Have a 2019 F350 CCSW short box with a 4.5” Carli lift, long travel air bags, 37” toyo MTs.
My ideal situation is to have a camper and tow my boat so I can camp and fish hundreds of miles away.
Boat is a 27’ Grady White.
Engine is 6.7 diesel.
Wondering with the SW and short bed if what I want is even possible. Don’t mind a small camper, but if so, what models and size should I be looking at?
Saw a Lance on a short bed the other day and was impressed.
Then there’s the whole issue of hitch extensions and how that would work with a camper and a boat. Anybody towing boats and have campers with single wheel trucks?
Any advise or thoughts on the situation is appreciated!

I cross posted this in the camper slide in forum too but not as much interaction over there as there is in the 2017+. If this is not allowed I will delete.

 

I tow a boat with my camper. Works fine without an extension. Depends on your trailer set up I guess. I can't remember the exact number but there is about 2 feet between the front of the boat and the camper. Mines a dually. I don't know that I would want to try a camper on a lifted truck with a boat that big. You might be overloaded, pointing at the sky and need some outriggers in the corners. Might work with one of those lightweight pop up style campers though. You would have to check their weights and see.

 

1987Mustang5o- yours is a 160” wheelbase? What camper do you have? I have airbags, thinking that might help with capacity some. I suspect my camper options are going to be very limited considering the size of the boat.

 

An SRW F350 is going to have about a 3000 lb weight limit, so camper weight and hitch weight will have to be near that limit. Campers with centre of gravity far forward as possible and specifically engineered for short box truck are key. Your going to have to investigate your true weights, and true weight capaxpcities. I would think air bags and some investigation of campers and trailer reach are investigated accordingly. Reach on the trailer and hitch length from the truck will be key.for maneuverability. I think your difficulty is what models of camper will work for you for features, needs, weight, length. A long box truck would have been a lot better for options but that’s not an option now. Also a duality would have also increased options.

 

Agree 100%. Shoulda woulda coulda at this point but yes I’m limited because of what I wanted. Trying to see what can work now with what I’ve got. Just trying to see what options would be available. A true camper just may not be in the cards for me at this time

 

Check your truck’s driver side B pillar for the official as-built payload capacity. Payload is the total weight of the driver, passenger(s), pets, coolers, tools, aftermarket accessories, the loaded camper (including tie-down hardware and bed mat), and the tongue weight of the boat trailer.

Is your truck equipped with the factory camper package? If not, you’ll want to think about adding a rear axle stabilizer bar. Even with the SB, the height increase (lift plus tires) may compromise handling.

Check out the Lance 650 as an example of a “light” full-featured truck camper. However, it (like our CampLite TC 6.8) ain’t so “light” once optioned out and loaded up.

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/...ce-650-review/

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

Mine is a long box dually. Pulling the trailer in combo shouldn't be an issue other than weight. That's not a small boat and the hitch weight will really limit your camper possibilities. Those pop ups are likely your best bet. My current camper is an older bigfoot model and weighs about 2500 pounds when fully loaded. Pretty light as far as campers go. Add me, the wife, three kids and the dog then put the boat on the back. It's a big load. That's why I went with a 6.2 dually. My cargo capacity is about 6300 pounds. Lots of room for when I upgrade to a larger camper. Good luck in your search.

 

I did some looking. That is a really nice set up. If it fits in the equation I would really like to get that. It would be perfect for what I want to use it for, the wife and I on the coast fishing, not coming home for a week. Even a shower in that little rig! 🤘🏻🤘🏻

 

I have to figure out the hitch weight on the boat. I have a weigh safe ball hitch but I don’t trust the numbers on it. What’s the best way to do that, at the weigh stations?

 

A few words of caution . . .

A camper greatly increases the center of gravity of the combined truck/camper vehicle. A 4.5 inch lift makes it even higher. Lateral winds will have a significant affect on your rig. If you decide to do this, get a beefy anti-roll bar (sway bar to some) on the rear axle and heavy duty shocks. I recommend Helwig for the bar. Can’t really recommend a HD shock. When you encounter side winds, SLOW DOWN!

The weight of the camper and your large diameter tires will increase the energy required to stop your vehicle. Be mindful of overheating the brakes.

Also, you will likely need to to put thick lumber under the camper jack feet to be able to elevate the camper high enough to load it on your lifted truck. It will be kind of unstable up that high. Make sure you load and unload on nearly level ground and keep the overhang of the camper 4 inches higher than the rear to avoid it tipping on its nose. Wind gusts can be an issue when elevated during loading.

Be safe.

 

Stan bro-
VERY wise words of caution. I want to sincerely thank you for caring enough to take the time to type that out. I am relatively new to the camper and big boat towing world so your advise is well received.
I’m sure it’s not the last of my questions I’ve been downloading all the information I can get my hands on for this set up and especially off these forums. I think my wife is tired of me staring endlessly at my phone reading everything I can on here. LOL

 

The Lance 650’s features and layout are similar to our CampLite TC 6.8, which is unfortunately no longer in production.

Safe travels,
Jim / crewzer

 

Lots of good information to consider for those of us looking for slide in campers.

I would suggest you check out the short bed campers from Northern Lite. They have several options that would fit your truck.

I'm looking for a 10-2 CD to help keep the weight down to allow me more towing options.

 

As for a hitch extension, look no where else than TorqueLift International. IMO it is the only hitch extension that could have a chance of handling the weight of a 27 ft boat.

In addition, you may want to consider a weight distribution hitch. That will decrease the tongue weight allowing you more carrying capacity for the camper.

Truck Camper Magazine is a good place to read about truck and camper fitment.

 

I put a camper on my former SRW F350 CCLB with 4" lift and towed a 21' Boston Whaler. Camper was about 3300#'s and the Whaler has about # tongue. I had a torque lift truss style hitch extension. .Clearly I was beyond the weight rating. I did one long tow of about 1200 miles and back and vowed to never do that again. It had issues with wheels and tires and trans overheated on long uphill grade. It just never felt very safe. I can't imagine doing it with a 27' Grady. That being said, you might want to look at some of the lightweight pop-up style campers. They are hard sided and pretty nice. If you can find one light enough and suits your needs without having to use a hitch extension you may be OK. Remember if you use a hitch extension you have calculate your tongue weight for the added lever of it hanging past the hitch.