Camper on an F150

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Beware, however, of this: A year ago I bought a new truck camper for my GMC Sierra, which has a payload of about 1860 lbs. The sticker on the camper says it weighs about 1365 lbs. The first thing I did when I got back to my home city was take it to a CAT scale and weigh it. Turns out the camper (dry, as purchased) is a full 800 lbs (about 60%) heavier than advertised. I've run the scale results by others who confirm my math. Now I'm WAY over payload and am doing what I can to enhance the suspension, heavier tires, whatever. Transport Canada tells me camper manufacturers lie about the weight because they can - truck campers aren't regulated in Canada (not sure about the US). The woman encouraged me to write to my member of Parliament to initiate a change in legislation, but that won't help me now.
 
Since a truck camper is just "cargo", the federal vehicle weight placard rules don't apply, so no actual scaled weight for each camper. Common practice is to come up with some minimal weight based on a stripped down model and put that value on every brochure and placard, regardless of the equipment installed or trim level.

Some truck camper manufacturers are members of the RVIA and adhere to its standards, but others are not. I'm not aware that the RVIA has any weight placard rules now that the federal gov't mandates vehicle weight placards, but I've never researched truck camper standards.

Lance is a reputable RV builder, both truck campers & trailers. They have a model 650 designed for lighter trucks. The 650 still weighs in at 1896 (wet) with all standard equipment. It is nicely equipped, though, so they may be campers that weigh less is you just want some bunk space and minimal galley.
 
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Since a truck camper is just "cargo", the federal vehicle weight placard rules don't apply, so no actual scaled weight for each camper. Common practice is to come up with some minimal weight based on a stripped down model and put that value on every brochure and placard, regardless of the equipment installed or trim level.

Some truck camper manufacturers are members of the RVIA and adhere to its standards, but others are not. I'm not aware that the RVIA has any weight placard rules now that the federal gov't mandates vehicle weight placards, but I've never researched truck camper standards.

Lance is a reputable RV builder, both truck campers & trailers. They have a model 650 designed for lighter trucks. The 650 still weighs in at 1896 (wet) with all standard equipment. It is nicely equipped, though, so they may be campers that weigh less is you just want some bunk space and minimal galley.
Thanks for the context, Gary, and yes, I'm aware of the Lance. Not many truck campers are made in Canada, and a year ago there were only a handful in Alberta. I knew I'd be a tad heavy, but not 1000 pounds heavy.
 
Interesting that the rear isn't sagging more. But it is Florida... He probably ratchet-strapped some bricks between the frame and leaf springs.
 
Simple solution for the future is - put camper on truck go weight it before buying it. After market weight helpers can get expensive.
 

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