Bed Treatment
I'm about to order an Alaskan Camper for my F250. It has a factory plastic drop in bed liner. I'm going to order a rubber bed mat to go under the camper to help keep it from shifting. But the plast...
Forum Discussion
SidecarFlip wrote:Ramp Digger wrote:
Congratulations on choosing your alaskan camper. I think you will really like it. We have owned one since 2007. The first two years I hauled it in a regular DRW pickup bed. The camper needed about one and a half inches added to raise the cabover for clearance,so I used 2x4s flat with side blocking to center the camper. Worked really well and did not move at all. I then decided to upgrade to a flatbed. I no longer needed the 2x4s since the flatbed was almost 3 inches taller,so I placed the camper directly on the deck with a thin rubber mat. Then I had a problem with moisture between the mat and camper bottom that seemed to never dry out. The alaskan has a plywood bottom and it began to separate along the edges from constant moisture adsorbed by the mat and no air space between mat and camper. I finally resolved the problem by discarding the mat, replacing the bottom layer of plywood with marine grade plywood and adding thin treated wood strips about 6 inches apart the length of the camper for air to circulate. Bottom line from lesson learned, whatever you choose to go with make sure you have plenty of ventilation beneath and add some extra water drainage holes in the truck bed.
I am patently curious abut two things... What does it weigh? They don't look light.... and, how do they secure them to the truck.
I have never weighed ours. It is an 8.5 foot cabover. I would guess the camper alone is about 2000 lbs with full water and LP ect. With adding several extra items like a large on board grey water tank, four metal tool boxes,two batterys and personal camping gear and tools I am thinking around 3000 or more total load. After previously owning three other truck campers, I can say it is certainly heavy for its appearance. I am glad I have it on a DRW 35OO truck.
As for tie downs I think regular frame mounted type used on most truck campers will work just fine. Some alaskan owners bolt them thru the floor to the bed. Personally I like tie downs more outboard, just seems like it would be more stable. You may send me a PM if you have specific questions.
Ramp
