Campers fully usable off truck without additional supports?

Read the manual to start. Lot of campers are not design to hold the weight of fresh water tank without support under the floor.
I think support doesn't hurt regardless. Since my camper with rear overhang can not be set flat on the ground, I am carrying about 1' long piece of 4x6 that I stand vertically and than 4x4 to make T support under front water tank.
That quiets camper movements as well.

Most people add support to keep the rocking to a minimum when you are inside the camper. If you lower your jacks as far as possible they are pretty solid but you will still get some wiggle with people moving around.

In my opinion, it is the lack of support from the floor when walking on it, more than anything else. The manual of my 11.5 foot 1988 Bigfoot says not to use the TC when the floor is not supported, due to potential cracking of the gel coat in the floor area. My gray and black tanks are in the rear overhang, so they are never supported, on or off the truck. The water tank is in the front of the TC, and has lots of support, on or off the truck.

Walking in the TC off the truck`is like walking on a trampoline. I think most TCs with basements allow use on their jacks. The walking floor is attached to the TC differently than those with basements.

There are some TCs that have had tanks fall. I'd check their support as well.

Lance Campers are designed to be used off the truck supported on their jacks in the lowered to near the ground position with full tanks and people inside. I've been doing it that way for years.

Buzzcut1 wrote:
Lance Campers are designed to be used off the truck supported on their jacks in the lowered to near the ground position with full tanks and people inside. I've been doing it that way for years.

We used our Lance 1030 off the truck many times. In fact, two separate winters we lived in it for a couple of months at a time and never had any issues.

Reddog1 wrote:
In my opinion, it is the lack of support from the floor when walking on it, more than anything else. The manual of my 11.5 foot 1988 Bigfoot says not to use the TC when the floor is not supported, due to potential cracking of the gel coat in the floor area. My gray and black tanks are in the rear overhang, so they are never supported, on or off the truck. The water tank is in the front of the TC, and has lots of support, on or off the truck.

Walking in the TC off the truck`is like walking on a trampoline. I think most TCs with basements allow use on their jacks. The walking floor is attached to the TC differently than those with basements.

My camper is basement model, but when I was restoring it with full water tank, the floor dropped about 1" after 1 day.
That might be due to some dry rot, but during the repair I noticed that even I SHOULD have aluminium frame, it is not making it into front tank area. All frame there is 1/2" x 1" fir, usually poor quality and at refrigerator floor level the few holding screws simply come off the wood holding the floor.
I replaced rotten wood and added 8" stainless steel plate in the corners for future reinforcement.

When we purchased our Alpenlite new, there was a video for using the Atwood jacks and it says that you must always keep the front of the camper 4" higher than the rear or there is a risk of tipping. I realize this sounds ridiculous considering the amount of weight in the main box of the camper, but ours is the smallest Alpenlite and has a large overhang for the north/south bed and closets. So we don't level it out when it's off the truck, so it's really not possible to use it with the 4" difference. It's also a real pain loading the camper because there's only about a half inch cleaerance on each side.

Northwood gives it go to camp off the truck. I still support it when stored...old habit.

Outfitters are a basement equipped TC designed to be used off the truck with no additional support. You need to contact the manufacturer of the make/model you are interested in to confirm its ability to go unsupported.