Can anyone provide advice/experience at what type of camper/shell works well for 4-wheeling?  I'm not looking for the deluxe/fancy RV type of camper, more of a simple basic shell. 

The newer fiberglass ones with the tinted windows certainly look nice.  However I wonder how they will hold up to all the flexing and stressing they will get crawling/bouncing along primitive unmaintained "roads".

I know fourwheel pop-up campers make a nice camper.  However, even there basic/shell model is several thousand more than I'd like to spend.

Thanks in advance,

Wayne

Why spend the money. Just pitch a tent in the bed of your truck and take a sleeping bag. That way you are off the ground and still have a place to sleep. Campers aren't going to hold up to bouncing around and flexing that happens when you wheel. If you're just going to do veeerrryy light wheeling (country roads) then it should be okay. I'd just get a tent (tarp tied to back of cab down to tailgate). Just my opinion.

What about tonneau covers? Can any good ones handle the abuse of bouncing and flexing around that the shells can't?  

Soft tonneau cover work well because they can flex and the cross runners will strengthen up the bed, but hard ones such as fiberglass will probably crack. I just took it as he wanted to be able to sleep in the back of his truck in which case a tonneau cover would be a little bit claustrophobic for my tastes. Don't know how he would feel about it though.

I wasn't thinking of camping in the tonneau. That'd be like sleeping in a coffin! (lol)

I was asking in case I ever get a truck. Have you seen people damage caps or hard tonneaus by aggressive wheeling?

I haven't personally seen it happen because none of my friends use one, but if you consider how much the bed flexes during hard wheeling, then imagine a fiberglass tonneau on top of the bed, then all I see is it cracking. I have a '78 Chevy pickup that I'd never put a tonneau on for that reason. I've seen how much my bed flexes, so I wouldnt' want a hard one on it. If you want a tonneau, get a soft one, it'll flex with the bed a lot better.

Yep, I was hoping to get some information about shells/toppers for wheeling that would allow me to securely store my gear, keep dirt, mud, rain/snow off of my gear, and allow me to sleep in the shell on occasion.  I'm currently leaning towards a shell that's 4" to 6" higher than the cab as that will allow a little bit more room to move around/sit when I'm sleeping in the shell.  It could also allow me to keep the shell on full-time and still be able to haul sofas and other relatively large items when the occasional need pops up.

It always difficult to describe what is meant by "hard wheeling" in a manner that everyone can understand.  Here in Arizona, we have lots of rough/rocky mountaineous terrain that has some very remote and difficult four wheel drive roads to cross canyons and go up ridges.  Most of these roads were put in by ranchers with a Cat many years ago and are not maintained, nor frequently traveled.  So, I would probably describe my 4-wheeling as less "rough" than what most people consider/call "rock crawling", but much more difficult than casual off-highway use.  On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being a county maintained dirt road, 10 being a tough rock-crawling competion "trail"), I'd say I probably see some 7-8 wheeling.  Therefore, my truck/bed will be getting some flexing, not to mention bouncing.

Thanks for everyone's comments.

Wayne

If I were you I would buy one of the canvus tops and put my goodies that I wanted to keep secure in some type of lockable metal box. The soft top can be folded down when in tight places and put up for  sleeping.