Got a new truck and had to add a 3/4 inch of plywood to the bed of the truck to ensure camper was high enough above sides of truck box.My question is does the plywood sit on the bed of the truck or on top of my rubber mat.I installed it with the plywood first, then the rubber mat on top of plywood and camper on rubber mat.Paul

My opinion would be that the plywood will skate on the bed of the truck. Ideally, the plywood would be secured and the camper rest on the rubber mat.

I had plywood on top of my rubber mat and the camper moved around. I had to stop and reload the camper at one point because the tie downs were rubbing on the side of the truck. I removed the plywood (it was a support system while the camper was off the truck) and now it does not move. I would consider fastening the plywood to the bottom of the camper so nothing moves.

If you need to raise the camper as the cab is so much closer to the cabover then there is another solution. Buy some closed cell insulation, blue board, pink board or gray board...each is very dense and will deform some untill the weight is evenly idstributed, but it also gives extra insulation value, a cush for the camper, is lighter than plywood, will not absorb moisture. In the end I actually built a frame of 1x1's sealed them, inserted blueboard and atached the whole assembly to the bottom of my camper. was like that for years. Do not use the white stuff, it hold water and fall apart in little balls.

When we had a BF in a Chev, I tried several options to get the height correct. The best solution I came up with was heavy, 1" rubber livestock mats. Downside is they are heavy. The upside was the needed height, a bit of extra cushion for the bed and camper and good insulating properties. Even after we sold the Bigfoot, I just left the mats in the bed (until yesterday). It took two mats and a sawzall to make the cuts for fitting nicely in the bed. Only removed them because out new camper (non Bigfoot) doesn't need the clearance and I needed to loose some weight.

Seal plywood first - keep out the water, which will eventually soften the plywood, or use green-board (waterproof board used for outside ...Then, put mat under the plywood and it won't slip.To save weight, and plywood hassle, I cut four pieces of 1x6 waterproof decking, and ran it at each end and two in the middle. Screwed it directly to the floor of the camper. Works great, and allows ventilation under the camper so water doesn't settle with no way out.

Plywood & Rubber mat question ( Who's on first )

30 Replies

bigfootford
Nomad II
Aug 17, 2014
PRodacy wrote:
If you put a thin rubber mat on the bed of the truck, then the plywood with another rubber mat on top of the plywood for the camper to set on, it won't move. Remember, though, that unless the rubber is fairly thin, it'll be heavy. Check McMaster-Carr for thin rubber sheets.

This will still stress the cover that is over the tanks.

Note the small bottom section of the camper body. It is cut away to allow access to the tanks. There is no support across the bottom of the tanks. Any medium that is soft will give and cause the thin cover 1/16 in fiberglass plate to give, causing the plate to bend upward into the tank area. Mounting screw threads will suffer as will the screws and will give or the holes in the plate will elongate. I have had screws break/shear.

In this picture you can see the body frame of the camper. It is cut out to allow for the tanks. The tanks are suspended by straps... A 1 inch foam pad is under the tanks and then the bottom plate is attached.

Jim
PRodacy
Explorer
Aug 17, 2014
If you put a thin rubber mat on the bed of the truck, then the plywood with another rubber mat on top of the plywood for the camper to set on, it won't move. Remember, though, that unless the rubber is fairly thin, it'll be heavy. Check McMaster-Carr for thin rubber sheets.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Aug 17, 2014
Bigfootchevy wrote:

Thanks Jim:

Just so I clearly understand you put your camper directly on the plywood and not on the rubber mat.

Paul

Correct. The rubber gets drilled by the screw heads and the perimeter of the camper that offers access to the water and holding tanks. The rubber will actually be ate away by the camper moving around.. The plywood does not seem to do that. Had the same Plywood down for about 5 years. It does have several patterns from different positions the camper was lowered in to.

Keep in mind, we have had our camper for 14 years, on 2 trucks... Plywood has been the best medium I have found.

Jim
ILLTravler
Explorer
Aug 17, 2014
I needed to raise mine 1 1/2". I sandwiched 1" foam between two 3/8" sheets of plywood and put the rubber mat on top. The plywood keeps the foam from deforming.
When I just had 1 sheet of plywood and 1" foam, the foam would get crushed along the edges when on top of plywood.
The foam would form to the ribs of the truckbed when under the plywood.
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Aug 16, 2014
bobndot wrote:
Paul, I sent a PM to you (see if GM changed the way the 2015 bed is mounted) but then found this old post.

Posters here offer some things to try to help you narrow things down. ( one thing mentioned, the new trucks shocks might be different than the old truck and someone mentioned how to adjust your mirrors to view the camper in relation to the bed)

You need to know if the camper moving in the bed or the bed moving the camper.

You might need a second person to drive next to you . Shoot a video . That's how I improved my golf swing.

Bob

Hi Bob:

The 2011 truck and the 2015 truck are not actually the same.

1/ Rancho Shocks on 2015
2/ 2015 has snow plow package on front end which increased the front gross axle weight rating.
3/"Pick-up Box - Rolled, not Stamped.
The HD pickup bed benefits from tougher steels. HD features a rolled-formed steel pick-up box, which is lighter, stronger and more durable than traditional stamped-steel boxes."

Its rained here for 5 days now, but if it nice tomorrow I am going to let the Wife drive the truck so I can watch an see if I can figure out what is going on.

Going to remove the foam and go back to the plywood first.

Paul
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Aug 16, 2014
covered wagon wrote:
I tried the foam but it stressed areas of the camper bottom that had weak areas.

Tired of the heavy rubber matt, I cut 3 strips of plywood 1 foot wide and stapled 1 foot wide strips of rubber to the bottom of the plywood. Using stainless staples it's held up and easy light weight to just slide in the three rubber strips of ply into the truck bed. The ply gives even pressure to the camper bottom.

Thanks Mike:

What you guys are saying makes a lot of sense, I think I am headed back to using the plywood.

Paul
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Aug 16, 2014
bigfootford wrote:
Bigfootchevy wrote:
Thanks for all the replys. Today I decided to try a 1 inch sheet of foam instead of plywood.

I believe I will put the foam on the truck bed and the rubber on top of it, with the camper on the rubber mat.

Hopefully this will work.

Paul

Paul, I did the foam thing. What you will find is the camper will compress the foam along the areas where the water tank access plate is attached to the outer perimeter of the camper. All the weight on the front and drivers side of the camper is supported by about 2-3 inches of fiberglass around the perimeter.
That will put stress on the screws and thin fiberglass plate thus elongating the holes and if not corrected will cause the screws etc to become loose and the glass to wear to the point of not being functional.
Along with this issue the camper will finally sit low on the flattened side and will have a tendency to rock.

I did the rubber pad thing. The same issue the camper ate into the pad around the same area I described to you..

Best I have found is the 3/4 plywood cut to fit tight in my bed. 5 individual sections. My camper does not move around. the screws have made impressions in the plywood and you can see that the camper is not scooting around.
Using the plywood you can not make the camper sit in the exact spot each time you unload it so you will have many screw impressions after a couple of years but who cares.

Just my experience.

Jim

Thanks Jim:

Just so I clearly understand you put your camper directly on the plywood and not on the rubber mat.

Paul
Bigfootchevy
Explorer
Aug 16, 2014
Farmerjon wrote:
Paul, That really is a puzzle. I would replace the foam with plywood. Just to make sure it is solid. Some of the rocking may be the bed moving separate from the cab but you would have seen that with your other truck also.
good luck ,

Jon

Hi Jon:

The 2015 Chevy box is somewhat different than my 2011. Either with the 2014 or 2015 model they changed the box to using one piece of metal which resulted in it being stronger and lighter I believe. I have a hard time believing my camper is rocking without the box. If that is the case, then it will be no time before the rear tie downs are ripped from the camper.
Paul
covered_wagon
Explorer
Aug 16, 2014
I tried the foam but it stressed areas of the camper bottom that had weak areas.

Tired of the heavy rubber matt, I cut 3 strips of plywood 1 foot wide and stapled 1 foot wide strips of rubber to the bottom of the plywood. Using stainless staples it's held up and easy light weight to just slide in the three rubber strips of ply into the truck bed. The ply gives even pressure to the camper bottom.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Aug 16, 2014
Bigfootchevy wrote:
Thanks for all the replys. Today I decided to try a 1 inch sheet of foam instead of plywood.

I believe I will put the foam on the truck bed and the rubber on top of it, with the camper on the rubber mat.

Hopefully this will work.

Paul

Paul, I did the foam thing. What you will find is the camper will compress the foam along the areas where the water tank access plate is attached to the outer perimeter of the camper. All the weight on the front and drivers side of the camper is supported by about 2-3 inches of fiberglass around the perimeter.
That will put stress on the screws and thin fiberglass plate thus elongating the holes and if not corrected will cause the screws etc to become loose and the glass to wear to the point of not being functional.
Along with this issue the camper will finally sit low on the flattened side and will have a tendency to rock.

I did the rubber pad thing. The same issue the camper ate into the pad around the same area I described to you..

Best I have found is the 3/4 plywood cut to fit tight in my bed. 5 individual sections. My camper does not move around. the screws have made impressions in the plywood and you can see that the camper is not scooting around.
Using the plywood you can not make the camper sit in the exact spot each time you unload it so you will have many screw impressions after a couple of years but who cares.

Just my experience.

Jim

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Plywood & Rubber mat question ( Who's on first )

30 Replies

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