17 replies to this topic

[brownbear]

I'm hemming and hawing over how I am going to secure my camper. I don't want to drill the bed of my truck for a number of reasons. It is pristine and the idea of poking holes in it does not appeal to me, I don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to line up the holes every time I want to put the camper in, I don't want rust to set in where I drill and, lastly, I don't want the bolts to bend the bed from the camper flexing.

I have decided I would like to use my stake pockets. I can easily fashion some super strong bolts which will hold the camper in this area, but my dilemma is that I don't know where on the underside of the camper overhang I can affix the eye bolts I will be connecting to. It would help greatly if I could see some sort of rendering of the camper frame underneath the skin. Does anyone know where I can find such an illustration?

[banderswipe]

Hi Bear, The answer to your dilemma is any where on the shelf or more specificaly close enough to the stake pockets to work. The shelf is the frame, it is made of a single sheet of 3/4 ply wood. I would suggest big washers or what I did was use a piece of 12"x6"x1/8th aluminum checker plate as the washer. I also used the plate as the washer for my jack plate. You may think this a little extreme but when I picked up my camper the jack plate bolts on the rear had been ripped through the wood.There were holes the size of the washers in the plywood shelf. The owner said this is what happens when you drive off with your jacks down. He also mumbled something about partying to hard. I will try take some pics of my eye bolts.
Hope this helps,
Kevin.

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[Tris]

I'm hemming and hawing over how I am going to secure my camper. I don't want to drill the bed of my truck for a number of reasons. It is pristine and the idea of poking holes in it does not appeal to me, I don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to line up the holes every time I want to put the camper in, I don't want rust to set in where I drill and, lastly, I don't want the bolts to bend the bed from the camper flexing.

I have decided I would like to use my stake pockets. I can easily fashion some super strong bolts which will hold the camper in this area, but my dilemma is that I don't know where on the underside of the camper overhang I can affix the eye bolts I will be connecting to. It would help greatly if I could see some sort of rendering of the camper frame underneath the skin. Does anyone know where I can find such an illustration?

Here's a plan B for you: My 2003 Ram 2500 had tie down cleats in all four corners of the bed. I took those out and bolted a 1/8 x 1" x about 18" steel strap to each. The rear ones angle forward, the front ones angle back. The straps area long enough that the upper ends are just accessible between the top of the truck bed and the camper shelf. I bolted the upper ends of the straps into the sides of the camper - not the shelf - so that the strain is in shear and doesn't want to flex the shelf down. I put thin rubber washers between the straps and the camper siding on the outside and fender washers on the inside. I also have 4x4 spacers in front of the camper on the truck bed. Nothing's moved in about 15,000 miles, but I drive mainly on highways rather than off road.

[brownbear]

I went ahead and bought some Brophy stake pocket tie downs- the kind that run over the rail of the truck and then attach to the camper with turnbuckles. I would have preferred the Torklift setup, but the expense seems a little excessive given the relatively inexpensive camper. My question is: will these be sufficient? Does anybody have any experience with them? I've heard of beds tweaking, but this camper isn't super heavy and I have an old '92 Dodge. I decided against bolting the camper through the floor of the bed because it is too difficult to align the holes when putting it back in after taking it out, and I don't want to be crawling around under the truck trying to tighten bolts. I'd really appreciate some feedback on this. I plan on loading the camper in the next few days. I'd appreciate strong sentiment either way from anyone who has used these Brophy stake pocket tie downs before. Thank you.

[LuckyDan]

I am familiar with Brophy's from awhile back, they have been around a long time. The style I'm familiar with sat anywhere you placed them on the bed rails and used a clamp and brace system to stay in place. They did not fit in the stake pockets. They worked OK with the old Caveman Camper we had at the time. Caveman's were built in the NW using NW materials, namely Douglas Fir timber and steel bracing which made them heavy, much like your Alaskan I would guess. The camper would sometimes pull the rear one's out of position on really rough roads or off road. The cure was to use three on each side. One up front and two on the rear, one each side of the mounting eye with a separate turnbuckle to each. The up side was they could be placed anywhere along the bed the clamp plate could get under the bed rail lip. The other up is they were quickly removable. The down side, (sort of) is they were heavily built and stuck out to the edge or even a little outside of the camper. If you caught one on a tree or something you would probably bend up the bed and tear out the mounting eye before you would bend the Brophy.

Best of luck mounting up your camper. I've never owned one but have stayed in them. They really are solid, warm campers.

[Rusty]

My brother in law has some of those brophys and has used them with his Alaskan for the last 10 years....worked just fine

mine started out as a bolt in the bed and that worked fine as long as you weren't taking it out....ugh

Mine is now tied in with happijacks and derringer quick releases....I use the reico titan jack plates but the more I see the tie down coming from the bottom half at the rear with eye bolts I'm thinking of changing...

Tieing it down using the jack plates puts a different torque and directional tension that the seat in the camper wasn't designed to take. The last correction I made to the jacks was to install a stainless steel plate inside the camper to sandwich the plywood....gives the tiedown tension something to bite on....but I take the camper off regularly and the system makes it easy.

[brownbear]

Thanks a lot for the responses, guys. I know some people say to not use the Brophys, but I think they are talking about much larger cabovers. These are the ones which fit right into the stake pockets, and are secured with three bolts through each one- one through the top rail, and two through the side of the stake pocket. It seems to me that, most of the time, there would not be much pressure on them at all. It would just be more for emergency purposes such as crashes, sidehills, etc. I plan on using some heavy duty turnbuckles rated at least 1200 lbs per. I'm going to use eyebolt anchors on the underside of the camper overhang in all four locations, with plate on both sides so the anchors cannot pull through. I don't plan on tightening the turnbuckles too much, and am looking for some galvanized "eye and eye" style which are exceedingly difficult to find. I'll attach them with "quick links".

[banderswipe]

Hi bear sounds like you are worked out ready to go. Don't forget to put an extra nut on your turnbuckle's to lock them or they will come loose. I make it a habit to check the turnbuckles before during and after a trip.

Cheers,
Kevin.

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