Straps instead of bolt down too risky?
Looking for options to secure my new Cari Cowboy? I have a step side truck, so I had to go with bolt down because the usual turnbuckle system would not fit in the step side bed. Bolt down works fine, ...
Forum Discussion
Bruce-
First of all, I like your Capri. I’ve always liked the looks of those campers. I’m in Little Rock, and it’s always nice to see a fellow TC owner from Arkansas. I have relatives up in your area and get up there occasionally to visit.
A few thoughts and observations from about 25 years of TC ownership. All the TC’s I’ve owned have been the type that have a “cab-over” section where you sleep. On all of those campers, I learned that the front tiedowns are the ones that actually do the majority of the work holding the camper in the bed. The dealer that sold me my first TC was totally clueless when it came to tying the camper down. They used stake-pocket tiedowns and some very light duty turnbuckles for a 9.5’ camper that weighed about 3000 lbs. On a trip to Colorado, I almost lost the camper in Kansas when the wind got under the cab-over section and tried to lift it off the truck. Fortunately it didn’t come off, but it sure messed up the bed.
I know yours doesn’t have a cab-over, but it does sit up higher than the cab. High winds can do some strange things, and I wouldn’t want to swear that the wind couldn’t lift the front of your camper if it wasn’t tied down.
I think if I were in your situation, I would want the convenience of some external tiedowns also. While it would take a little fabrication work, I believe you could use the jack attachment mounts as the tiedowns points as well. I’m doing that very thing myself on my camper because I didn’t like the deflection I was seeing around the front tiedown points provided by Lance.
I used some stout angle-iron fastened to the jack mount plates to bring an attachment point down below the bottom edge of the camper. I mounted the angle-iron using the existing bolts that are holding the jack mounts to the camper. The jack mounts are already strong enough to hold the camper up, so they can surely hold it down. On my camper, the front jack mounts (whose fasteners are all in sheer) are a much stronger tiedown point than the eyebolts that are in tension.
An inexpensive belly-bar could be purchased or fabricated to provide anchor points on your truck.
A front hitch on your truck would be very handy for launching your boat. That may be the solution for all of this.
:):)
First of all, I like your Capri. I’ve always liked the looks of those campers. I’m in Little Rock, and it’s always nice to see a fellow TC owner from Arkansas. I have relatives up in your area and get up there occasionally to visit.
A few thoughts and observations from about 25 years of TC ownership. All the TC’s I’ve owned have been the type that have a “cab-over” section where you sleep. On all of those campers, I learned that the front tiedowns are the ones that actually do the majority of the work holding the camper in the bed. The dealer that sold me my first TC was totally clueless when it came to tying the camper down. They used stake-pocket tiedowns and some very light duty turnbuckles for a 9.5’ camper that weighed about 3000 lbs. On a trip to Colorado, I almost lost the camper in Kansas when the wind got under the cab-over section and tried to lift it off the truck. Fortunately it didn’t come off, but it sure messed up the bed.
I know yours doesn’t have a cab-over, but it does sit up higher than the cab. High winds can do some strange things, and I wouldn’t want to swear that the wind couldn’t lift the front of your camper if it wasn’t tied down.
I think if I were in your situation, I would want the convenience of some external tiedowns also. While it would take a little fabrication work, I believe you could use the jack attachment mounts as the tiedowns points as well. I’m doing that very thing myself on my camper because I didn’t like the deflection I was seeing around the front tiedown points provided by Lance.
I used some stout angle-iron fastened to the jack mount plates to bring an attachment point down below the bottom edge of the camper. I mounted the angle-iron using the existing bolts that are holding the jack mounts to the camper. The jack mounts are already strong enough to hold the camper up, so they can surely hold it down. On my camper, the front jack mounts (whose fasteners are all in sheer) are a much stronger tiedown point than the eyebolts that are in tension.
An inexpensive belly-bar could be purchased or fabricated to provide anchor points on your truck.
A front hitch on your truck would be very handy for launching your boat. That may be the solution for all of this.
:):)
