Flat Bed with Storage vs OEM Longbed for Slide-In Truck Camper

[BarryandCassandra]

Hi - looking at doing probably a F350 SD SRW diesel as the truck for a probably Lance 850 slide-in camper. To maximize storage I’m looking at a flatbed for the truck, with built in storage compartments, sliding the camper in the middle of the storage.

I’m totally ignorant of good brands/manufacturers of flatbeds for this use. Also, does the flatbed sit lower/same height/higher than the OEM pickup bed? Definitely do not want to raise the camper higher than if it were sitting in the OEM bed. Just considering this option to get additional exterior storage.

Thanks for any assistance. I’m on the east coast. Not in a rush. Lining up my ducks right now.

Regards,
Barry

 

[Bravo30]

If I ever did a camper I would use a utility body with a lift.

 

[gatorgrizz27]

Flatbeds typically sit higher due to them not having wheel wells. You ought to be able to have something built with a lower center section and using off the shelf tool boxes on the sides for not a totally absurd amount of money.

 

[Nitromethane43]

An off the shelf flat bed will sit at least 6" above the frame rails depending on what brand you choose to go with, usually there will be 3-4" tall cross members going across driver to passenger side then some front to back. Below is an example of the construction.



I originally had a CM fully skirted steel flatbed it was built very heavily even with a Lance 815 it was well over weight for a srw truck



The one that is being worked on will only be 3" above the frame rails almost like a stock pickup bed height, its not as heavy duty as the CM one, but its not living as a work truck anymore.





Going the flatbed route you will have about 16" tall by 12" deep by the length of the camper as extra accessible storage on each side, also its possible gain about 14"H x 40"L x 10"D under the bed in front of the wheel and 14"H x 20"L x 10"D behind the wheel for storage if boxes or compartments are utilized. On this set up there is an potential for 33 cubic feet of additional storage.

 

[1stDeuce]

I too built a flatbed that sits fairly low. I used 2" square tube parallel to the frame rails, mounted with tabs to the factory box mounting points, and 2" tubing side to side above that to support the 1/8" deck. It's about 2" higher than the factory bed floor, and I can see some evidence that the tires have rubbed it on both sides. (2500 Silverado, 265 tires, no lift) The flatbed has been converted to a dump bed with drop sides, and that truck routinely gets grossly overloaded, and then run over rough terrain.

I don't think it would have rubbed at all under normal driving, and with 4000lbs of OSB on the bed, there was still about 1.5" of clearance from the tire to the underside of the bed, so rubbing must be occurring when it articulates.

If rubbing is a concern, it can be mitigated with a bit of lift and tire selection, or truck selection. (Ford and Dodge trucks sit higher, so less likely to get rubbing a lower flatbed, IMO.)

I personally would prefer to have useful space under the sides of my camper. My flatbed does have ~14" tall drop sides, and even just having those allows me to store outdoors stuff under there. It's not secure, or dry, but it still helps.
FWIW, I know the local flatbed installer orders all his beds to fit Ford trucks at ~38" wide IIRC. He did say that he would order me one at no extra cost that would fit my GMC, but that bed mfg still uses a 3 or 4" rail along the frame, with 2" channel above, so it's already at least an inch higher than it needs to be in my experience. I probably wouldn't worry about an inch, but if the bed is a LOT higher, it might be an issue.

I would agree that if you want a dedicated camper hauler, it would be neat to have a custom bed made to mount the camper lower, though you may then need a custom camper to clear the cab... I know campers for F250's leave a LOT of space above the cab when mounted on dodges and Chevy's... so that might be an option...

Another option is a utility bed, like shown in the photos above. A bit more expensive than a flatbed with boxes, but probably not a lot... Most mfg's offer a low side height option that works with some truck campers. The big issue is finding one that will allow the camper to be tailgate width behind the wheel wells. OR you have to order a camper that's skinny all the way back. I dont' know where you are, but Largo Tank and Equipment in Farmington NM can build you a flatbed with built in boxes that would work and look great.

 

[Motafinga]

I modified an old utility bed to fit an alaskan camper, I had to section the rear cargo box area to fit the camper's width rear of the wheels. You can have one custom made of course to match your campers dimensions. If you have a flexy frame like my 97 F250 and plan to go off-road,
you'd be wise to implement a torsion free subframe so you don't stress the mounting point on the frame and box, that's what I also did.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

The truck campers designed for flatbeds are probably shorter to accommodate the different height. Sherptek makes flat beds with wheel wells so they can sit at the same height as an OEM bed but they are fairly expensive. If I was going to go that route, I would consider starting out with a chassis cab.
The pros and cons as I see them are:
-Flatbed has more storage and side access
-Flatbeds are more durable
-OEM is cheaper
-OEM will be easier to sell separately where as a flatbed, camper combo will probably have to be sold as a single unit.
-Some flatbed setups won't have as much clearance for rear wheel articulation.
-OEM will look like a regular truck when the camper is removed.
-If you are pushing the limits of your max gross weight, the extra storage is not as much of an advantage.

Anyway, that's how I prioritize.

 

[wirenut]

I had my 11' Fleetwood camper on an aluminum flatbed. i had over and under body storage boxes. i really liked the set up. There was plenty of storage and the camper was only a few inches taller than a normal bed. There are very few TCs that will fit into a normal utility body and the ones that do will not have bathrooms. TCs widen out in the rear past where a normal truck bed's wheel wells are, some more than others but they all have a least a protrusion. You will need to modify a stock utility body or get a custom camper hauling utility body. The other problem is the tie downs going across the utility body doors. I avoided this with the flatbed by having the boxes sized to avoid those areas.