Your biggest truck camper mistake?

[Canadian_Camper]

Heading out on the road in a couple of days, for our first long trip with our new to us truck camper (having previously owned and travelled extensively with a travel trailer).

What is/was your biggest truck camper mistake?

Hopefully, we can learn from other's mistakes. I'm feeling excited but a bit nervous about travelling with the truck camper as opposed to a travel trailer.

Thanks!

[pcoplin]

Mine was my first truck camper. It was an 89 Lance camper. I didnt know it has a much water damage as it did. Within 6 months, the wings fell apart, the paper peeled off the underside and blew off, tore a hold-down out, and when I took off the emergency hatch trim, black mold water poured all over the bed.

I stripped the appliances, dropped it off at the dump, and they pushed it into the garbage abyss...




It did solidify our love for the truck camper, and got us out 6 or 7 camping trips in the 6 months I had it. And taught me what to look for on the next one. a $2k lesson....

[burningman]

Uh, excuse me, what?
The camper, truck bed and frame's relationship to each other does not change when you inflate or deflate your airbags. Are you under the impression the airbags lift your truck bed off the frame?

The only thing that changes is the rear axle and springs in relation to the chassis.

Now, if you're trying your camper directly to your rear wheels, this is something to consider.

[lakeside013104]

996Pilot wrote:

Cmprmn wrote:
If you have or plan to get airbags, air them up before you secure your tiedowns.

Oooooo! That's one I hadn't thought about. Mounts on the frame and camper in the bed that can be a BIG difference with airbags inflating.

New item on the checklist!

Opps.......check tie downs after deflating air bags...

Lakeside

[BCSierra]

Forgot to lock the fridge then drove about 100 miles on some very curvy roads. Found an interesting concoction blended on the camper floor, bean salad, humus, etc smeared and mixed together in every corner. Worst thing was, the beer was warm.

[GeoBoy]

996Pilot wrote:

Cmprmn wrote:
If you have or plan to get airbags, air them up before you secure your tiedowns.

Oooooo! That's one I hadn't thought about. Mounts on the frame and camper in the bed that can be a BIG difference with airbags inflating.

New item on the checklist!

Are you serious? The camper sits in the bed that is mounted to the truck frame. The air bags mount to the axle that is suspended from the frame. Wow!!

[996Pilot]

Cmprmn wrote:
If you have or plan to get airbags, air them up before you secure your tiedowns.

Oooooo! That's one I hadn't thought about. Mounts on the frame and camper in the bed that can be a BIG difference with airbags inflating.

New item on the checklist!

[Bob__B]

newk wrote:


I could go on and on

...like the time I drove the pickup to my insurance agent's office to turn in a claim (from backing my truck camper into my car) and smacked the overhang/sign on the front of his office. (One of my more embarrassing moments!)

A friend of mine once told me ..... I was looking up in the air and a bird pooped right in my mouth ..... I told him that if that had happened to me, I would never tell anyone about it ..... That is another one of those things ..:E LOL

[newk]

Be sure to have proper tie-downs on your truck. For years I used the bed stake holes, but on long trips they'd often wobble just enough to loosen the chains a bit. Once, while driving in strong and gusty wind conditions on a thousand-mile trip, both of the driver's side tie-down chains got so loose that they detached. I came over a hill on I-35 in Iowa and glanced in my driver's side mirror to see the camper lifted up about two feet and still going! I slammed on the brakes and made a fairly hard right turn onto the shoulder and it settled back down. (Whew!) I drove the rest of my trip at about 30 mph and purchased a set of good, frame-mounted tie downs.

I could go on and on

...like the time I drove the pickup to my insurance agent's office to turn in a claim (from backing my truck camper into my car) and smacked the overhang/sign on the front of his office. (One of my more embarrassing moments!)

Or the time the refrigerator door came open enroute and a jar of pickles fell out and crashed onto the floor. (Pickle juice is STICKY!)

But I won't. 😉

[clikrf8]

A few errors:
Need more Solar. Currently 140 watts but would like to add another 70 watts
Drove off with scissor steps attached
On a pop up, we forgot to undo one latch. Pop!
Didn't lock door securely and lost a few small items along a bumpy road.
Left vent up but no damage

[d3500ram]

Cmprmn wrote:
If you have or plan to get airbags, air them up before you secure your tiedowns.

This makes no difference- the relative height is the same whether aired up or not because the tie-down mounts and the bed on which the camper sits is the same in either position.

[Cmprmn]

If you have or plan to get airbags, air them up before you secure your tiedowns.

[adamis]

I've not been on the road enough to have some of the more interesting disasters that have been listed so far but I might be able to compete for one of the messiest indoor disasters...

I was on a trip in LA and noticed my camper had shifted so I started to look for a flat level parking lot to reload the camper. Would you believe that I drove for nearly an hour and a half trying to find a place I wouldn't be hassled, making many turns and even going up and down some hilly streets. I finally managed to find a place and took care of the issue, closed the camper back up and drove about two miles to a gas station to top off.

I happened to open the camper back up to my shock and horror I found a a brand new bottle of Costco sized Olive Oil (yes, the big one) had flown out of the cabinet it was in and proceeded to dump about a liter and a half of olive oil all over the floor of the camper. Needless to say, WHAT A MESS!!! I had to ask the station owner for a roll of paper towels to try to clean it all up. Darn near killed myself too since everything was so slippery, especially the aluminum scissor steps.

If you can imagine the mood I was in after wasting a quarter tank of good diesel driving all over downtown LA on a hot day trying to find a level place to reset the camper without being hassled and ending up with a liter and a half of olive oil on the camper floor and no paper towels of my own to pick it up... to top it off, I didn't even get to unwind after all of that as I had nearly seven hours of driving left to do that day to make it to a class I had to be at on Monday.

[NVR2L82AV8]

Amen to Checklists.....I've incorporated some TC checklists for survival and keeping the buffoonery to a minimum....

As a professional pilot checklists are our procedure safety net!

[RickW]

So,

Now take all these mistakes and experiences and make a checklist.

Have your partner read it out loud while you load, prepare to depart and unload.

There is a reason why experienced pilots always use the checklist.