Home Forums Truck Camper Adventure Forum Carrying extra propane on TC

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    • #14704
      Shady
      Participant

      We are purchasing a new Arctic Fox 865 truck camper this year. We will be using it to drive back and forth to the Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta area of Mexico, from the Seattle area, each year. We built a house in a small town west of Guadalajara about 10 years ago. We’ve don the drive many times already, and plan to continue this with the new rig in retirement.
      We usually boondock at the Pemex stations along the route as this is generally safe and only costs a couple of bucks, if anything to have the security guard watch over us. RV parks are also used on the beach when they are near our route
      I will use the AC at night to sleep in the TC. The AF 865 will have the propane generator to use when shore power is not available.
      The AF 865 comes with 2 – 30 lb propane tanks on slider trays. I’d like to carry at least 1 or 2 – extra propane tanks to reduce the number of stops to refill along the way. I’d also like to mount a jerry can with diesel for increased margin of safety. Plus an extra spare tire on a receiver mount that will go on the front of the truck.

      So, I’ve researched and found that carrying extra fuel tanks on the exterior of the vehicle is legal, as long as it is done safely and follows a few rules/guidelines. Far from the engine and other heat/fire sources. Secured for travel and against tampering. Vertical or horizontal style bottles must be transported in the same orientation. Cannot be mounted/carried below the frame so they are not going to contact the ground. And a few others… I think I can mount them to the upper surface of the TC’s rear bumper, the rear wall of the TC (below the window), or on a rack designed to attach to the ladder, the roof rack would work for horizontal bottles, but I’d rather stick with the vertical bottles to be able to swap them out with the OEM tanks. Then there’s the whole Harding the heavy tanks up and down from the roof issues…
      I want to come up with a plan that is safe, secure, easy, and will not damage anything from vibration. I think if I found racks that would mount on the bumper and/or wall, I’d first install some diamond plate on the exterior wall, and possibly something on the interior wall to function as doublers to reinforce the wall. The dinette seat backs up to that wall so maybe I can gain access to hide the interior doublers…

      Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to bounce some ideas off the pros. Any thoughts?

      Scott-
      2016 Ram 3500 CTD, 4X4, SB, CREW CAB.
      Airlift 5000 airbags W/wireless onboard air system.
      Will be selling: 2004 Komfort 24' TT
      Will be buying a new TC. (Brand/type TBD)

    • #15404
      Coly Hope
      Participant

      I currently have a Class A RV which has two 75 pound propane tanks. I want to sell that and get a truck camper and when I see those little propane tanks in a truck camper I can’t imagine going out on a trip with those things. When I buy a TC one of the first mods I do is get bigger propane tanks.

    • #16553
      Wheeldog
      Participant

      I had an extra propane bottle mounted on a camper. Got the mount and cover at a local camper supply place. Since it was an older camper I was not worried about it doing damage. I had that camper for 5 or 6 years and the rack never hurt anything.

      null

      2016 3500 HD Durmax

      1994 S and S 9.5' Camper (SOLD)
      1999 S and S 9.5 Camper

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