Gents, I will be taking the shell off the chassis of my C11 soon. Rebuilding the chassis in aluminum gives me the opportunity to modify things a bit. The benefits of a basement have been mentioned in various posts. Can anyone give me their thoughts about how that would work on a C11? I don't want to compromise the interior height of the camper. This means the extra space goes below the existing floor. That raises the camper up off the truck bed. Is that an issue? I already have about 2" of space between the bottom of the wings and the top of the truck sides. Is it true that the camper is designed to sit on it's bottom on the truck bed. The wings are not supposed to rest on the sides of the bed?Adding 4" of vertical space beneath the floor would give a potential for 70+ gallons of liquids! I could put the gray water and fresh water tanks there, custom made within the frame. No black water tank in this rig; I'm using a cassette toilet. The fiberglass unit which now holds tanks could be converted to outside storage and the gray water hose/drain assembly. I'm also thinking to add hatches to the vertical sides of the wings to allow access to the actual truck bed, again with the idea of increasing storage. Plastic bins or waterproof duffles would serve.Your thoughts, as always, are greatly appreciatedDick

This one of the best Ideas I've read about around here in a long time.Just think.... TorkLift making even a portable storage basement for TC's. Made of Aluminum plate, say, 4 inches high for the small one with pull out tray/drawers that slide out the back.I don't know... but sounds good to me

Some of the old Northlands used to have the floor joisted length wise w/2x6 stood up ,insead of side to side w 2x`s as most wood campers , that allowed the grey tank to go between the joist on one side and made room for a long drawer on the other, I thought that was a great ideaIf you already had to lift an older camper up to clear the cab and side rails , like many do on newer Fords , why not build a platform like that for the camper to sit on, given it would raise the center of gravityThat would only work with truck box length campers as I think about it,unless you moved the grey tank if it was rear mounted above the bumper

okan-star wrote:Some of the old Northlands used to have the floor joisted length wise w/2x6 stood up ,insead of side to side w 2x`s as most wood campers , that allowed the grey tank to go between the joist on one side and made room for a long drawer on the other, I thought that was a great ideaIf you already had to lift an older camper up to clear the cab and side rails , like many do on newer Fords , why not build a platform like that for the camper to sit on, given it would raise the center of gravityThat would only work with truck box length campers as I think about it,unless you moved the grey tank if it was rear mounted above the bumperSome campers already have a rear overhang that's even with the bed. In that case you could even order the drawer platform with an attached drop down rear bumper and steps. Maybe!:@

Yea ,I loved the snowriver idea of a pullout basement stored set of steps

If you put 4"-6" of space under the existing camper it would give you a lot of room for tanks, etc. The problem is that you couldn't use that space for storage because you couldn't access it unless you accessed it from the floor of the camper. A couple of nice aluminum bins on the sides of the camper, with slide out drawers, would be nice if you didn't have the jacks in the way to limit access to them.Your cabover part would also be too high for the truck. I think a properly built basement model camper has to be built that way from the initial design. It would give you more "head" room in the cabover part and the cabover part should be longer for a north/south bed.

Adding a basement to a C11 | Good Sam Community

69_Avion
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
D1trout wrote:
What a great resource this forum is! Thanks for the feedback. The problems caused by raising the camper floor and adding narrow horizontal tanks seem not to justify the work designing and installing them. I do like the idea of adding a tank or tanks to the pick up bed and plumbing them into the water system as reserve capacity.

It also appears I used the wrong term when I referred to the area beneath the floor as the basement. Sorry. I have a fiberglass "bustle" that sticks down behind the bumper of the truck and contains the waste tank and it's accoutrements. It precludes having a basement whose function is storage.

I guess I'm back to finding the least obtrusive place for the water tank inside the camper and using the existing waste tank and plumbing in the "bustle" for gray water.

Your water tank needs to stay as far forward as you possibly can get it. The factory location is as good as it gets. I just increased it's size. As far as adding a gray water tank, several of us have done it and they have worked out great.
D1trout
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
Thanks, okan-star
okan-star
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
plastic mart and tank depot are good places online for tank sizes
D1trout
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
What a great resource this forum is! Thanks for the feedback. The problems caused by raising the camper floor and adding narrow horizontal tanks seem not to justify the work designing and installing them. I do like the idea of adding a tank or tanks to the pick up bed and plumbing them into the water system as reserve capacity.

It also appears I used the wrong term when I referred to the area beneath the floor as the basement. Sorry. I have a fiberglass "bustle" that sticks down behind the bumper of the truck and contains the waste tank and it's accoutrements. It precludes having a basement whose function is storage.

I guess I'm back to finding the least obtrusive place for the water tank inside the camper and using the existing waste tank and plumbing in the "bustle" for gray water.
69_Avion
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
okan-star wrote:
One other thing to think about is a holding tank thats 4" deep unless very ,small like 4-5 gal would be very limited when just slightly out of level
There are holding tanks made that are around 20 gal and 5" tall

If that little depth was used for fresh water and got a little out of level the wrong way you would just suck air

I added 23 gal fresh water cap by teeing into the line before the pump and adding valves and a exterior line with a kwick connect by the camper elec harness . 2 saddle type tanks fit in the storage and dead space in front and behind to wheel wells of the truck. Vented together they fill with one fill hose acsessed at the gap btwn camper overhang and truck bed side.
Flip the valve on the stock tank off and the truck bed tanks on and the pump pulls water
Also when off the truck with a short hose I can pull water out of any tank or bucket

Nice idea.
okan-star
Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
One other thing to think about is a holding tank thats 4" deep unless very ,small like 4-5 gal would be very limited when just slightly out of level
There are holding tanks made that are around 20 gal and 5" tall

If that little depth was used for fresh water and got a little out of level the wrong way you would just suck air

I added 23 gal fresh water cap by teeing into the line before the pump and adding valves and a exterior line with a kwick connect by the camper elec harness . 2 saddle type tanks fit in the storage and dead space in front and behind to wheel wells of the truck. Vented together they fill with one fill hose acsessed at the gap btwn camper overhang and truck bed side.
Flip the valve on the stock tank off and the truck bed tanks on and the pump pulls water
Also when off the truck with a short hose I can pull water out of any tank or bucket
69_Avion
Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
If you totally eliminated the rear fiberglass section and made the basement extend to the rear of the camper it would give you a lot more strength and you could then access the basement. You could wrap the rear basement area with matching aluminum with a piece of molding over the seams. I think it would look cool. It's too bad that Airstream doesn't offer something like this.
69_Avion
Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
If you put 4"-6" of space under the existing camper it would give you a lot of room for tanks, etc. The problem is that you couldn't use that space for storage because you couldn't access it unless you accessed it from the floor of the camper. A couple of nice aluminum bins on the sides of the camper, with slide out drawers, would be nice if you didn't have the jacks in the way to limit access to them.

Your cabover part would also be too high for the truck. I think a properly built basement model camper has to be built that way from the initial design. It would give you more "head" room in the cabover part and the cabover part should be longer for a north/south bed.
okan-star
Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
Yea ,I loved the snowriver idea of a pullout basement stored set of steps
covered_wagon
Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
okan-star wrote:
Some of the old Northlands used to have the floor joisted length wise w/2x6 stood up ,insead of side to side w 2x`s as most wood campers , that allowed the grey tank to go between the joist on one side and made room for a long drawer on the other, I thought that was a great idea
If you already had to lift an older camper up to clear the cab and side rails , like many do on newer Fords , why not build a platform like that for the camper to sit on, given it would raise the center of gravity
That would only work with truck box length campers as I think about it,
unless you moved the grey tank if it was rear mounted above the bumper

Some campers already have a rear overhang that's even with the bed. In that case you could even order the drawer platform with an attached drop down rear bumper and steps. Maybe!:@

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