Closed cell Foam on Bed

Crunchy outside prevents camper rocking and gives solid perimeter support, chewy center is light weight and provides insulation.
Store under camper when off truck and not in use.

adambeck7 wrote:
i've got a rubber bed mat with insulation on top of it. it has absolutely not compressed the insulation at all. i was impressed. no sliding. been on rough roads, high speeds, high winds, no issues. i'd be concerned about slippage if it's insulation directly on the bed but i like the support and the insulation it offers over just an outer frame of 2x2's or the like.

This method works very well for me also.

Thanks for all the great information on this post. I knew some of you are using foam , I just could not locate any previous post by doing various search. The guides sound very interesting . They would seem to help loading and from the bouncing off center. I have seen previous post of these made from wood , but there we go with weight again. I just may search out these guides too for pictures . All your advice will be taken and I appreciate it very much . Life is Good.

My TC had a tendency when bouncing around to move to the right. When I had the foam I glued up two foam blocks (6" x 6") and put them on the right side to limit movement of the TC to the right.

If yours does bounce out of alignment, you might consider gluing blocks to the foam you put across the bed to act as guides for loading the TC and limit movement of the TC once loaded. Foam blocks are much lighter than a rubber stall matt

I ran into the need for quite a bit of additional height for my Bigfoot 2500 camper on my 99 F350. When I purchased the camper I drove to San Luis Obispo to check out the Craigslist deal and arrived about 9pm ready purchase. After a quick look, I bought the camper and proceeded to try to get it loaded on my truck. When we finally had everything aligned and began to lower the camper it became clear there was not enough overhead clearance. It ended up being short by almost 3"! Thankfully, I had eight 1" thick 2'x2' foam squares I used with my old camper to give it 1" of additional lift. Of course the eight foam blocks left me about sixteen blocks short for the height I needed with the new camper so what I ended up doing was stacking three layers of foam in the front of the bed and one layer in the back. This caused the camper to sit at a raised angle enough to clear the cab and though quite awkward, was enough to get me home.

Later on I purchased the additional 16 blocks I needed to raise the camper evenly. The current setup includes:

1. Rubber bed mat cut for the F350 bed sits between the metal bed and the square foam.
2. 24 1" thick 2'x2' foam squares arranged 2 across and 4 long in the bed. They are stacked three high and glued together to form 8 3" thick 2'x2' squares.
3. Rubber bed mat cut for flatbed trucks but sits between the square foam and the bottom of the camper.

This solution gives me the clearance I need and helps to prevent the camper sliding around in the bed of the pickup. The great thing it is if I need to use my pickup bed, I unload the camper and then take the 3" thick 2'x2' squares and throw them inside the camper. They are light weight and small enough to not be a hassle when storing. The rubber mats of course stay in the bed of the truck.

For those wondering, the rubber bed mats I got from Tractor Supply and the Pink 1" thick 2'x2' foam squares I got from Home Depot in the insulation aisle. I think it was labeled "project tiles" or something.

rwiegand wrote:
Very happy with a 1-1/2" foam pad under my Lance 851, no compression and no movement of any kind. Foam comes in different compressive strengths. Foamular 1000 is good for 100 PSI or about 460,000 pounds for a 4x8 sheet. A good way to save over 100 lbs vs plywood.

Thanks , I actually have bought 2 , I believe they are also 1&1/2" foam pink sheets , not sure if they are the 1000 or not . I only have a Starcraft pop up pu camper so the weight is no where near what you guys with the lances have. Mine may bounce a bit more, but I am not doing any off road or long trips with it either. Anymore thoughts out there? Life is Good!

Very happy with a 1-1/2" foam pad under my Lance 851, no compression and no movement of any kind. Foam comes in different compressive strengths. Foamular 1000 is good for 100 PSI or about 460,000 pounds for a 4x8 sheet. A good way to save over 100 lbs vs plywood.

Thank You all for your experiences with this topic . The foam for me is just so much lighter than the heavy wood "raisers" I made . They are a PITA to put in and out. I like bb_94401;s idea of gluing the sheets together and running them cross ways to prevent crunching the edges.Life is Good

I originally had two sheets (one 1.5" and the other 2") of the Formular 250 extruded foam (pink, rated 25 psi compression).

I later glued the sheets together using a Water soluble, non-flammable, contact cement from DAP, as sliding was occurring between the sheets when it was very wet, not at the bed nor the bottom of the camper.

This arrangement lasted two years under my 4,200 lbs camper. The sheet under the camper had indentations of less than 1/8" under the three 1"x4"s on the TC bottom. The front edge was compressed more from the camper bouncing on the very edge of the foam.

I elected to have a wood frame in the truck that supported the entire camper bottom, not just the 4'x 8'feet in the bed, while still having the foam in-between for the added insulation.

Had I not been worried about sagging of the 10'8" camper, I would have used the foam again, with just one change. I would have bought more foam and cut the pieces so they went across the bed and around the wheel wells and filled the bed vs. oriented lengthwise and only just under the TC. Doing it this way, the camper bottom is never contacting just the foam edge and is more supported as it bounces around. This arrangement is also more compatible with your 5th wheel rails.

If you still have compression issues, there are version of the extruded foam that have higher compression ratings that you could laminate.

I also tried the foam and didn't like the way it made the camper rock back and forth in the bed, I use wood now with a much better result