Foam Board Bed Mat For Torklifts

When I had my TC I used foam board with the cutouts for the fifth wheel hitch rails. Never had a problem and saw no compression after years of usage.
Just make sure its the high density rigid foam that is used to insulate concrete slab floors. Think it comes in 2" and 3" thicknesses.

ryoung

I know longer own the TC and truck in my signature.

I took heavy horse mats out of mine and put in a 1" sheet of foam board and covered it with my Dee Zee rubber mat......Don't know how it will work for the long term, but saved me about 250 pounds.

This stuff has different compression ratings. The pink stuff I saw only had a 15 PSI rating. I found some green stuff with a 25 PSI rating....That would be 115,000 pound compression rating if the weight were equally distributed in 4x8 area.
You can order it as high as 80 PSI rating.

If I have problems with it, I will put in a hard perimeter and try it that way.

2" foam board provided clearance needed for cabover, plus it's light weight plus adds insulation to camper. Works great,lasts a long time.

I asked this very question of Northern-lite. Here is what I was told: foam has too much give to it and can cause stress on the camper. He told me to use plywood, followed by a 3/8 inch soft rubber mat. I had a foam board, but got rid of it after NL said the preference is plywood.

tmartin000 wrote:
Why not just use a rubber mat?

Rubber mat for non shifting. Foam board for side rail and cabover height.
Old camper newer truck fix for me.

Mostly uneven weight distorted the foam and since it is a fiberglass camper it was starting to distort the flat bottom. It was placing undue stress on the fiberglass. I won't do it again because the tiedowns start going a bit loose.

I suppose if you use the foam it would be best with a piece of plywood over the top would help stop the distortion. Not having an edge of the foam near the camper edge would help also.

Why not just use a rubber mat?

Closed cell foam board user here, no problem at all. Plus, it is additional insulation under the camper floor.

For what it's worth We had a 2000 Lance 1030 on a 2004 F350 SRW w/19.5s'
I used a 2" 4x8 sheet of foam board for eleven years with no problem whatsoever. It will get bent,broken & ragged after awhile. After about 5 years I replaced the 1st piece with another one this time I wrapped it in about $10 worth of duct tape. It was still in pretty good shape when we sold the camper 6 yrs later. Never had a shifting issue and I used Torklift Fastguns. I say use it!

covered wagon wrote:
It gets pressure depressions that distort the camper bottom. One spot more stress load than another causes the foam to go uneven. Usually pressing the out sides down more than the mid section.

So I guess that will cause shifting?