Forum Discussion

BurbMan's avatar
BurbMan
Explorer II
Mar 10, 2019

Free Camper Adventure: Do these tip over?

For those of you following my "got it for free" camper thread, we went last weekend and cleaned it out, hauled away 3 trash bags of stuff the PO left behind. Camper is in really good shape inside. Not a lot of room to move around because with no power and no battery, couldn't put the slide out.

Noob Question: When the camper is off the truck, can you get up into the bed area or will it tip over? Right now (due to the RF jack issue, ie lack thereof...) the camper is sitting on 2x8's on top of cement block stacks.

On the advice of a fellow forum member who is now on his 10th rotted camper repair, I purchased a moisture meter. This will help me locate additional areas that may have been leaking and need repair.

I was also able to get a hold of Lance (what nice folks!) and they sent me construction diagrams for the side walls, with measurements, so I know exactly how it goes together and the exact size of each framing piece. I also found out that my unit was optioned with a solar pre-wire and heated holding tanks.
  • “When the camper is off the truck, can you get up into the bed area or will it tip over?“

    I never did.
  • Assuming it isn’t falling apart, yes you can get in the cabover area and it will not tip over forward. It weighs over 3000 pounds, a few hundred in the bunk doesn’t faze it.
    It isn’t teetering on the front jacks, a lot of people wish they could get the center of gravity that far forward! The camper's COG is much further back.
  • Congratulations!

    And it will not tip over.
    There are rougly 2500 or more lbs of camper behind the cabover.
    Just be sure the cabover floor is structurally sound.

    Wishing you all the best for your repair project, and many happy travels with the repaires camper!
  • Because you have a 'wrinkle' in the side wall behind the cab over bunk (if I remember correctly from the pictures you posted), I'd be careful about putting weight in the cab over area. That wrinkle didn't come about by accident. I'd be worried about a structural defect and additional weight in the cab over bunk could cause it to come part and fail.

    Out of curiosity, is Zeus Fasteners still in Islip? I used to deliver steel there way back when. Spent a few weekends there and got to know some locals. Got out to Fire Island too.
  • The support point of the camper isn't any different when it's sitting on the jacks vs. sitting in a truck bed. It's still not supported any further forward than the front wall. The pivot point is till the same. If it would tip over on the jacks it would tip forward sitting in a truck. You could probably fill the cabover with your whole family and it wouldn't be close to tipping forward.
    Structural defects, that's a different story. I have no idea how solid the framing is after whatever your camper has been thru.