25 replies to this topic

[Squatch]

Sorry, this isn't intended to be a thread hijack but... in the middle picture, what kind of setup do you have for your turn buckle sliding doors?  Looks completely different from my 2004 Hawk.

Feel free to private message if you wish to not further my hijack!

Fred

Newer campers don't have sliding doors. They have hinged, drop down wooden doors that open inwards.

[Squatch]

Thanks for all the ideas folks. I made a riser from 2x4s and some thin plywood. After it's now been in the bed I may remake it from 2x3s to get the camper fit a little tighter. But it's worked fine. Just put over 1,000 miles on the truck and camper and haven't needed to touch the turnbuckles.

 

 

After I had it in the truck bed It occurred to me that I could make a crud clamp to hold it in place without the camper. The long piece is part of the riser. The small block works as a fulcrum. and the short 2x4 pulls on the bed side pushing the platform into the front wall of the bed. Simple, quick, no cost, and works well.

[Ronin]

[Ronin]

Here's my riser I made for my Hawk after going from a 2003 to 2014 Tundra. Made from 2x4s and 3/4" exterior plywood. Center drawer is 4' deep to accommodate shovels etc. I screwed the platform to my Hawk with 3" deck screws every 6" all around so that it can be detached if I ever need to.

[kmcintyre]

Ok, I'm getting close to building a platform.  Any reason to put the "joists" one way or the other?  The benefit of running them from the cab to the tailgate would be that you could use that space (as others have) with long drawers.  If you run them side-to-side, it limits the space.  I was thinking that running 3 of them front-to-back and then using plywood might be sufficient (?).  I'd have to run some bracing side-to-side somehow I guess for strength.

[Squatch]

The bed on my truck has fore/aft grooves of different sizes. I had originally planned to work with this as there are a couple of places a 4x4 would fit well. Then I looked at the furring strips the factory put under my Eagle camper. After that I felt the best support for both truck bed contact and camper contact was to run my braces cross wise and throw a thin sheet of plywood on top. What used to be 3/8 ply or as close as I could get. Other wise I would have to precisely fit to both truck and camper.

 

The platform I made fits the wheel wells of the truck. The base of the camper is smaller so this gives me wiggle room for aligning the camper but the platform is held in place by the wheel wells and rear clamps.

 

The plus side is it will make it easy to insulate both the camper and the platform with rigid foam.