...Howdy. I've been following the Expedition Portal for some time, and just caught this question on Outfitter campers:
We own an '05 Caribou (8 foot tub; no basement; substantially lighter than the Apex models), purchased new from the "factory"
Our experience has been positive; our unit has held up well over the 3 years we've been outbacking with it. We had the unit built for our '04 Silverado, 2500HD, 4x4, long bed truck. It's air conditionerless (our decision), and furnaceless. We opted to use our PolarAire rooftop variable control fan to draw air through the camper's cabover vent (above the bed) to cool the unit down when needed. We installed a very light-weight 3000-btu catalytic heater, and many other custom upgrades, making out camper weigh-in at 1300 lbs when packed (minus fresh water).
Buying a camper, especially a used one, requires you to make a pre delivery inspection before you plunk down the bucks to buy. I would suggest that you inspect every seam, and tub join, every square inch of TPO roof and seaming, and carefully check every square inch of fiberglass for micro-cracks, bubbles, and dings, lift up all cushions and inspect the marine plywood structure for signs of water intrusion, and inspect the jacks connection to the camper shell for signs of separation or abuse (this applies to any camper purchase, too). Then, run all the appliances (including water pump) and air conditioner for several hours (Outfitter has an AC outlet you can connect the camper to; depending on where it is parked on their lot, you may need a very long 14AWG extension cord).
If at all possible, bring along a portable scale, and crank each jack leg up, then down onto the scale, and add the 4 corner weights up to obtain a total "dry weight"
Check this dry weight adding ~~600-lbs (your cargo), and any tongue weight of the trailer with cargo/boat you may envision pulling, to come up with the total you'll be hauling. Check this number with your truck's rating.
If all the cards line-up for you, you'll have a good solid pop-up.
Warm weather and high winds:
The Outfitter has very well insulated softwalls made of something called Weblon. Weblon is an insulated reinforced vinyl like material (used, for example, on the fly bridges many hundred thousand dollar + yachts), that will hold in the heat or cold quite well. This Weblon, in our experience in 55+ MPH winds (up on Island in the Sky, Utah) barely moves; this means NO flapping. The air conditioner on the Apex will keep you quite cool (I've been in several Apex units with air conditioning on the Maryland coast in 100F + weather) in hot humid climates....if you have the juice to run it (if boondocking/expeditioning, bring along a gasoline generator to power the air con, like a light-weight Honda EU-2000), you'll be fine.
We've used our Caribou 8 Outfitter throughout Arizona, New Mexico and Utah in the summer, and have no problems at night using our PolarAire method of cooing us down in the desert.
We're looking forward to many more years with our Caribou, and hope to expedition through Mexico with it before too long. I don't expect that we'll take it as far as Central America. I've had many, many years of past exploring through Central America via 4x4 and kayaks, and perhaps will return there one day, but not any time soon....
Good luck!
Silver-