Every time I stop, I check my turnbuckles...

[rubberrat]

...I thought it was just me being a bit OTT, You know... That walk 'round the camper checking the tensions. I started doing it after I had that turnbuckle go slack when the load eye lifted in the buck floor after using Greek mountain roads.

I'll keep doing it after reading this (Same truck as mine too)

http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camp ... ight-again


I had traveled about thirty kilometers and was going on about 70 kilometers per hour when I heard this loud roaring noise. When I looked into the rear view mirror, I was shocked to see the camper lifting off in one single motion and flipping over the tailgate area!








Ratchet straps just scare me...

[Peaky]

I've had turnbuckles slacken off on me & now nip them up with a spanner through the middle to get some extra leverage.
I crawl all over them whenever we take the camper out. It only takes a few minutes to check while wifey uses the services facilities

[zildjian]

Mine are only on the rear as I can't get a ratchet strap in the space & there's nothing wrong with their use, they're commonplace on trucks throughout the World without much problem.
Turnbuckles are prone to rattle themselves loose, even with the locknut option.

[britsc]

I to have had Turnbuckles slacken off always the front,rear seem to stay tight.
I check them several times during a journey and if needed tighten up and make
sure the lock nuts are tight.

[rubberrat]

My theory on this is that the camper moves forwards a few mm.. Enough to take the tension off. Mine too only the fronts.. But never if I have the camper hard up to the bulkhead.

As Zildjian says, nothing wrong with ratchet straps, just use top quality ones. I did a boat lifting course once...amazing tech in lifting straps, and amazing how they are damaged by mere dirt!

[zildjian]

Don't buy those cheap Halfords ones and expect them to do the job, they're designed to hold your luggage on and the hardware is only pressed steel.
Truck versions are good for 5 tonnes or so usually and easily enough for our use.

[britsc]

I use a fluted rubber mat on top of the bed liner to limit movement also my front
Anchor eyes are positioned on the bulk head so I have now Installed extra eyes
in the bed floor to attach the front anchors to, now I have 6 fixing points,4 for pulling
Camper down to bed and 2 on bulkhead for security.
I have not yet tried this arrangement , I'm sure it will need fine tuning.
I'll report back.

[Peaky]

Do you have any photos of your Rig britsc

Sounds interesting

[TrueDink]

I've never had my bottle screws slacken. In fact they seem to be tighter when I come to remove the camper. I have my front eyes on the buck bulkhead and the back ones as far back as I could get them.

[keeflester]

I tighten the screws before I leave, then we have a twenty mile stretch of the famous long and winding road before we hit proper Tarmac. By then the camper has shoogled into place and the bottle screws get a final tighten. They only get checked at start and end of the day on long trips and are usually fine.

When I used para cord on my newbuild camper it slipped under any sudden shock load, so now I'm back to bottle screws and chains and am very happy with the way they stay snug. I wish I had kept the screws when I sold my Northstar but they were part of the OE kit and had to go with it. They had a heavy spring in the internal mechanism and that protected my buck bolt mountings from shock loads. Time will tell if the chains and bottle screws will be the best solution.

K33F