Side entry - pros and cons?

mike/kellie wrote:
http://www.douglasstruckbodies.com/welding/

Like this with one low flat platform 8' long?

The ones they do in Texas utilize the original sheet metal below the cut. That Douglass has the bed above the wheel wells (like most flat beds) and would result in the camper being another 8-12" higher.

In California, the issue is bodies like the Douglass would be considered a trade or utility body, required to stop at scales and not licensed as a pickup (I realize the enforcement is lax, but might be getting stronger). To be licensed as a pickup and bypass truck scales, the bed must be a open box not exceeding 9', with no storage:

A Motortruck...equipped with an open box-type bed less than nine feet in length.
• Pickup truck does not include a motor vehicle, otherwise meeting the above definition, which is equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment commonly called a utility body.

Flatbeds and stakebeds are not pickup trucks. A very few flatbeds with closed sides (like the UTE) might satisfy this, but all I have seen are too high for a truck camper. The Texas style welding beds still have the box between the wheel wells, this space is highly useful for the basement area of a camper including batteries and tanks. A pickup bed is about 2 1/2 inches above the frame rails (which on the pickup frame are already dropped compared to a CC). Most flat beds are at least 8-10" above.

You would like to utilize the huge storage areas available in a utility type body. I've thought about removable storage boxes, put them on when you mount the camper. Taken literally, this is illegal in California as a camper rig is specifically defined as "a commercial truck with a load" and the rules still apply. But there is ambiguity there, and I doubt you would ever have a problem with the camper mounted. Without the camper the law is pretty clear. In the recent traffic stops over in Marin County for this, only tickets were being written I understand, but it is an arrestable misdemeanor under the law.

The Texas style welding bed seems to satisfy all requirements, if built without storage boxes: It looks pretty good, maintains the area for the basement, keeps the camper as low as possible, and is still a pickup bed under the law. I'd only need to cut the rails down by 4-5" to get clearance. On a Ford, there is a styling line down the side there, if done right most people would pass right by thinking it was a stock truck.