Today: Loading and Weighing the Camper on the Truck
First it blowed, and then it snowed, and then it blowed again.
Even Lil' Willy got in on some of the action - the association roads and 10 drives! Those are rural drives, not your basic short paved city paths, and belong to widows and other elderly, for the most part. 'Course two were mine.
He LOVES that stuff. But, at his age, he kinda likes coming back onto the warm side too. ;)
He's only had to do that twice this year! Been somewhat mild for most of the season. But with nasty weather hitting both ends of the country, it only seemed appropriate to post these up today.
Even so, the sun eventually comes out, and here about a week or so ago, all that melted back and Lil' Queeny said, "Dave, it's not snowing today, or blowing. Yes it's cold, but you have to get me up on the big truck sometime".
That was the day back ago when I discovered the needed mods for the fresh and waste water areas under the wings. Everything about this camper is tight tolerances. Most people use a tape measure for making mods. Me and Queeny? We have to break out the micrometer. ;)
So up in the air she went - on the combo of portable side-jacks I re-strung with new, larger (1/4") cables - and the okay, but not the best (quite a bit of linkage wear), corner jacks. She felt heavy! Ugh. Did I overbuild? I'm sure that's not the first time in this resto-mod that that has been wondered about - by more than just me!
Once lowered to the bed, and secured, we had this.
Note the lesser side hangover, due to the camper only being 7.5' wide, and the slight outward angle of the front tie-downs. Can't get a lot of angle with the narrower camper, but with the in-bed HappiJac 'frame-mount' method they use, I had side to side movement prevention in the form of their bullet/button guides - that guide, then ride against the front corner sides of the camper box. And the associated rod mounted to the front of the bed, and subsequently to the frame through brackets, keeps the camper from shifting forward. So the main secure is to keep the camper down, and the tail from wagging, which is done with the rears tied to the bumper.
I follow manufacturer tightening instructions, which is to pull the front tie-downs into about 1/4" of shaft movement, to pre-load the internal springs, and just a snug-up on the rears. Then use the lock nuts to hold them there. I've never had to loosen for off road. Using this design with the '03 Starcraft Lonestar pop-up we had for 10 years on two different trucks, I've never pulled out a tie-down or discovered any other kind of damage. One comment on the rears, you want them firm enough that the camper doesn't tilt forward on a bump and smoosh your cab-lights. That wouldn't be prudent, not at THIS juncture!
With our relatively lighter campers, I've always liked the Happijacs, not hanging low and stuff. But if we had heavier, larger campers, I'm pretty sure I'd go to the frame mounted Torklifts so many TCers use.
Then, without any extra air in the springs (just 5 PSI for unloaded condition), I ran her over to the weigh station. It drove nice!
Having been over there a week or so prior, with a full tank, just basic gear on-board, and a driver, I weighed the truck alone and wrote down my figure. This is a secret figure that requires Top Secret clearance.
Now I filled the truck tank again, and with the camper, got my gross weight. No water, no gear, but with propane tanks full (so I subtracted 40 lbs for propane wet weight 2x20lbs) I got my camper "Dry Weight" at....wait for it....
2250 lbs!
So with a full load of fresh water (46 gallons=385 Lbs), propane (40 lbs), and say - 500 lbs of gear, with another person in the truck, we'll be at about "3375 lbs Wet". That's a lot of camper for its small size (a lot of that is due to water capacity), but within my equipment capability.
I was ecstatic (due to our dry winters)! My target way back ago...
Hoped for Final Weight...was in the ballpark!
The ride was pretty good too, without air in the springs. Eventually I'll get an anti-sway bar on the rear, maybe a replacement for the OEM front, perhaps some stable loads or a compressor for the air-springs, but it was quite proper feeling on the road as is.
Then I added air to the springs. And that made a noticeable improvement as well.
Pulling out of the back drive, I had one neighbor text me "the camper looks good on the truck". Another day a neighbor walking by in front said, "the camper looks good on the truck". Then a day or two later a third drove by and texted me, "that camper looks good on that Dodge".
And it does! I look forward to the before and after shoot coming up.
But next I think we'll talk "awnings and patios".
