Sliding a camper on and off of a truck + being in camper w/out a truck.

[Jack Grit]

I have a question: There is a limited amount of space where I likely will be primarily parked. I am not "allowed" to have 2 vehicles. Do any of you have experience with loading and unloading a camper on the back of a truck? My plan (if viable) is to have the camper as stationary as possible while using the truck as my primary mode of transportation. Would loading and unloading be too labor intensive and time consuming to do almost daily? Would it be possible to put the camper on cinder blocks (or the like) and sort of back up the truck far enough so as to keep in the allotted 21 or so feet? Is it easy enough to back the bed of a truck all the way back? Has anyone done anything similar? Are there solutions to this situation that others have used?

Off topic: If I find a good water source (from a hose) can these showers be reasonably easy to modify, so as to allow for  more pressure and allow for more water flow?

Thanks

J Grit

 

[buckwilk]

I have a cabover, loading and unloading is simple. Takes 1/2 hour with a little practice. Water pressure may be controlled by how much pressure is at the hose. You want to be careful increasing pressure in an rv, some water systems won't handle high pressure.

 

[masterplumber]

I sure wouldn't want to do it everyday. My Four Wheel Pop Up was a huge pain due to the tight to the bed design. But I've had a number of more traditional cab overs that were given to me and I gave them away - while easier to line up they were still unstable and scary when up in the air. There are more stable lift systems out there, but they are expensive. Also, most camper floors are only designed to be walked on when fully supported by the truck bed - some can literally rip loose and you'll fall through to the ground.

 

[gcal]

Be sure that you are allowed to have a free standing truck camper where you want to be. We have been in campgrounds where this is not allowed do to safety and stability concerns. It doesn't take much to spook campground owner about their possible liability.

 

[SoulRaven]

You'll want to use a water pressure regulator between your trailer and the water spout. I was walking by when one blew. Don't expect a great shower in an RV. Keep in mind, at most, you usually only have 6 gallons of hot water and the faster the water comes in, the faster it is gone. Yes, you can get the instant ones but depending on the temp of the incoming water, they can have issues to.

I would suggest watching the loading and unloading on a youtube video. I watched a few of them and you'll get an idea to want it entails.

 

[LoupGarou]

Here's a site that's a great resource for Truck Campers.

If your planning to off load the camper frequently, at the same location, a VERY level pad will be a helpful.

 

[akrvbob]

Here's how to resize a picture. 

If you have Windows it came with a free program called Paint. Find it and call it up using the search function. If you have a Mac I'm sure it came with one and would be similiar.

1) Load Paint and then find the picture you want to resize

2) Click on the "resize" button, you can see it in this picture, I have it circled in red:

This menu will pop up. I've circled the important ones in red. You want to resize pixels and you want to maintain the aspect ratio. For this forum 800 pixels on the long side of the picture is a good number. It's big but not too big. My blog has a narrower page so I use 640 for it. A very narrow page might call for 480. 

If it's a normal landscape oriented picture put the new number in the horizontal box. You don't need anything in the other box, it will figure it out automatically. Click OK and it will resize it, then click File and save it to your computer--you may want to rename this one the name plus "resized-800"

 

[Jack Grit]

Here's how to resize a picture. 

Good info, I use the tool often. Is this thread where you meant to post this?

 

[Jack Grit]

You'll want to use a water pressure regulator between your trailer and the water spout.  I was walking by when one blew.  Don't expect a great shower in an RV.  Keep in mind, at most, you usually only have 6 gallons of hot water and the faster the water comes in, the faster it is gone.  Yes, you can get the instant ones but depending on the temp of the incoming water, they can have issues to.

I would suggest watching the loading and unloading on a youtube video.  I watched a few of them and you'll get an idea to want it entails.

I just watched quite a few YouTube vid's on the subject.
Loading and unloading a camper is definitely not something one would want to do every day.
If I could leave it alone (which I doubt I can) this vid is excellent for Stabilizing:
After reading all the comments and pondering my situation I think I have ruled this out as an option.
If maneuverability, gas consumption and so forth were not an issue, I would just drive the rig as is
without unloading the camper.

Thanks for everyone's input.

~J Grit

 

[wagoneer]

Can be done, I have thought about this and with proper supports especially where the floor without a basement is well supported. Putting the camper on and off would be an interesting engeneering problem.