23 replies to this topic

[hpcbmw]

I've searched around and found alot of discussion about this with other campers, but found nothing about a FWC. My camper is  1997 Granby. It's got the short overhang. I'm heading to Moab for a mountain bike trip with a group of friends. They will be renting a house and I'll be staying in the FWC. I'm thinking of unloading the FWC for the week either in the driveway or the garage.

If I unload the FWC and let it sit on the camper jacks, about 1' off the ground, will this be stable enough? I'll mostly be sleeping in the FWC with my wife, but eating and hanging out in the house with the friends. Will I need a support for the cab overhang (I was thinking a couple 2x4's mounted to a 2'x2' piece of plywood, mounted in a "V"). The wife and I are pretty slim, about 250lbs for the two of us.

 

I'd rather not haul a bunch of extra wood, etc to make a rack.

 

I'll probably need the truck to shuttle 6 bikes and people to and from the trails and possible for some 4wd trails.

Thanks for any ideas!

[JHa6av8r]

You will need to put supports under the floor. The floor in FWC campers aren't built to support weight on just the jacks.

[NorCalHawk]

Ditto JHa6av8r....When I bought my 2012 hawk, I was wondering the same.  However, FWC recommended (at the time) "not" using the camper w/o some floor support when off the truck. 

[Alley-Kat]

The floor does need support, however, something as simple as a couple of pieces of plywood to make an "X" (looking down from the top) under the camper floor will do.

 

Make the two plywood pieces as long as the camper floor is diagonally, corner to corner, Then as high as you want the bottom of the camper off the ground. Half way down the length of the plywood make a notch half way across the short dimension on each piece of plywood. The notch opening width needs to be able to have the other piece of plywood fit in the notch. In other words these pieces of plywood "nest" in each other's notch and will stay upright. Place the "X" under the camper and lower the jacks until the camper bottom is resting on the "X". Keep the jacks on the camper and in contact with the ground to add stability.

 

This technique is easy to carry as it is only two pieces of plywood and no hardware.

 

The front cab over support will be a good thing, build what you want.

[Happyjax]

That's a good solution Alley-Kat

[hpcbmw]

Thanks for the ideas. I hadn't thought about the need to support the floor. I'll look into making an 18"  X out of plywood like Alley Kat suggests. I'll test it out and see if i need any support for the overhang.

 

Thanks!

[xrisx]

I have been curious as well.  We just picked up our new 2015 Hawk and would like to take the camper off truck for our surf trips so we can set up a home base.  When we picked the camper up the dealer here in BC told us it would be fine off truck and that the floor would have no problem supporting us but we may want put a piece of wood underneath to stop the camper from shaking.  Has anyone here done this with the new/newer campers?

[pods8]

I think in addition to supporting the floor you take lots of stress off the camper corners where the jacks are mounted if you rest the camper on some supports. 

[longhorn1]

We were told when we picked up camper last year that it couldn't be used off the camper unless the floor was fully supported.  We have a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" treated plywood on the ground, 2-24" high 3/4" treated plywood "X's", with another full sheet of 3/4" treated plywood on top of the "X's".  I climb into the camper all of the time.  Not sure I would want to climb into the bed for fear that it might tip.

 

jd

[super doody]

As others have suggested. i would use plywood with a X configuration. There was another post from a member where his corner bracket started bend/separate because he left his camper on jack and unsupported for a period of time and that's with a static load.  

Edited by super doody, 30 March 2015 - 05:39 PM.