cabover camper on utility / flatbed trailer?

[kzlucas]

We have a Hallmark Guanella camper we use about 40 days a year. About half our trips we like to be very flexible. Hence the popup camper. The other half of our trips we are spending more days in one location and taking turns riding mountain bikes. On these trips it would be very nice to leave the camper behind for the kids and people not riding bikes. Plus it would be much easier to facilitate shuttle rides if the truck was freed up from the camper.

It brings me to the point of looking into buying a utility/flatbed trailer to load the camper on for certain trips. I've looked around the internet a bit and found where it has been done but I haven't found a great resource of information. The camper is around 1800lbs wet. Throw on bikes, gear, people, maybe an ATV and the weight could pretty easily get up to 3500lb or more. Pulling the trailer I wouldn't be too concerned with off road ability. It of course needs to be able to go down a dirt road without bottoming out or falling apart but nothing extreme here. I like the idea of having the ability to load an ATV on sideways under the cabover part of the camper. It would also be nice to have 1-2' of deck outside of the camper door. That puts the minimum trailer length at about 14'. The camper is an 8' floor made to go on a 6-1/2' bed. Like many shortbed campers, the rear overhang is lower than the floor of the camper. The camper rear would either need to overhang the front or back of the trailer OR the entire camper be raised on a platform high enough to clear the lower camper rear overhang.

For those who have done something similar what did you learn? Did it work out? What trailer did you use and where there any unforeseen challenges? How did you get the camper loaded on/off the trailer (jack bracket extensions, narrower trailer to clear the jacks? Where did you position the camper on the trailer and how was the tongue weight? Another nice option would be to forgo the extra deck space for an ATV and find a service/utility bed trailer to load the camper on (the ones with side bins/storage compartments).

Attached are some photos to better explain what I am looking into.

 

[villageidiot]

i hauled my Grandby up to ATC for some work on a utility trailer.

this particular grandby below (the used one the day i bought it) had spent most its life on a trailer, i know the original owners and it had been this way since about 1999.

they liked it on the trailer for the flexibility as it allowed the tow vehicle to be used separately to go explore, or run errands etc.

i find myself thinking the same thing, but mainly as i can't buy a new truck yet, and the camper will be done soon ish, so i am actually heading to a trailer place to discuss a custom trailer built to carry the camper. I'm having it shortened to 6.5' length, but still thinking a 10' trailer which will give me a nice deck under the overhang for things (slide out kitchen, propane, battery box, firewood etc etc)

not sure where ill end up yet.

 

[Vic]

Have you considered using the camper off the truck?

I have a Hallmark Everest - almost the same camper, and generally speaking if we are going to be in the same place for more than 3 or so days we usually drop the camper. Hallmarks were designed to be used off the truck. I admit I was skeptical the first time but its solid. Hallmark does recommend a set of stabilizer jacks. I use four of these:

https://www.etrailer.com/Camper-Jacks/Ultra-Fab-Products/UF48-979003.html

and a couple of 2x4's to spread the load.

Do you have electric jacks? Probably a non-starter without those.

I'm thinking you'd want the camper far enough forward of the trailer axle to get some tongue weight, but if you have a N/S bed would you have any clearance issues, especially over bumps and dips?

Its an interesting option and something I'd certainly look at if anything happened to my truck. Then I wouldn't need another 3500.

-Vic

 

[ntsqd]

I have not done this, but I have looked at it on and off over the years. At 3500 gross load plus the trailer's own weight you're now approaching 5,000 lbs. It is possible to buy a single axle with a suitable weight rating, but I'll suggest that you want 2 axles under a trailer like this. A trailer tire blow-out on a 5k gross weight tandem axle trailer is not nearly as, shall we say, "entertaining" as it would be on a single axle trailer.

You're going to want to place the camper on the trailer such that it's axle or the halfway point between the two axles is in the same place that the truck's rear axle would be relative to the camper. You may need to shift it slightly forwards of this to get appropriate tongue weight, but not by a lot.

You could build or have built a small raised platform for the camper to sit on that will space it up off the deck enough for the low hanging features at the rear of the camper to clear the deck of the trailer. Such a platform should be far less expensive to build than a custom trailer. This is definitely the path that I would take instead of a custom trailer.

Leveling a trailer like this only needs one jack, the tongue jack, if you have two adjustable landing feet at the rear corners of the trailer. I do this every time we use our off-road tent trailer. It is important that the tongue jack be a stout unit. The one on our off-road tent trailer is rated for a trailer that is just about 3 times more than that trailer could ever gross. Process is to lower the tongue slightly below your best guess at level. Drop the landing feet almost on the ground. Crank the tongue up until level. I have one of those circular bubble levels where I can see it while manning the jack.

If this trailer is thing that you would be building there are many online and print references that I'd point you at.

 

[kzlucas]

I'm having it shortened to 6.5' length, but still thinking a 10' trailer which will give me a nice deck under the overhang for things (slide out kitchen, propane, battery box, firewood etc etc)

Good to hear people have been satisfied with the conversion.

The “covered deck” does seem like a nice bonus of a longer trailer. I wonder whether it would be best for aerodynamics for the camper to be faced forward or rearward. Or what side is going to be easier to clean the bugs off. I do have a snap on cover for the window facing forward.

 

[kzlucas]

Have you considered using the camper off the truck?

I have a Hallmark Everest - almost the same camper, and generally speaking if we are going to be in the same place for more than 3 or so days we usually drop the camper. Hallmarks were designed to be used off the truck. I admit I was skeptical the first time but its solid. Hallmark does recommend a set of stabilizer jacks. I use four of these:

https://www.etrailer.com/Camper-Jacks/Ultra-Fab-Products/UF48-979003.html

and a couple of 2x4's to spread the load.

Do you have electric jacks? Probably a non-starter without those.

I'm thinking you'd want the camper far enough forward of the trailer axle to get some tongue weight, but if you have a N/S bed would you have any clearance issues, especially over bumps and dips?

Its an interesting option and something I'd certainly look at if anything happened to my truck. Then I wouldn't need another 3500.

-Vic

I’ve definitely thought about using the camper off the truck quite a bit. I’d like to have that option in addition to the trailer and of course the intended use on the truck. I’ve not found the perfect camper for all occasions so it would be nice to have options. Good to hear you are doing it comfortably. Thanks for the link. We just got our Guanella. I hadn’t given Hallmark a call yet to hear there thoughts on it. Our previous camper was a 3 jack setup. Using the 3 legged stool off the camper never seemed like a good idea. I’m assuming a jack for each corner? 2x4’s go horizontal between jacks or lengthwise?

I don’t currently have electric jacks but they are on order.

Depending on the trailer I’m sure there is going to be a point where the camper is too far forward adding too much tongue weight. Then another point too far back where there is no weight on the tongue. Although I can’t imagine not having any cargo on the front half of the trailer unless at camp. The a couple jacks under the rear could keep it from tipping back.

 

[PaulT]

Camper facing rearward would likely present some unexpected problems like water entry through door while in motion in rain, ripping off your roof-top vent lids, etc. How many manufacturers design & test for reverse travel? Just asking.

Paul

 

[kzlucas]

I have not done this, but I have looked at it on and off over the years. At 3500 gross load plus the trailer's own weight you're now approaching 5,000 lbs. It is possible to buy a single axle with a suitable weight rating, but I'll suggest that you want 2 axles under a trailer like this. A trailer tire blow-out on a 5k gross weight tandem axle trailer is not nearly as, shall we say, "entertaining" as it would be on a single axle trailer.

I don’t think I’d want a single axle anyway. Nice bonus of a trailer is it’s multipurpose and tandems just travel much nicer. I’ll take the loss of maneuverability for this purpose.

You could build or have built a small raised platform for the camper to sit on that will space it up off the deck enough for the low hanging features at the rear of the camper to clear the deck of the trailer. Such a platform should be far less expensive to build than a custom trailer. This is definitely the path that I would take instead of a custom trailer.

I built a steel dolly with casters to roll the camper around the shop. I’ve considered removing the casters and using it as a platform. It puts the lowest point 2” off the floor. I need to cut out a section and shorten it for this camper. Previous camper was flat the whole 8’ across the bottom.

Leveling a trailer like this only needs one jack, the tongue jack, if you have two adjustable landing feet at the rear corners of the trailer. I do this every time we use our off-road tent trailer. It is important that the tongue jack be a stout unit. The one on our off-road tent trailer is rated for a trailer that is just about 3 times more than that trailer could ever gross. Process is to lower the tongue slightly below your best guess at level. Drop the landing feet almost on the ground. Crank the tongue up until level. I have one of those circular bubble levels where I can see it while manning the jack.

If this trailer is thing that you would be building there are many online and print references that I'd point you at.

Good to know. I’ll make sure the trailer has an adequate jack upfront and the clearance for jacks in the rear. I’ll possibly be modifying the trailer but not doing a full build.

 

[kzlucas]

Camper facing rearward would likely present some unexpected problems like water entry through door while in motion in rain, ripping off your roof-top vent lids, etc. How many manufacturers design & test for reverse travel? Just asking.

Paul

I suppose as many as where designed to travel down the road without a truck blocking the front them. . Good point though. All smart things to consider.

 

[JaSAn]

. . .
Leveling a trailer like this only needs one jack, the tongue jack, if you have two adjustable landing feet at the rear corners of the trailer . . .

How would you adjust for side-to-side off level?
That would only account for front to back level.

 

[kzlucas]

How would you adjust for side-to-side off level?
That would only account for front to back level.

I can get level with the 3 jacks (triangle) on my old camper so I think it would work on a trailer as well. Differences is trailer also has tires on the ground...maybe that doesn’t effect it too much. Also could drive the tires onto blocks on just one.

 

[ntsqd]

How would you adjust for side-to-side off level?
That would only account for front to back level.

How I do it is to uncouple and lower the tongue well below level. Then I set the stands, they are not jacks, just adjustable length supports such that when I crank the tongue back up towards front to rear level the two stands in the rear set the side to side level. It sounds tougher to do than I find it to really be. Sometimes it takes two or more tries, but the more that I do it the less often that this is the case. With the circular level where I can see it while cranking the jack up I watch it as I'm cranking and soon know if I set them right or not.