The Alaskans have the plywood floor that wasn't designed for direct contact...when trapped water gets in there it tends to rot the floors out...I think there are some pictures around here somewhere, of an Alaskan being lifted and the floor falling off...ugh. One of the tricks for keeping it as dry as possible is to install a frame of one sort or another for the camper to sit on so air will circulate around it.
Every p/u has a different bed to top of bed wall dimension so you really have to run the trial and error. I've got mine on two thicknesses of redwood plywood...the old redwood plywood...when they sprayed it with penta-chlorophenol...it won't rot....I'll rot before it will. Between the plywood strips and the bed I installed a layer of bicycle tubing as an anti skid....remember that trapped water under your matt will eat at the bed itself, especially if your in snow country where the roads get salt. You're in Canada if I remember correctly
Thanks for the reply and advice, Rusty! (and sorry for the delay in responding back - this one slipped my attention...)
Yes, I'm in Canada, but won't be driving the truck/camper combo in the salt. My truck came with a molded liner and indeed, over 15 years enough dirt had accumulated in the rear sides of the bed to trap water and cause rusting and holes, which I had to repair. I got rid of the molded liner and got the rubber floor mat instead. I'll definitely build a plywood base as you suggested, to elevate the floor of the camper and prevent rot down there! Not sure I can get redwood in my neck of the woods, but certainly some cedar, or at the very least some pressure-treated lumber.
My side walls have a shim under them so when I close the derringers they don't pull the sides down and open the rear door....what we go through to keep old campers. The Atwood jack brackets have an angled brace that will rest on your bed if you don't give it a little clearance....dented sidewall tops on your bed is what happens...to avoid that you keep about 3/4 to 1" clearance. That allows the angle portion of the bracket to clear the bed...then you cut shims to fit. Depending on the jack brackets you have the clearance will vary a little bit...but 1" shims should raise you up enough to clear. Then you can get a dimension from the bottom of the camper to the bed....install them 2 feet on center and you're good to go....don't forget a couple of large rubber bumpers for the front of the camper. They'll give you a cushion and clearance when you're mounting the camper and the front of the camper won't rub on the bed of your truck....it goes through the aluminum real fast.....
Not sure what you mean by "derringers"?
Please enlighten me.
Silly me (truck camper neophyte!) I thought the camper was supposed to sit flush on the truck sides, so it would be resting on both the floor and the sides. Now I can see that by elevating the floor, I'll have to shim the sides as well. I had noticed the jack bracket angled brace (toward the interior) would rest on the truck side, to grounded down the two at the front, to give me a good inch clearance on each side. I'll attach the tie down hardware to the outside part (into which the jacks fit) which has holes ready-made for that. Then I'll install shims between the truck sides and camper side bottoms. And as you suggest, some rubber cushions on the front of the box to prevent the rubbing.
Best of luck on that beauty...you're going to have a blast
Thanks, I HOPE so, certainly has proved to be more work than I had bargained for, getting the camper and the truck setup. And I still need to prepare myself for the dreaded initial lift and install. Plus sort out the 12v supply (don't have truck wiring yet, nor deepcycle battery, so will need to research and think about how to best get this done. It's a learning experience in many ways!!!
One thing I'm pleased about is the re-caulking job I did. The camper's been sitting in the driveway and we've had some hard rain this summer, and no indication of any water ingress. Plus I've put in a new Fantastic-Fan to replace the non-functioning and beat-up 12v fan that was there.
I think once the camper is on there, it will STAY on there, and this will be my travel and camping rig. In a way, I wish I could put the camper on and off more easily (maybe comfort level will increase once I get it on there once), because having the truck to haul stuff around is very nice.
Well, weather is certainly getting cooler up here, so doesn't look like I'll be able to get all this done and have a shake-down trip this Fall. At least if I can get the camper on so I can park the truck and camper in my driveway for the winter, I'll be pleased.
In the meantime, I'm trying to do a bit of woodwork inside to repair the rather crude work the PO did to fit in a small 120v fridge, which I've taken out. In doing so, he cut out the original woodwork that the Dometic fridge fit into, so it leaves a rather gaping hole and unfinished look. Otherwise, it's pretty nice inside.
All the best.
--Robert