Take the Camper Off the Truck When Using It?
There's a question that gets plenty of bouncing about in the TC owner's circle. Do you, or do you not, want to take your camper off the truck when you're "out in the field."For the most part, the majority answer a definitive: "That depends!" And the depends? The answer there ranges from, "If I have some other form of transportation (ATV, towed car, buddy's vehicle) I'll leave it on the truck," to "If I'm going to be in one spot for more than 2 or 3 days, then I'll take it off," to the "If I'm towing my boat with me, I take it off, because it's so much easier to launch the boat with the camper off the truck."
There are some who'd much rather leave the camper right where it is, and it sometimes seems to have something to do with the loading and unloading process. Newbies to the TC world often seem to have "separation anxiety," as does the distaff side in our family. Admittedly, it does take some amount of effort to off-board and re-board that big old camper. Seems like the older we get, the less inclined we are to go through the motions of driving out from under our big camper.We did hear one that caused us a bit of a smile: One couple, presumably new to truck camping, was not open to the thought of staying in their truck camper when off the truck: They were afraid that somehow their weight in the "cabover" bed would cause the whole works to topple over on its nose. We have fifth-wheeling friends who are the same way--won't "live" in the trailer unless a tripod is set up under the kingpin. Well, let's put your mind at rest: It would take a very big amount of weight to ever "tip over" a truck camper. My unproven theory is that the amount of weight required to tip over a truck camper would probably "go through the floor" of the cabover section before the rig ever tipped.
What about us? We'll, I guess we fall into the, "That depends," category. The photos are out of our archives. At Bryce Canyon we camped next door in the national forest, but since we weren't too sure about our research plans, we simply left the truck on the rig. Worked out well for us, we had our "home" with us when we needed to rest from the rigors of high elevations. The lower photo finds us unloaded along the Oregon Coast. We could beat around the countryside to our heart's content.
Labels: camper lifestyles, loading, separation anxiety, unloading
2 Comments:
The manufacturers of some cheap truck campers specify that it is not to be used w/o support of the floor (on the truck or boards & blocks).
By Anonymous, at October 28, 2007 9:01 AM
This is quite true. Our truck-camper's floor would sag when we walked in it, when it was out of the truck. We added a 3/4-inch plywood sheet underneath the floor, fastening it to the camper floor with wood screws. The plywood should be fastened down the center, as well as at the edges. If there are studs in your camper floor, try to get the wood screws to go through them. Also make sure you aren't drilling through any electric lines. (Not too likely, the electric lines are mostly in the walls.) This mostly solved the problem; and the camper didn't ride enough higher in the truck bed to be noticable.
If the camper sags under the weight of people inside, after a while it will probably start doing so just under its own weight. Its a good idea when storing your camper off the truck, to lower it onto a fairly level platform made up of a sheet of plywood, supported by concrete blocks. (or something like this, that supports it underneath)
Or better yet, get a quality-built camper, if such things still exist!
By Anonymous, at October 31, 2007 1:50 PM
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