camper, this is nice work.

Above the dinette is storage and the CD/DVD entertainment system.  The Jensen entertainment system is a big improvement from the stereo we had in the 2010 90FWS.  I especially appreciate the USB and auxiliary in for an iPod.  The alarm clock function is also welcome.

The kitchen in the 2012 Adventurer 86FB is a compact but highly functional kitchen.  I really like the design and storage opportunities.  The cabinetry is a light but warm color and has a clean and modern aesthetic.  Everything seems to be exactly where it should be.

The six cubic foot refrigerator is enough to hold food for at least a week for two people.  The skylight just over the refrigerator keeps the hall between the main interior and cabover from getting too dark.

The fully-featured wet bath in the 86FB is well designed and quite large.  The nearly full-width skylight really adds to the sense of size and improves the height.  One detail that caught our attention was the use of the small fan on the side.  We used one of these fans in another camper and found it to be a small wonder; quite powerful and effective.

Storage in the overcab is good with a mirrored wardrobe on the driver’s side and a horizontal compartment on the passenger side.  Perhaps we’re in the minority here, but we would prefer to see a more traditional approach to storage in the overcab where both sides had horizontal compartment and a smaller closet cabinet.  We would also prefer a window on the driver’s side or at least a Heki skylight.  Campers who prefer camping in colder weather will probably applaud the lack of overcab windows, while others, like us, like to have the visibility and sense of space at least one more window would provide.  Don’t fence me in.


Overall Impression

It’s no secret that we like hard-side non-slide truck campers.  It may not be as widely known that the floor plan of the 86FB is very similar to our favorite truck camper floorplan; mid-bath, rear kitchen, and full-booth dinette.  Let’s just say that the 2012 Adventurer 86FB is, by far, my favorite Adventurer model. 

I would like to see the overcab storage change and a window added, but that’s my biggest concern about what is clearly an outstanding floor plan and design.  If you’re in the market for a short or long bed wet bath truck camper, the 86FB deserves to be on your list.