New to this forum ... and new to RV-ing. My wife and I just purchased a new truck camper last Thursday ... an ALP Adventurer 86SBS. Believe it or not, we got the bare minimum of a walk through, so I have a ton of questions ... some of which I hope to find answers to by searching this forum. This is one I'd like a more immediate answer to, though:??? The manual that came with the camper has a WARNING:Filling the fresh water tank should ONLY be done if the camper is on the truck, or if the floor is supported. Failure to do so may result in damage to the unit.Does this mean that I should dump the fresh water tank before I remove the camper from the truck? If I take it off the truck while the tank still has water in it (the tank holds 45 gallons, by the way), that would be the same as filling it before loading it on the camper ... and the possibility of damage as stated above, wouldn't it? Here's the thing, there are going to be times when I want to take the camper off the truck and park it so that I could take the 4x4 into some rough terrain to do some fishing. If I've got to be dumping water before removing it from the truck, finding some support for the floor, then filling the tank again ... assuming I can even find a source of water in a remote location ...it's going to be a royal pain in the butt. What do folks do?Maybe I could ask another question while I'm here ... seeing as it's sort of related to the first one? For winter storage in the backyard, I'm planning on pouring a concrete platform (ground level, of course) with ring bolts or chains set in the concrete that I can attach my fastguns to. This would make it pretty stable as far as wind is concerned ... and we do get some pretty high wind in this area. How high off the concrete platform should I set the camper with the jacks and should I also support it some way with blocking, saw-horses or some other thing instead of just leaving it up on the jacks?

Yes. the tank must be drained before leaving the bed of your truck. It is only lightly secured to the bottom of the camper, likely with two straps. those straps will not support the weight of the tank full of water. I can't help your other question...

mines a MH ,but I empty the tanks each time it comes home. freash water fill when it goes out. keep your camper off the ground ,it,ll not draw moisture if its up some. and mouse proof your tie downs. tarp the unit , I,m for keeping the weather off the rv,s less chance of water damage.

Zircon wrote:... and should I also support it some way with blocking, saw-horses or some other thing instead of just leaving it up on the jacks?Saw horses - no. They aren't sturdy enough.With my Arctic Fox, there's a recommendation in the manual on where to support the camper, so that's what I do. I use a stack of 4' wide 2x8s It's supported just a little bit higher than the lowest the jacks will go.Check with the manufacturer and see if they ave specific recommendations on where to support the camper when it's off the truck long term.

Welcome to the Forum.No question, dump the tanks before unloading, or risk the floor being damaged, probably beyond repair. If the water tank must be supported, it is probably true of the gray and black tanks. My bet is you are not supposed to even use the TC if the floor is not supported. So, if you take the TC off the truck, you must sit it on the ground with floor supported."What do folks do?" A few options.1. If only a week old, take it back and get a TC that better suits your needs.2. Leave the TC on the truck.3. Empty water from TC, and carry in five gallon containers. Set TC (floor) on the ground add water to tank. For a couple of days, you probably can make do with 10 to 20 gallons of water.4. Find out is the water tank is the only issue, and if so can it be reinforced to allow its use off the truck. 5. Leave the TC on the truck, and tow a small 4x4 Jeep or similar.6. Get motor cycles, and tow a trailer.For storage, I suggest no less than 4 to 6 inches off the ground. The closer the better. I would use four pallets, stacked two high, and leave the jacks down with just a little pressure to help stabilize.Wayne

Some campers are made to allow the camper to be removed with a full fresh water tank. These are usually basement models. My old Avion. Can't be removed with a full fresh water tank either.

To Dump The Fresh Water Tank ... Or Not? | Good Sam Community

25 Replies

trail-explorer
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
I bet the various camper manufacturers are wondering "why are we getting so many phone calls about using the camper off the truck today?"
Pwrstrok
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
Pwrstrok wrote:
mkirsch wrote:
Boatycall wrote:
Campers are supposed to be able to be used on or off the truck. I boat and jeep, and for boating, I would take the camper off and use the truck to launch the boat. I have NEVER had a problem.

...and just because it's worked for you and the campers you've chosen over the years, it should work for EVERY person and EVERY camper? Bad logic, my friend.

You've either made good/lucky choices in buying campers that are usable off the truck, or you've just plain been lucky that nothing bad has happened while using your camper.

Believe it or not, there are campers that are not designed to be used off the truck. Lots of them.

For some (many?) people, the main versatility of a truck camper is being able to unload the camper and have a useful vehicle the rest of the time. A pickup truck is a good daily driver, a good work vehicle, and has a million and one uses for the average homeowner. A class C motorhome is good for... camping.

The OP's bad luck is in buying one of those campers that can't be used off the truck.

Choices for the OP are:
1. Ignore the warnings, use it, and take his chances.
2. Try and take it back, and have the dealer tell him "It'll be Just Fine(tm)" if he uses the camper off the truck with the tank unsupported.
Pwrstrok
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
mkirsch wrote:
Boatycall wrote:
Campers are supposed to be able to be used on or off the truck. I boat and jeep, and for boating, I would take the camper off and use the truck to launch the boat. I have NEVER had a problem.

...and just because it's worked for you and the campers you've chosen over the years, it should work for EVERY person and EVERY camper? Bad logic, my friend.

You've either made good/lucky choices in buying campers that are usable off the truck, or you've just plain been lucky that nothing bad has happened while using your camper.

Believe it or not, there are campers that are not designed to be used off the truck. Lots of them.

For some (many?) people, the main versatility of a truck camper is being able to unload the camper and have a useful vehicle the rest of the time. A pickup truck is a good daily driver, a good work vehicle, and has a million and one uses for the average homeowner. A class C motorhome is good for... camping.

The OP's bad luck is in buying one of those campers that can't be used off the truck.

Choices for the OP are:
1. Ignore the warnings, use it, and take his chances.
2. Try and take it back, and have the dealer tell him "It'll be Just Fine(tm)" if he uses the camper off the truck with the tank unsupported.
Boatycall
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
Zircon wrote:
I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my first post! The prompness of the replies, the number replying, and the fact that some of you have gone above and beyond anything I would have expected by providing links and even making phone calls to ALP

Honestly, I needed to know for myself also. My Eagle Cap is new-to-me, and I've already used it off-truck twice with not only 75 gallons of water sitting on the basement floor, but 4 of my 6 golf cart batteries in the same compartment next to the tank. That's heavy. Eagle Cap said I'm fine.

So once you threw up your post, and of course mkirsch chimed in, it got me thinking, hence the phone calls. I don't mean to say that there are some members here who's opinion I value more than others, but if Sleepy, Mkirsch, Reddog, BradW, or any other number of very senior members chime in, I tend to listen. How does that saying go? Trust but verify? That's all I did...

So actually, thank you....
Zircon
Explorer
Oct 01, 2013
I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my first post! The prompness of the replies, the number replying, and the fact that some of you have gone above and beyond anything I would have expected by providing links and even making phone calls to ALP, I find pretty amazing! Over the years, I've been a member of a number of forums concerning one thing or another, but I've never experienced anything like this. Thanks again!

As a number of you suggested, I intend to contact ALP by e-mail concerning this matter so that I can have a personal confirmation one way or the other and, assuming its ok to use it off the truck with a full tank ... or, at least, almost full ... I'll have something to fall back on should anything go wrong.
billtex
Explorer II
Oct 01, 2013
Boatycall wrote:
K, I just got off the phone with ALP/Adventure. I asked if I would be allowed to quote them on a public forum, and they said yes.

**ALL** products currently produced by ALP/Eagle Cap CAN be ran with full water on or off the truck, and that they are in the process of revising thier manual.

I had the same conversation with AMLRV today and can confirm.

Bill
p.s. Nobody said anything about older Adventurers...they have always been the same company...
Super_Dave
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
This does NOT apply to TC's prior to thier acquisition - meaning Eagle Cap's prior to 2011, and Adventures prior to '08. He stated that since they did not make them prior to those years, they wouldn't want to speak for them.

That's funny as I was under the impression that nothing with these models had changed but build location. I can speak for my 2007 EC as a full use off the truck camper.
Boatycall
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
K, I just got off the phone with ALP/Adventure. I asked if I would be allowed to quote them on a public forum, and they said yes.

**ALL** products currently produced by ALP/Eagle Cap CAN be ran with full water on or off the truck, and that they are in the process of revising thier manual.

This does NOT apply to TC's prior to thier acquisition - meaning Eagle Cap's prior to 2011, and Adventures prior to '08. He stated that since they did not make them prior to those years, they wouldn't want to speak for them.

On edit---
I also just got off the phone with Arctic Fox - all of thier products 2005 and newer are also full off-truck usable. They did a floor redesign in 2005 to guarantee the support needed. The only issue they noted prior to '05 was overfilled/over-pressured tanks blowing the bottom out. Prior to '05 are still ok for normal off-truck use as long as you make sure you don't blow the tank out.

Its not that I don't have anything better to do, I'm actually at work, but since this got brought up, I just needed to know from the horses mouth.
hedgehopper
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
Wow! Thanks to Zircon for alerting us to a possible deal breaker when we're shopping for a TC. I never heard of this before.
campn4walleye
Explorer
Sep 30, 2013
We have an Adventurer 910FBS. Our TC is meant to be used off the truck. I called and asked Adventurer. Call or e-mail Brad at Adventurer. Ask him questions specific to your model. I did this so that I could have an e-mail trail as proof of what was said. They ere very helpful and always responded quickly.

We use our TC off the truck every time and keep our fresh water tank full. So far, so good (knock on wood). As far as TC supports, this forum is full of helpful suggestions. DH made a set of crosses out of plywood that we lower it onto at home. You can see pictures of them on past threads. I think you'll find them in TC university. TONS of helpful info there. To give credit, they were copied from another forum member.

You'll find that on this forum you'll learn something every time, and it's addictive. Welcome and enjoy your new TC!