Foam Board or Rubber Mat For Under Camper?
I have ordered a new Northern Lite camper for delivery next spring. I see on Northern Lite's website they recommend putting a 3/8" soft rubber mat in your truck bed under the camper. The dealer t...
Forum Discussion
On a sharp corner, the camper is only supported by its edge, compliance of all the materials involved spread this out from a line to a narrow area, width difficult to know. Let's say 2": then it is supported by about 200 sq in. Now the foam has to support 22 psi on a 4500 lb camper. Type II EPS is spec'd less than that, but there are denser foams that are much higher. If you've been doing it for years and the foam isn't compressing further then it is strong enough by experiment. Also as it sinks into the foam it will be supported over a larger area, so maybe self limiting. Anyway it can work, just not a slam dunk.
I am quite sure that Bigfoot believes their camper is strong enough to take the stress riser presented by the end of the bed. I have seen stress cracks there on old Bigfeet though. I ran the plywood about 7" beyond the edge of the bed. The plywood is flexible and much beyond that is simply going to have flexed away and do nothing. My assumption is that a few inches would bend into a curve and spread the extra load of that stress riser over several times the area. The dilemma is that bed mats stop at 8'. I had a fitted bed mat, due to the rails on my plywood I had to cut the bits forward and outboard of the wheel wells. So I lay those behind the bed mat on the plywood overhang, so that there is no gap between plywood and camper.
I know that pressure is being applied by the camper there, because I have not lost the extra bits of bed mat and would have, if they were floating free. I've searched for bulk bed mat material to try to get a single piece oversize mat, but haven't found one yet. I'm aware of the horse stall material used by many, but I'm really looking for the thinner bed mat material with the bumps on the bottom (which allow the plywood to dry). I will probably just end up buying two bed mats and cutting them together.
I am quite sure that Bigfoot believes their camper is strong enough to take the stress riser presented by the end of the bed. I have seen stress cracks there on old Bigfeet though. I ran the plywood about 7" beyond the edge of the bed. The plywood is flexible and much beyond that is simply going to have flexed away and do nothing. My assumption is that a few inches would bend into a curve and spread the extra load of that stress riser over several times the area. The dilemma is that bed mats stop at 8'. I had a fitted bed mat, due to the rails on my plywood I had to cut the bits forward and outboard of the wheel wells. So I lay those behind the bed mat on the plywood overhang, so that there is no gap between plywood and camper.
I know that pressure is being applied by the camper there, because I have not lost the extra bits of bed mat and would have, if they were floating free. I've searched for bulk bed mat material to try to get a single piece oversize mat, but haven't found one yet. I'm aware of the horse stall material used by many, but I'm really looking for the thinner bed mat material with the bumps on the bottom (which allow the plywood to dry). I will probably just end up buying two bed mats and cutting them together.
