Many folks have asked us how we store and load our Four Wheel Camper. We store our camper in our garage. Our garage is too short to drive the truck into it with the camper loaded, so we move the camper to and from the truck with a dolly and tracks that David built.
The dolly is made of 2x6" boards cut to the length of the bottom of our Raven camper. The cross pieces are made from light-weight, galvanized and perforated steel angle. The wheels are heavy duty, swivel dolly wheels. The tracks in the background guide the dolly wheels, keeping it straight as we guide it under the camper. The tracks are made from 2x6" boards with wood guides on either side to keep the wheels in the middle of the track. (If you're interested in more details, please leave us a comment.) Because our driveway is not level, we use boards to level the tracks.
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| Homemade dolly and tracks for our Raven Four Wheel Camper |
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| We roll the camper to the end of the tracks. |
Then we raise the camper to a sufficiently high level so that we can back the truck under it. Of course, before we begin backing up the truck, we remove the tracks, boards, and dolly from underneath the camper.
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| We raise the camper, then remove the dolly and tracks from under it. |
To unload the camper, we reverse the loading process. We store the camper on the dolly in our garage so that we can move it around whenever necessary.
Our next post will detail some of our space-saving modifications...
What a fabulous idea! We just picked up our new to us FWC this morning. After wrangling it into the garage on a couple of furniture dollies, we are looking for options. Our driveway has just about the same slope as yours so I think this could be the solution for us. I look forward to exploring your blog further. Thank you for sharing, Amy H
ReplyDeleteWe tried using the furniture dollies, too... with the same result that you encountered. We have just left for a extended trip north into Canada. Would be happy to send you more details and specifics on our return in early October, if you're interested. Congratulations on your new Four Wheel camper! Hope that you all enjoy it as much as we do ours!
ReplyDeleteYour blog showed up on Wander the West. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have a very similar situation with my Hawk. It's stored in my garage and I also made a dolly but yours look a lot more light. I think I may have over engineered mine with 2x6's in a vertical position with rafter supports for multiple cross members. I think I will redo mines to look more like yours. Less weight and less height. My garage is also low.
ReplyDeleteBefore I embark on this modification, do you feel your dolly is sturdy enough and supports the weight of the camper with no flexing?
I have a Raven shell with a furnace, water tank and 12 V system, so mine is lighter than a fully loaded Hawk. I wanted a light-weight dolly that I could break down and take with me if I decided to store my camper in another location, which I have. I only use the dolly to move the camper, then I use a combination of the camper jacks and two milk crates to support the camper and floor when it is in storage. This is the way the FWC dealer taught me to do it, so that there will be enough support so I can enter the camper and do work if necessary. If I wanted to enter the camper while it was on the dolly, I would have built it with more rigidity...of course it would have been heavier and not have met my needs. Since I am only using the dolly for mobility, the design thinking was that the wheels needed to be able to swivel and roll under the camper's weight and the frame just needed to be rigid enough to prevent the wheels from collapsing out from underneath the dolly under the camper's weight. I used a collapsable bed frame as the concept for my design. The 2x6s hold the wheels from rotating front to back, and the cross angles hold the 2x6s from rotating side to side. I used perforated angles because they were lighter yet strong enough to do what they needed to do. When I want to move the dolly, I unbolt the angles from one end and fold them under the 2x6s like a collapsible bed frame. I end up with two parts (2x6 with 2 wheels and one angle) and these parts can be easily stored in the garage some place or slid into my camper for transport while the camper is on the truck. I can then take the dolly wherever I need it. I have been using this dolly three years now and have not had a problem given the way I use it. I don't see the camper flexing while it is on the dolly any more then it would on the jacks, and since I don't enter the camper while it is on the dolly I don't worry about supporting the floor. If I were building this design for a heavier camper, I would upgrade the load rating of the wheels for the additional weight (camper max weight at off loading divided by 4). I might also use a heavier angle cross member, still perforated but wider flanges. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info. David
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed explanation. I have completed my modification of my dolly. Basically, I've replicated your design but added a full sheet of 3/8" plywood for added rigidity to the 2x6's. The Hawk sits across the plywood on top of the 2x6's and angle steel cross members. This is a much lighter design and much easier to move around. My previous design was much too heavy and while it would have probably support a much heavier load, I think I over engineered the support by a factor of 10.
DeleteThanks again for sharing your ideas on this.
Harv
Sounds like a good design for your Hawk. Glad it is working for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog. I was wondering how long the unload and load process takes? I'm considering a similar set up for weekend use and using my truck as my daily driver during the week.
ReplyDeleteWe just returned home and timed our off load for you. It took us approximately 30 minutes, including putting the tailgate back on the truck. (Two people using portable drills to raise and lower the camper off the truck and onto the dolly.) We also take our jacks off when we travel for long periods of time (to save the extra 100 pounds of weight). It took an additional 10 minutes for us to reinstall the jacks. Loading will probably take about 45 minutes total because you will need to connect the electric cable, add the boot between the truck cab and camper window, and tie it down with the turnbuckles. Your timing may even be less if you load and off-load often and have a convenient storage area that doesn't require your moving the camper around a lot to get it into position. Sounds like you're ready for some awesome weekend adventures! Good luck to you.
ReplyDelete