Rebuild old flatbed, or start from scratch?
I have a 18K GVRW truck with a 12 foot long Western flatbed on it, with a trashed wood deck. My plan is to drop my current short bed Six-Pac camper on it for a while, then replace it with a larger model at some point in the future. I intend to mount them in a permanent, or semi-permanent fashion. This truck will be dedicated to camper hauling, as I have a couple other trucks that can be used for "normal" truck duties, and thus I won't need to remove the camper from it except for cases of repairs or camper replacement.
I also plan to add some accessories that will be connected to the camper, but not in/on it. Such as a generator, extra batteries, larger external water tanks, etc.
Given this, would I be better off replacing the deck of the existing flatbed and putting the camper on it, or ditching the existing flatbed altogether and building a secondary frame work off the truck's frame to hold the camper and other items?
Really what I'm after here is whether there's considerations for mounting a camper that wasn't meant to be on a flatbed truck as far as flatbed and/or frame flex, or is this would even be an issue at all? I've never dealt with a truck this big before, or doing anything with a camper other than sliding it into a pickup.
I also plan to add some accessories that will be connected to the camper, but not in/on it. Such as a generator, extra batteries, larger external water tanks, etc.
Given this, would I be better off replacing the deck of the existing flatbed and putting the camper on it, or ditching the existing flatbed altogether and building a secondary frame work off the truck's frame to hold the camper and other items?
Really what I'm after here is whether there's considerations for mounting a camper that wasn't meant to be on a flatbed truck as far as flatbed and/or frame flex, or is this would even be an issue at all? I've never dealt with a truck this big before, or doing anything with a camper other than sliding it into a pickup.
