Pickup camper on trailer questions

[NorthernWyo]

Hey y'all!

New here and been lovin' the site

I went out this fall with my outfitters tent and wood stove and there aren't many things better than sitting by the stove with that first cup of coffee on a cold morning. Since then I've been toying with the idea of a camper with a wood stove but because of the floor space of most, it just wouldn't be feasible. I've seen a few flat bed trailers with pickup campers on them and I've been thinking that this might work, just adding a 6' x 7' room behind the camper for open floor space and a small wood stove instead of an atv and still have room under the overhang for cycles or snowmobiles, my trailer has a 21' x 7'4" deck. I can already taste the coffee and hear the stove heating up.
:coffeedrink:

I may be over thinking this but I have a few questions that I can't find answers for on any forums that I have found.

One is obvious. Eliminating moisture buildup between the flat camper bottom and the 2 x 6 deck on the trailer. I am planning on setting the camper on 2x4s or 1x2s length wise to leave airspace.

Two is not so obvious. Is the structural integrity of a camper such that I could simply bolt it through the floor to the trailer? When slid into a pickup, it just needs to be kept from sliding out. I would think that when mounted on a trailer there will be different set of forces working on it.

Those of you who have done this, how have you attached yours?

 

[wirenut]

Is this a GN or bumper pull trailer? TC are heavy, putting one toward the front of a flatbed will add some serious tongue weight.
I wouldn't bolt thru the floor. I wouldn't want holes in the camper or bolt heads inside. I'd use the normal tie down points. Some chain and turnbuckle are all that's needed to secure it to the tie down locations on the flatbed. This makes it much easier to remove if you ever need too.
Many truck campers have the waste water dump valves coming out the bottom. This would need to be addressed. You could cut a hole thru the flat bed deck or use some plumbing elbows to move the drain sideways.
A lot of truck campers, mostly the longer ones, are not flat across the bottom. They drop down to the rear past where a normal truck bed would end. Often this is were the waste tanks are located. This would mean you have to raise the rest of the camper to let the back end clear the flat bed. Be careful you don't get your overall height too high.

 

[NorthernWyo]

I've been looking at lighter weight campers. No bath, 8' cab over, flat bottom. My dad had an 8' cab over Hallmark that was less than 1000 lbs. that he had on a '72 1/2 ton GMC (that's been a few years ago).

There is 6' of deck behind the fenders on my trailer; bumper pull, dual 3500 lb axles with brakes on both. I was going to sit the rear of the camper even with the rear of the trailer fenders as long as it scales out right with 10% of the weight on the tongue. That will leave 6' behind the camper for the wood stove room and most of the weight on the trailer axles.

I had thought of bolting a piece of angle to the trailer deck to keep the camper from sliding forward and to facilitate anchor points for the original camper tie downs but had seen somewhere else to bolt it through the floor. The tie downs would make the camper easier to remove and since the trailer is used to haul material on a regular basis, I plan on making the extra room easily removable as well.

Thanks for the input!

Anyone else with more thoughts on the best way to attach it to the trailer?