Much of the old RV industry still builds campers using techniques that are not much different from what was common several decades ago. NüCamp is one of the newer brands that does things differently, discarding the ways of the past in favor of something fresh. The company’s newest camper is a small unit that somehow seems larger on the inside than it appears on the outside. This is the nüCamp Haven 220, a weirdo that’s built pretty well, looks like an apartment, and has some odd quirks. And I’m not even talking about the smell.
The nüCamp Haven 220 actually launched a handful of months ago in 2025, but I did not write about it because I had a few questions that were unanswered from the press release published by nüCamp. I finally have those answers now, and, most importantly, I have also seen the trailer with my own eyes and touched it.
The nüCamp Haven 220 is going into 2026 as nüCamp’s sort of flagship trailer. It is front and center here at the 2026 Florida RV SuperShow, and it was the trailer getting all of the attention at the display. Some RV influencers have laid all kinds of praise on this thing, and I have even seen headlines asking if it’s the best camper of 2026. Is it? Well, let’s take a look.
Euro Designs In America
First, let’s have a little primer on nüCamp. If you’re familiar with this company, skip on. However, it’s not exactly a household name in America, so I’ll explain why nüCamp is different. From my previous coverage:
The company was formed in 2005 by Joe Mullet. Back then, the company was called Pleasant Valley Teardrop Trailers. At the time, Mullet had been a plumber for years before getting into building lawn furniture. But he wanted to build something unique, and the lawn furniture wasn’t really cutting it. That’s when an acquaintance asked him to build a teardrop trailer, and Mullet got the idea to build his own teardrop trailers.
As nüCamp RV notes, Mullet opened up an eight-man, 3,000 square foot shop where its retro-styled teardrops were hand-built. Their goal was to create quality trailers, something that some companies may struggle with even today.
Like many companies, Mullet’s company didn’t survive the initial hit of the Great Recession, and closed its doors in 2008. But a lucky call from a distributor the same day meant that his company’s fate wasn’t sealed. The company reopened and started building campers again.
NüCamp built its reboot on the back of the Tab, a camper that was originally designed by Knaus Tabbert in Germany. By repurposing a German camper for America, nüCamp figured out a way to stick out among the endless sea of camper manufacturers. Since then, nüCamp has expanded by adding the Barefoot, another design that came from overseas, Cirrus truck campers, and the company also used to make Little Guy trailers.
All of nüCamp’s trailers are built around the same idea of tossing out the old ways of camper manufacturing. Instead of flimsy wood framing and leak-prone rubberized roofs, nüCamp likes to adorn its campers in aluminum, fiberglass, and composites, backing it all with aluminum framing.
The Haven 220
Weirdly, despite priding itself on building campers with better quality, nüCamp’s press releases never explained the build materials of the Haven, which is why I initially skipped on writing about it. The Haven 220 is this company’s first so-called “full-size” travel trailer, and you’d think the marketing would be a bit more thorough.
The Haven 220 launched in October 2025, and nüCamp says it was designed with input from current nüCamp owners. The idea here was to maximize interior space and comfort, while also adding in features that lots of RV buyers are begging for. Namely, nüCamp has identified trends like buyers wanting dry baths – a bathroom where the shower and toilet are separate – as well as a bedroom that has space to walk around the bed.
The Haven 220 begins with nüCamp’s standard build, which calls for a steel chassis and aluminum structure. I’m told that the Haven sports laminate walls, a composite floor, and a roof that has aluminum caps and a fiberglass top. While not the most amazing build sheet of materials I’ve ever seen, it’s several steps up from the “stick-built” campers that remain in production. Based on my talks with nüCamp owners, it seems nüCamp’s products hold up better than typical. In other words, we’re off to a great start.
The Haven design is pretty simple outside. There are no slides and only a simple decal package. Some noteworthy touches include a surprisingly meaty rear bumper and a nice covered area for the equipment on the front of the trailer. Also, I found no rust on this frame. “Of course not, Mercedes, it’s brand new!” So you might think, but I make the note because some brands still crank out trailers that basically start rusting immediately, and I’ve seen rusted metal on display. Look at that clean frame below:
Looking good so far, but here is a problem with the exterior – see if you can find it before I bring it up later.
Like An Apartment
The inside of this trailer is where the fun begins.
The folks of nüCamp gave the interior a bit of an open concept. There are no walls to make the trailer feel smaller, and the ceiling stands fairly tall at 6’10.” Add in the giant front windows, and the camper feels light and airy inside. My first thought upon stepping in is that I walked into a nice studio apartment. I noticed that a lot of the showgoers had the same reaction. I’ve never heard the word “apartment” so much at an RV show before.
But I get it. The dinette is small and cozy, like the little table you’d have in a small apartment. The kitchen looks like the kind of space where you’d share some wine with your spouse while cooking dinner. But the most striking impression, I think, is that the bedroom seems bigger than it actually is because there are places to walk beside the queen bed. This trailer is only 23.1 feet long, but like an ambitious little kid, it seems to swear it’s actually bigger than it really is. The dinette also turns into a bed, resulting in what should be decent sleeping for two adults and two kids. I love how welcoming the interior is.
Interior materials felt a pretty good few rungs above average. I wouldn’t say you’ll be camping in luxury, but it’s not Spartan, either. The counters are really solid and are put together well. The cabinetry feels hefty, and the doors close softly. Even the wood ceiling trim feels pretty good to the touch. I could see this interior lasting some time with minimal upkeep.
Equipment inside is pretty standard. There’s a deep sink, a two-burner stove, a 4.6 cubic foot refrigerator. The spec sheet talks of an Alde Hydronic Heating System, a Nautilus Water Management System, and the Froli Sleep System, which is a low-profile sort of bed platform known for its good ventilation. The heating system uses a fluid, coils, a pipe, a flame, a pump, and other bits to heat both the trailer and its water.
Stores sound decent for a unit of this size. You get 34 gallons of usable water, a 35-gallon gray tank, and a 25-gallon waste tank. It also weighs 3,933 pounds empty and has a gross weight of 5,000 pounds. This means you should be able to tow this thing with a large crossover or a mid-size SUV, depending on the tow vehicle’s capacities.
Moving on from there, you also get a 100 Ah 12-volt lithium battery (can be upgraded to 270 Ah lithium 12-volt Battle Born batteries), a 1,200-watt inverter, and a solar panel. Weirdly, the output of this panel is not published. You can upgrade this solar, too, and the upgraded solar output is not mentioned.
The bathroom is supposed to be a highlight here, and it’s meant to work and feel like your bathroom at home, just smaller. As a bigger person, I thought the bathroom felt a little bit on the cramped side, but no worse than the average travel trailer.
It Got Weird And Smelly Quickly
What I was weirded out by was how parts of the interior were put together and by how it all smelled. The walls of the interior, namely on the bathroom and the lower portions of the cabinetry, were covered in what I could really only describe as the sort of plastic screw covers that you get when you buy cheap assemble-it-yourself furniture. The walls sort of looked like someone only got halfway through finishing them. And this wasn’t a prototype trailer, either.
This feeling wasn’t helped by the inside of the bathroom door, which, at least visually, seemed like the kind of door that you’d get with a cheap cabinet from a furniture store. Still, everything felt like it was reasonably well built here. It was just visually very odd.
Additional weirdness came from the smell of it all. The back of the trailer smelled like a Harbor Freight store, and the bathroom turned up the Harbor Freight musk past 11 all the way to 20 or so. I can’t imagine what the smell would be like without the airflow from the open door. I do think the smell will go away as the trailer is actually used, but at first, it’s going to be unpleasant in there.
There’s More
Alright, so are you ready for the catch?
Many of the people who came by the display said that they thought the Haven 220 didn’t have nearly enough storage. Yes, there are cabinets and cubbies inside. There is also a front garage that spans the width of the trailer. But storage falls fast from there. Some of the folks I spoke with mentioned that they probably wouldn’t have a problem with what they’d want to bring inside the trailer, but were disappointed in the lack of places to carry outdoorsy gear.
This was interesting because, in its press release, nüCamp said the Haven 220 was built with storage in mind. I think the interior storage is sufficient, but the people I talked to had a good point about gear that you don’t want to store in the interior. Other nüCamp fans I spoke with also said they think the Haven 220 is missing some of the wow factor that’s normally included in other nüCamp models.
The other difficult pill to swallow might be the price. With an MSRP of $60,000, the Haven 220 is solidly priced in the premium space for travel trailers of this size. RV buyers can get well-built campers that have bigger refrigerators and better storage for less money. Those buyers also won’t have to peer at what looks like an unfinished wall or enjoy the aroma of a hardware store.
All of that being said, I think nüCamp’s first big travel trailer is a real solid effort. The bill of materials seems better than the industry average by a decent margin, and I do adore the open concept. But there are a handful of catches that you’ll have to be okay with. You’ll also have to materialize some wads of cash, too. So, I’m left conflicted here. Is this the best the RV industry can build in 2026? I don’t think so, but I can see this finding some fans for sure.
All story images: Mercedes Streeter
Top image: nüCamp
I had a NuCamp T@B 320, and now a Cirrus 820 truck camper. Although outdoor storage is usually lacking on NuCamp, they have the best build quality I’ve seen in a camper. The T@B had no significant issues (other than us overheating the fridge, thus requiring replacement) over our 6 years of ownership.
Eventually, we tired of the tight space and purchased a used Lance 1685. It was nothing but problems. Slideout issues, piping leaks, oven/stove falling apart, cabinetry exploding, etc. It lasted 4 months before we purchased the used Cirrus 820. We’ve had no issues with the cirrus, and are so happy to be back in a NuCamp product.
The quality is worth the price.
Asking 60k for a camper with bathroom door hinges that look like they’ll fail in the first season (weekend?) of use. No thanks. I’ll give it to them that some of the interior looks better than the competition, but I’d be left wondering about the overall quality.
I feel like that $60k pricetag should have been front and center. Until proven otherwise, a Scamp or Casita is the only way to go for casual campers who just want to tow out to a state park for a long weekend.
I don’t get the storage complaint. It looks pretty typical for a trailer this size. There are a bunch of cabinets inside and passthrough outside. I don’t even have passthrough storage on my small trailer and I make it work. Like that the tank sizes are reasonable too.
Most of the interior stuff is cosmetic. As long as it holds up I don’t care that much. The smell is a little concerning. I like new car smell as much as anyone, but if it’s that strong I have to wonder if there are some health concerns from it.
Don’t love the price, but if it’s legitimately built to last better than a $25k trailer I might be willing to swallow it. I’ve complained in the past about the lack of mid-range options – everything’s a garbage box out of Elkhart or a 100k+ boutique rig. This feels like the kind of thing I’ve been asking for. Will have to keep an eye on these.
Harbor Freight smell in a camp trailer? No thanks.
I don’t want to camp. Gonna have to buy a Harbor Freight store and convert it to housing.
Are the bathroom door hinges the same ones used on the storage cabinets? If so, I bet someone had an idea about how to save some money.
Other than that, I think the interior looks neat! No over-the-top glamping clutter, but comfortable enough that you wouldn’t mind spending time in there (other than having to huff Harbor Freight vapors).
I think that the external storage is, for a lot of users, a pretty good compromise to make in pursuit of that spacious interior. I imagine a lot of folks would be happy with this and a locking tonneau cover on a pickup.
But at that price for this size, a person should definitely be particular about what they are looking for. I don’t think someone should settle for this if they want the space. If someone needs the storage more than the internal space, hopefully there is something out there that offers a good setup.
I love the NuCamp line and the T@B400 is on my list of potentials when I finally pull the trigger on a camper/RV (probably used, I doubt my budget will strech to ‘New’ territory this year, or the next, or…, also let someone else take the horrendous RV depreciation hit) But that being said, while I love the layout and NuCamp has a generally solid reputation for small trailers, if I was dipping my toes in in this deeper end of the price pool, the $60k price puts it dangerously close to traliers like Escape which are more than just a solid effort, which are in fact, rock-solid, proven products. Granted the interior of an Escape is, uh, functional, and doesn’t look like a nice appartment now, but I know in 15 years it will also still look and work the same. I think 60k (probably 70k once you get some options like the bigger batteries and solar) is probably pushing the envalope here. I’d give it a look, but likely be hesitant to sign on the line for this one.
I look at it two ways:
I can pony up for a higher quality trailer, like this or an Escape, and that should hold up and hold its value if/when I want to get rid of it.
Or I can spend 1/3 the price a cheap stick-built unit that won’t hold it’s value, but even if it only lasts 5 years I can buy 3 for the price of this one. And that doesn’t sound like a bad approach.
I’m a fan of the teardrops for sure. This one, tough, like most attempts at building a traditional trailer with better materials, still seems to fall short of the quality you get from a fiberglass trailer. The Escape is a bit more spartan, but seems easy to make a bit more welcoming with some color. A Casita is even more spartan, but for a lot less than this one there’s a lot of budget to dress it up. It just seems like no one can beat fiberglass for cost of ownership but they keep trying.
It looks like it’s back-to-front?
Okay I feel like I got left hanging by that picture of the trailer jacks and the description of do you notice something about the exterior.
I’m assuming it was refering to the lack of exterior cubbies (only 1), not the underside, but I agree the picture of the jacks is misleading. I spent 5 minutes looking at the jack and suspension trying to see what was amiss.
I think it should have read, “…there is a problem with the exterior…” instead of “…here is a problem with the exterior…” which draws your eye to the photo of the undercarriage.
I know the Harbor Freight smell very well, having lived in Beijing a while ago. Chinese rubber smells bad enough, then the paper packaging adds a strong turpentine smell.
The CJ750 sidecar motorcycle I had in China literally stunk, despite being Uber cool.
I really like the design, but that price is a tough pill to swallow when I look at the quality of fiberglass trailer I can buy for that money.
You know if I had to live with a store’s signature smell, Harbor Freight wouldn’t be the worst choice. Michael’s on the other hand…
That’s the dried eucalyptus, or as I called it when I worked there in HS, puke-alyptus.
I always blamed the cinnamon brooms, but yeah it’s obviously a complex bouquet.
I would willingly wear Harbor Freight Dank as a cologne.
Especially before a decade ago – eco-friendly and organic casting and molding processes have even hit the Chinese. HF today smells downright friendly compared to when I first began shopping there, when the pliers that have soft handles would stink up your hands all day and also bleed some kind of material into unprotected benchtops and stain them the color of the plastic slightly.
I’ve got IBS, let me use the head for a bit and I guarantee you I can replace that smell
So you have a crrrrap on deck that could choke a DONKEY, eh?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GU2GDFWYJtE
All these campers are garbage, built to the absolute minimum of standards.
Yeah but this is somewhat nicer garbage. Mercedes has written plenty about the sad state of the industry in terms of quality, plus she’s been in more RVs than any of us. From all I’ve learned about the industry, my main takeaway is better off with a boat (which is also a terrible decision). For me this is more about if I HAD to get a trailer/rv, which one sucks the least for what I could afford.
Take the worst of a house and marry it with the worst of a trailer. Then drop expectations even further. Halve it again and it’s about the level of quality a typical camper has. Some are better than others. The less stuff in it, the less there is to be disappointed by when it fails. Not if, when.
I have a small basic camper. It’s a conditioned, comfortable place to put my head that’s off the ground. Which is fine. It’s had many fewer issues than the larger, fancier camper my in-laws have. That’s been a constant headache for them with lots of workmanship issues. There’s less to go wrong on mine so less has gone wrong.
“The company was formed in 2005 by Joe Mullet. …At the time, Mullet had been a plumber for years before getting into building lawn furniture.”
Did he also drive a Camaro?
It’s a cute trailer – but I agree, why are bathroom doors hinged using cabinet hardware?
And why is the TV mounted at the ceiling – Is this a Sports Bar?
The formaldehyde/woodglue/adhesive/plastic content must be pretty high for it to smell like that.
Bring on the NüCancer!
Was wondering if there would be a photo of the founder. Kinda disappointed there isn’t. Really want to know if the name is appropriate.
Party in the front.
Toxic fumes in the back.