Height restrictions

[Tom_D]

This is a question for any of the big camper truck owners...

I want to build a rack on my FUSO to carry a tandem Kayak. At present the height of the truck is under 11 feet (10 feet plus air conditioner). I have never had any clearance issues at 11 feet but if I mount a kayak I figure I will add at least 18 inches from the roof and increase my height to over 12 feet. I know that the height restrictions for commercial trucks is 13'6" but this seems way to tall for back road travel.

What are the dimensions of other expedition campers out there? I figure that the Unimog units must be taller than my FG.

Cheers
Tom

 

[kerry]

While it's not an expedition camper, my Bluebird Wanderlodge is 12'6" tall. I haven't had a lot of clearance issues but over the years there have been some. There are some parkways in NY state with low bridges and some secondary roads where I couldn't get thru.

 

[Tom_D]

Unicat height

I just looked over the Unicat site and the tallest truck was 3900 mm or 12 feet 8 inches and most Unimog based units were 11 feet 6 inches or smaller. We parked next to a Unicat in Dawson Creek campground last year and it was HUGE but it was one of the MAN based units with the extendable cabin. We did not see it collapsed. My FUSO looked like a toy with it's tiny 16" wheels.

Some of the fifth wheels that I have seen on the highway look absolutely enormous.

 

[ThomD]

I found this reference that says 13' 6" is the normal lower limit.

RV Height restrictions

-(the other ) ThomD

 

[FusoFG]

My FG camper is 10' tall and I've only been stopped once by a tree leaning over the trail. And a chain saw would have taken care of that.

I don't think height in the center (a/c, kayak) is as much a problem as out at the widest part. If the road is tilted the upper edge of the camper leans out wide and you have a tough time getting through narrow spots.

I carry a 17' tandem kayak that folds into 2 bags. It's made by www.folbot.com and it goes in my outside storage bin.

No matter how short or tall you are there will always be some obstacle you can't get under.

Tom

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hieght v width

I don't think height in the center (a/c, kayak) is as much a problem as out at the widest part. If the road is tilted the upper edge of the camper leans out wide and you have a tough time getting through narrow spots.

Absolutely Tom. This is why we taper all our bodies at the top and keep them as wide is needed down low. When they started doing bus bodies on the first FG's for Fraser Island they realised this immediately.

They have single vehicle tracks all over the interior and its all dense rain forest, soft, rutted sand. When you meet another vehicle coming towards you you have to pull over to one side and the vehicles lean into the middle. If they are wide at the top they always hit. Also it is a lot easier to judge your way through overhanging trees if the camper body is not much wider than the cab and is following the same profile. Also a bar along the top outer edge will allow smaller branches to slide along instead of scratching the paint.

My .50cents
John

 

[Doin_It]

13'6" is your max height on the road. So if your camper is 13'6", and you add something to the top, such as a canoe, you now have a "reduceable load", which means, you have to take it off, and reduce to the 13,6 mark. There are no overheight permits for reducable loads, only non-reducable loads can go over height, say like....moving a house, or some big piece of equipment that can't be cut down.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

Height

I'd be concerned about low bridges on secondary and tertiary roads. I've come across many former rail road via ducts that are as low as 9'6" and that's in the middle third of the roadway.

Jim

 

[btggraphix]

I've always heard that there is a federal law that says anything under 14' is supposed to be labelled. True? Of course local roads and private gas stations and such don't always follow that. My truck and camper setup (C4500/Lance1191) is 13'2" to the top of the AC. I haven't yet had any real problems, being able to find a way around a low bridge or two, mostly in metro areas...and have had to cut some branches to get into camping spots out in the national forests. I'd like to cut my height down some with a lower AC unit sometime, and eventually a custom camper someday...but for now I am stuck with 13'2...and so far it's worked out OK.

 

[engineer]

Ours are around the 11' mark, they handle it well.

 

[DontPanic42]

Ours are around the 11' mark, they handle it well.

Interesting, as 11' was what I was shooting for for my rig. Ended up at 11' 4" but use 11' 6" to keep myself out of trouble. So far no problems.

 

[dhackney]

Our Fuso's overall height is 12.04' / 3.67 meters.

We had to cut one branch in Chile to get into a campsite.

We had to stop and back up about 50 meters to turn around due to a low bridge a few days ago in a small city in Peru (at night, rush hour, very interesting but went smoothly, the three PIAA rear facing fog lights I use for aux backup lights really helped out in that situation).

Those are the only times our vertical height has been a limitation.

The limitations John referred to are more of an issue out here.

See this post for examples: http://www.hackneys.com/travel/peru/docs/chickenbusroads.pdf

 

[cnynrat]

Our Bigfoot camper on an F350 is about 12'4". We've not had a problem other than with some low hanging branches in our driveway.

 

[Robthebrit]

My camper mog is 10'2, can be under 10 feet if the tires are aired down.

 

[mhiscox]

My UNIMOG motorhome was, with her roof-mount air conditioner, about 11'6". The issue of whether that was too tall seemed to be essentially binary. If it came down to playing with the smaller Mogs in the forests west of home, she was WAAAY too tall, not even close. On highways or in open spaces to the east, there was never a problem. I'm pretty much of the opinion that once you're past the 10 (and maybe 9) foot height, you've already shot your tight trail running and you don't face much of an issue until you're well over 12 and have to start worrying about bridges, etc.

This does not, however, say anything about handling problems caused by a higher center of gravity from a taller rig. Keep the roof very lightly loaded and nothing but light cabinets and contents in the top of the cabin and it's not an issue. But start carrying loaded Jerry cans, heavy boats, etc. on top and (though it'll vary by mounting system) you won't like the amount of swaying, as relatively small swings at the frame level translate into pretty big arcs at roof level.