I have a ¾ ton, single cab, long bed, diesel pickup truck that I bought used many years ago with 50.000 miles on it. It came with a locking rear differential from the factory. I replaced the stock tires with slightly taller and wider tires, on the stock wheels.
I then purchased a used slide-in, popup, truck camper. This camper was about 15 years old at the time but had only been used by the original owners about ten times. The camper has about 18 inches of vinyl/fabric walls for the popup section so it is not a true hard side camper when deployed. It has a full size bed over the pickup cab and the dining table converts to a single bunk. It has a small sink with about a 15 gallon fresh water tank. The sink drain has a regular garden hose connection to the outside so it can be hooked to a portable grey-water tank/bucket or drained through a short hose to the ground if allowable by the camping area. It has a three burner stove, heater, ice box, and plenty of cabinet space. I have a cassette toilet that stows in one of the cabinets under the lower bunk. When on the truck, the space around the truck’s wheel wells is secured by doors at the rear of the camper, providing additional storage, useful for long and/or dirtier objects.
The top can be extended literally in 20 seconds. Putting it down takes a little longer due to ensuring the fabric is tucked back inside and not pinched, but still quick and easy. It uses a crank handle for this and requires little effort. I bought the camper in Utah so it came with “insulated vinyl” for help when it is cold outside. The fabric portion has clear vinyl windows with zippers and screens so they can be opened for ventilation and inside blinds for privacy. These windows run the full length of both side and the full width of the rear. When the blinds are up, you still have lots of privacy really since they are up at head level from the inside and some 9 to ten feet off the ground. There is a glass window on the passenger side, below the fabric portion and a sliding glass window on the front that matches up with the sliding window on the back of the pickup cab. This can be used to get from the camper to the cab or back, if needed. When the top is down, it is a pretty secure setup and it is not bad when the top is up due to how high off the ground the fabric portion is.
This setup off-roads extremely well since it is not as tall as a regular slide in and it is lighter due to not having a permanent toilet or shower with associated grey and black water tanks. (We have used an inflatable kid’s pool for rudimentary bathing.) I have had this in some pretty lonely, rugged areas where help is not easy to come by so I installed a 10,000 lb. winch on the truck for self-recovery purposes (not been needed for that to date). Due to the lower profile when down, vehicle mileage is not too bad and the cross-winds have less effect when compared to a regular slide in.
I put this rig together precisely with my wife and daughter’s needs while camping in mind. It has served us well and we have many memorable outings under our belts as a result. I put in well under $20k into this and the truck now has north of 200,000 miles on it so I believe I have darned sure gotten my money’s worth. By the way, the truck is a 1997 Chevy with a 6.5 turbo diesel so it compares closely to the CUCV II. In fact, now that the original paint is peeling, I am considering the CUCV II clone route.
I agree with the suggestions of a HD pickup with a slide in camper. I'm sharing my experience so you have insight into the difference between full size and popup camper versions. There is quite a bit of variety available just within the slide in truck camper category. Some have lots of creature comforts and even slide outs, albeit with cost, size and weight implications.