Flat Deck Design Considerations

Greenbarn

Member
I purchased "Build Your Own Overland Camper" by Seven Wigglesworth and have found Chapter 5 Dealing with Torsional Stress very helpful. The section on Building an Rail-on-Rail subframe echoes the the advice I have gotten here. It may be an age thing but I have found it very helpful to have a print version with high quality photos - I am not quite a digital native.
My design is progressing and I will be incorporating the Container Cast Corners into the camper and the Retractable Twist Locks into the flat deck.
image-1.pngimage.png
 

skippythedog

Observer
Thank you Pugslyyy (my cats name lol). I have been spending a lot of time digging through the forum and am trying to shape the direction I will take. I will likely do a SRW conversion but am holding off until I have a better understanding of the options. My understanding of my options in Canada so are:
http://www.trucksupersingles.com.au/index.html or http://allterrainwarriors.com/accessories/
It seems like this decision is very closely related to you second comment about target weight. I am so new to this process that I don't have a number in mind. I am coming to this with a background in Autobody and Woodworking the Heavy Truck world is very new to me.
Thank you for your input.
Thumbs up for Tonys 17" and Hankooks up in Calgary. 10mm hubs.....bulletproof....bolted mine on at the Port in Vancouver and smuggled 'em home..... :) Use balance beads...better, faster, more....
 

skippythedog

Observer
My truck is like a cheap swiss army knife....steel/wood flatbed above the hump, dump cylinder, steel and wood sideboards (in a nod toward vanity, the wood is finished in the Shou-Sugi-Ban method), Army style vinyl canopy with quickly removable hoops, a little 2000lb crane in the back (the deck is 48" high) bathtub sized toolbox mounted 14" above the deck so the spare can live under there (and retain my 12' deckspace).....And finally a little Army Gichner S-250 shelter slides right in the back....I have no intention of ever building the World camper on the back as I just sleep under the canopy in the Summer. The truck does so many different things well I'll never change it. (my daily driver btw...dumped a Tundra for this) I've welded on lots of tricky little points for hardware, ladders, steps etc.......My only real requirement camping is a dry, secure place to sleep. I like to do the living outdoors and this allows me to pack far more stuff to set up outside.

First Clue for you: Earthcruiser in Oregon gets FG beds in all the time and sells them reasonably (easy peasy...save your big money for later).......Probably aluminum for you as your weight will build quickly. (Custom Aluminum bed is about $20k new with nice toolbox up front). My truck weighs exactly 10,000lb configured as lightly as it is. I bet I could save 800 lbs w/ an aluminum bed. ........ Start Googling "flatbeds" etc. and note all the different types of configurations, hardware and tricky little doodads. Then research the vendors of latches, hinges, truck equipment etc. to know what's out there and what is possible. Lastly, if you're going to build a World camper, go for it...lots of study, design, theory, experimentation etc...(not to mention all the opinions)....I hope you're not considering sliding a travel trailer, or pickup camper in the back.....In the event you want to preserve the utility of your truck and not have a spit and kleenex constructed camper in the back.....Take a gander at an Army surplus Gichner S-280 shelter; surprisingly light, double wall aluminum w/ 3" of foam, absolutely weathertight, lifting hooks, easily modified, ugly as hell (but not as ugly as a Fleetwood or Jayco in the back.) Put in a real, full sized toilet and full sized couch or loveseat, build your cabinets, punch a few holes....There's a couple of guys out there that run these on their FG.s....Good luck!
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
View attachment 464056

Above is an example of what I believe would work well, but I would have the steps running east/west, not north/south, as the do in these pictures.

You mean like this? ;)

(still a work in progress)

44986915705_7230fca4d9_b.jpg
 

gait

Explorer
this is another style. There was only one scissor step available when I found mine, seem to be more choice now. Very solid.
https://www.etrailer.com/RV-and-Camper-Steps/Brophy/AS24.html

steps are difficult. It helps if each step, including top and bottom, are the same height. Also helps if the steps have some anti slip stuff on them. Moving up/down a step ladder (up forwards, down backwards) is different to up/down truck steps (up forwards, down forwards). The nose of aluminium steps can be slippy when wet.
 

dlh62c

Explorer
I like MORRyde's Step Above step design. With any steps that touch the ground, there's always the possibility of driving away without storing them. One tends to only do that once.

 

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