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Yes, most trucks carrying truck campers are overloaded, even the 3500s. My own truck is an '05 Chevy dually, it's GVWR is 11,400 but loaded with the family, gear, camper, and towing the boat I weigh in at about 13,300. I'm not exceeding the tire ratings and I'm not over the axle manufacturer's...

The aluminum flatbed on my '05 Chevy was made by TG Mountaineer in WV. It used 3" aluminum rail and 3" crossmembers so the deck is 6" above the from. This put the bottom of my camper's overhang about 8" above the cab. The top of the bed is about 36" off the ground. It's been a few years but I...

So your Dad switched from Ford to Dodge and your brothers had trouble with their Fords and you still want one??? Whatever the brand I would look for a 3500 SRW minimum. A dually if you really want a nice heavy camper. If your just looking at an 8 or 9 foot TC and the boat I think most modern SRW...

Some other things to consider: When I was researching 4500 series trucks the Dodge had a smaller turning radius and a larger fuel tank. In the new Dodge trucks you can get both the 50 gallon and the 22 gallon tank for huge fuel capacity. I'd get the Dodge for sure. All of my experiences with...

Your specs. are close enough. Hook all 3 in parallel and it will work fine. You will need a fuse in series with each panel before they are combined for safety.

Factory G80 or an aftermarket selectable locker. Winch. Good tires. You'll go some places some 4wd trucks can't get to.

It looks great but I wonder about the tire size vs. wheel well size. It sure looks like those tires would rub with much compression at all. Not a reasons to pass on it, just a reason to trim it, lift it, or buy smaller tires. I don't know, maybe it's fine and I can't tell by just a few wide...

My camper's tank is 33 gallons. That's enough for: 2 showers each for me and the wife, washing the dishes 2 times, washing hands and flushing the toilet numerous times, drinking water for a family of 4 plus a dog for 3 days.

I would still install a main 30 amp breaker. Sometime you might want to use an adapter to plug into a 50 amp outlet at a campground. Then, the 30 amp main in your rig is important to prevent overloading the cord.

You need a breaker panel. An RV one is fine or just buy a small regular breaker panel from Lowes. Put in a 30 amps single pole main breaker and hook that to your 30 amp RV cord. Then install as many 15 and 20 amp single pole breakers as you like. These get hooked to outlets for your many appliances.

I have the repeater book app on my Android. It works pretty well. There's also repeater book.com The ARRL pocket guide is a nice little book that covers the whole country.

If you draw 55 amps from a 120 Ah battery I doubt it would last 1/2 hour. That's a huge draw. There's a lot more math involved than just amps x time. You can google Peukert effect if you really want to read about it. Most solar panels watt rating is based on 18v or so. That means a 15 watt panel...

Your math completely leaves out the resistance of the wires, connections, windings in the alternator, etc. I agree, you're over thinking. The alternator will put out whatever it can as long as the batteries will accept the charge. As they fill up it will taper off. If you're going to be trying...

A power converter is designed to be not only a battery charger but also a power supply. A normal battery charger would probably not due well trying to supply 20 or 30 amps or so of load for hours on end while also charging a battery. IOTA has some nice units that I've seen used in RV's that you...

Ramjet, of those two Icom rigs I would get the V8000, mainly for the front firing speaker. The IC-2300 has a lot of fancy features that I don't need and probably most people using them for basic communication don't need either. I've had great experiences with both Icom and Yaesu. I wish I needed...

I can't imagine purposefully getting a 1500 to haul a TC. I did it for a while because I bought a camper before I weighed it. Never again. That 1100 pounds of dry weight will probably be at least 1600 pounds with water, propane, food, gear, etc. Add to that a driver and passenger(s) in the...

Do you know that they ever charged while driving. Sometimes the long circuit path, basically the length of the truck plus wiring in the camper, combined with too small wire can really limit charging ability. If you have too much voltage drop the alternator can't get the batteries fully charged...

What camper and truck? A couple things to consider: Can you access your spare tire with the camper on? Will your truck's jack lift the whole rig with the camper on? If you ever break down would you want to be able to live in the camper while they work on your truck? 4 corner jacks obviously work...

Most any of the new SRW 3500 trucks can handle that camper fine. If you don't want a dually and can afford a new truck that's what I'd get. If you are buying a truck more than about 3 or 4 years old the SRW capacity will be much lower. I had an '07 Chevy 3500 SRW, it was a reg cab with almost no...

The engine won't make much difference with any camper that truck can carry. A 1500 usually has only around 1,500 pounds of payload. If you really want a TC I'd be looking for a 2500 truck. I know that means you need the ext. cab to get a short bed but it will be a much better camper hauling...