There’s a new Outpost in town—and this one comes with a bathroom.
Outpost Campers has officially unveiled the 2027 Outpost 8.0, a bigger, roomier, and considerably more capable sibling to the popular Outpost 6.5. The new camper brings a full wet-bath, 40 gallons of fresh water, a 5-kWh lithium battery, 500 watts of solar, a diesel-fired Truma Combi, microwave, induction cooking, and a spacious north-south cabover into a four-season hard-side camper that still sneaks under the 2,000-pound mark.
That’s a lot of camper for less than a ton.
For Outpost founder and CEO Taylor Ripp, the new camper represents a major milestone for the young Bayfield, Colorado company. “It’s a big, big step for Outpost,” Ripp told Truck Camper Adventure.
Since launching the Outpost 6.5 roughly two years ago, the company has essentially been a one-model operation, concentrating its efforts on refining that camper, building its Colorado factory, and figuring out how to increase production without sacrificing quality. Demand for the 6.5 was strong enough that simply learning how to build enough of them became a major undertaking.
But while all of that was happening, customers kept asking the same question: When are you guys going to build a bigger one?
According to Ripp, those requests started almost immediately. “Ever since day one, we’ve been getting asked for an 8-foot model with some more amenities,” he said.
Outpost listened and quietly began prototyping a larger camper, experimenting with layouts, materials, appliances, and systems while trying to preserve what Ripp calls the “design DNA of the Outpost brand.”
Now, after nearly two years of tinkering and refinement, that camper is ready for prime time.
Bigger Camper, Same Outpost DNA
The Outpost 8.0 is designed for 3/4-ton and one-ton long-bed pickups, and one of its more appealing features is that the camper fits entirely within the truck bed with the tailgate closed. That’s becoming something of a rarity among larger hard-side campers, many of which extend well beyond the rear bumper.
The closed-tailgate design should appeal to buyers who like keeping their truck and camper package relatively compact and tidy. More importantly, the 8.0 provides many of the comforts normally associated with significantly larger and heavier campers without wandering into the 3,000- and 4,000-pound weight territory occupied by many luxury hard-sides.
Construction follows the lightweight composite philosophy established by the Outpost 6.5, but Outpost made an important change for the larger camper. The 8.0 uses 2-inch XPS-core composite panels rated at R-12, giving it some serious four-season chops without adding unnecessary pounds.
“It’s actually lighter weight, but more insulated,” Ripp said of the new panel. The material was an important part of the weight-saving equation and allowed Outpost to increase insulation while still keeping the finished camper below that critical 2,000-pound threshold.
That’s a neat trick, especially considering everything else Outpost managed to cram inside.
A Real Wet Bath—Finally
For many prospective Outpost buyers, this will be the headline feature.
The Outpost 8.0 gets a fully enclosed wet-bath.
Not a curtain pulled around a portable toilet. Not an outdoor shower. Not a compromise that requires everyone else to leave the camper for five minutes.
A real bathroom.
The camper carries 40 gallons of fresh water, a 20-gallon gray-water tank, and a cassette toilet with a 5-gallon waste tank. That’s an impressive amount of water for a camper weighing less than a ton dry and should give couples considerably more staying power when boondocking away from hookups.
The production bathroom is also quite different from the prototype Outpost displayed at earlier Overland Expos. The company initially experimented with ABS plastic and composite components but ultimately decided to go considerably more robust.
Much of the finished wet-bath is now constructed from powder-coated aluminum, including the vanity, countertop, and major portions of the shower enclosure. The change also allowed Outpost to eliminate the one-inch-thick composite vertical bathroom wall used in the prototype, recovering a little precious interior space in the process. Ripp calls the resulting aluminum structure “really, really stout.”
It’s a good example of the kind of refinement that often separates an interesting prototype from a production-ready camper.
More Kitchen, More Storage, More Camper
The bathroom wasn’t the only area that went back to the drawing board.
Outpost redesigned the kitchen as well, replacing the prototype’s straight driver’s-side galley with a larger L-shaped kitchen. The new arrangement provides more counter space while creating room for some of the camper’s mechanical systems.
Storage has been increased throughout the camper. There’s a new in-floor storage hatch, larger overhead cabinets that extend farther into the cabover, and redesigned dinette benches constructed largely from aluminum with bamboo fascia panels.
Those aluminum benches are more than just another pretty face. They’re lightweight, strong, and space-efficient, helping Outpost find room for an optional second battery without unnecessarily increasing camper weight.
As Ripp put it during our conversation, “You can’t have too much storage.”
Truer words have rarely been spoken about a truck camper.
Propane-Free with Truma Diesel Heat
Like the Outpost 6.5, the new 8.0 is completely propane-free.
Cabin heat and hot water come courtesy of a Truma Combi Diesel, while cooking duties are handled by a portable induction cooktop and built-in microwave. For buyers tired of lugging propane cylinders around—or simply looking for a more streamlined energy system—the setup has obvious appeal.
Outpost experimented with another heating system during development before ultimately choosing the Truma. Ripp said the company selected the Combi Diesel because of its track record for being “super reliable” and because one compact appliance could handle both heat and hot water without forcing Outpost to abandon its propane-free philosophy.
Outpost also came up with a nice solution for feeding the Truma.
The camper gets its own 4-gallon onboard diesel tank with an exterior automotive-style fuel-fill port. Pull up to a diesel pump, fill the truck, fill the camper, and you’re done. No separate propane stop and no loose diesel jug occupying valuable storage space.
For an off-grid camper, that’s a refreshingly simple arrangement.
Enough Power to Make a Power Station Jealous
Then there’s the electrical system.
And this is where the Outpost 8.0 starts flexing some serious muscle.
Standard equipment includes a 5-kWh lithium battery, 500 watts of rooftop solar, DC-DC charging from the truck while driving, and 30-amp shore power. That’s already an impressive electrical package right out of the gate.
But Outpost didn’t stop there.
Buyers can add another 5-kWh battery for a whopping 10 kWh of onboard lithium storage. There’s also a pre-wired exterior solar connection for portable panels, allowing owners to chase the sun even when the camper itself is parked in the shade.
And then there’s the optional 48-volt off-grid air conditioner.
Ripp’s description of Outpost’s recent testing might be the best sales pitch for the system. With outside temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, the company ran the air conditioner hard with the standard 500 watts of rooftop solar contributing power.
The result? The camper became “uncomfortably cold.”
Even more impressive, Ripp said the electrical system was still displaying more than 30 hours of estimated runtime. His assessment was simple: “True, true off-grid AC.”
Anyone who has spent a hot summer afternoon listening to a generator drone outside an RV will appreciate the significance of that.
For buyers who don’t need air conditioning, Outpost wisely makes it optional. A MaxxAir Deluxe fan and separate MaxxAir bathroom vent come standard, giving the camper plenty of ventilation without forcing buyers in cooler climates to purchase equipment they may rarely use.
Modern Without Looking Like Grandma’s RV
Inside, the Outpost 8.0 continues the clean, contemporary design language established by the 6.5.
Outpost uses sage-green powder-coated aluminum cabinetry, bamboo plywood accents, and dimmable LED lighting to create an interior that feels more like a modern mountain cabin than a traditional RV.
That’s refreshing.
For decades, truck camper interiors largely followed the same formula: lots of brown cabinetry, lots of faux wood, and enough beige to make you wonder whether another color had been outlawed by the RV industry.
Outpost clearly didn’t get that memo.
The powder-coated aluminum gives the interior a distinctive look while serving the company’s weight-saving philosophy, and the bamboo adds just enough warmth to keep things from feeling industrial.
Add the north-south cabover, expanded storage, larger kitchen, full wet bath, and generous electrical and water capacities, and the 8.0 looks like a camper designed for considerably more than weekend duty.
The Magic Number: 1,965 Pounds
All of which brings us back to that number—1,965 pounds.
That’s the dry weight.
“For the amount of space you have, it’s incredibly lightweight,” Ripp said. And when you look at the equipment list, it’s difficult to argue with him. He points to the full interior wet bath, 40 gallons of fresh water, 20 gallons of gray water, 5-gallon cassette, and ability to close the truck’s tailgate as reasons why he considers the 8.0 a “fairly unique offering on the market at that weight.”
Of course, nobody camps in a dry camper.
Fill that 40-gallon fresh-water tank and you’re adding roughly 334 pounds before food, clothing, options, camping gear, and occupants enter the picture. Add the optional second battery and air conditioner and the payload requirement climbs further.
As always, prospective buyers need to run the numbers for their particular truck.
Still, starting below 2,000 pounds gives the Outpost 8.0 something increasingly difficult to find in a fully equipped hard-side camper: excess payload.
The goal, Ripp says, was to build “a true four-season livable camper” that fits within the envelope of a long-bed pickup and can be carried comfortably by a one-ton truck or even some properly equipped 3/4-ton pickups.
Production Starts Soon
The Outpost 8.0 isn’t some pie-in-the-sky concept camper destined to spend the next three years rotating around the show circuit.
It’s going into production soon.
Outpost is taking pre-orders now, with the first production units scheduled to begin construction within weeks. Customer deliveries are expected to begin in late fall and winter 2026. Ripp told us that Outpost had already received a fair number of deposits on the morning of the announcement.
“The lead time is getting longer by the hour,” he joked.
The 2027 Outpost 8.0 starts at $57,995, with available options including the 48-volt off-grid air conditioner, second 5-kWh lithium battery, and a range of interior and exterior accessories.
For a company that spent its first two years essentially perfecting one camper, the Outpost 8.0 is an ambitious second act.
It also hits a particularly interesting sweet spot in today’s truck camper market. Buyers increasingly want lightweight construction, genuine four-season capability, lithium power, solar, diesel heat, and enough water to stay off-grid for more than a weekend. At the same time, many don’t want to give up a proper bathroom—or buy a truck capable of hauling a 4,000-pound camper just to get one.
The Outpost 8.0 attempts to solve that equation with R-12 composite construction, a full wet bath, 40 gallons of fresh water, serious lithium and solar capacity, diesel heat and hot water, and a modern interior, all packaged inside a camper that lets you close the tailgate.
And somehow, Outpost did all of it at 1,965 pounds dry.
That’s one number truck camper buyers—and Outpost’s competitors—are going to have a hard time ignoring.
Interested in learning more about Outpost Campers or in getting a quote? Contact the company directly via email at info@outpost-campers.com.
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