Cracked the bed of my truck

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

Fordman01 wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:
You can't just put a sheet of foam board in the bed of the truck. You need to have a solid material around the perimeter or the weight of the camper on the stiff, solid sides will crush the foam down and the flexible meddle flat area of the camper will not compress the foam as much as the hard edges. I built a wood frame for my TC and the inside of the frame has foam board. I think what you have there is the edges settling and the belly being pushed up in a bowing fashion.
Picture of mine.

If that is the case why not just have a piece of plywood?

Plywood is fine if it is as wide as the tub of the camper. You may also need 2 or 3 sheets to get the lift you need. Building the frame and fitting foam board to the center provides insulation to the TC basement and all the tanks contained therein. Also, building a frame with foam is much lighter than straight plywood. My frame also is fitted tight to the sides of the bed to keep it from moving.
If you look at the side edges of the frame, you can see the darkened lines where the downward force of the side walls of the camper is most concentrated. The dark lines are only along the edges, nowhere through the central area of the camper tubs bottom sheet of plywood. You can also see that the tub of my S&S is a little wider than a standard 4x8 sheet of plywood.