Do you unload when you camp? Really?

[Reality_Check]

Wife and I spent a week plus tooling around one or our favorite areas, hiking, fishing, touring, fishing, drinking, fishing.... walking the campsite mid week, which was maybe 1/4 full, we started talking about the forums, and the questions over the years concerning whether one 'unloads' or not. Funny thing was, on that night, there was only two campers out of 12 plus that weren't unloaded.

Took the phone the next night.. less campers, as many had left. But these are of the units left..there were only two that were still on the truck.

This unloading thing: is it only here? because it's so common to us and obviously others in the area, that I still find it a humorous question from the ranks.

Anyhow.. thought for the day; Unloading is still the way to go if it's for two or more days for us. Snow camping not included.

[Grit_dog]

whizbang wrote:
Unloading is just nuts.

The camper allows you to take you toilet, kitchen, bed, etc with you. Why leave that stuff behind?

Just nuts I tell ya....lol

[mi_drew]

Unload most of the time because I like to fish and my wife doesn't. That means she can stay at camp while I launch the boat in the morning and evening. I may at times go trout fishing midday on small streams down two tracks. It seems to depend on what kind of camping you do.

[NRALIFR]

whizbang wrote:
Unloading is just nuts.

The camper allows you to take you toilet, kitchen, bed, etc with you. Why leave that stuff behind?

10’ bridges on your sight-seeing route for the day.

Most of the time (>99%) the camper stays on the truck when we’re out. But, for the rare occasions when we want to do something that the camper would prevent us from doing, I’m glad it comes off.

Whats nuts is those towable RV’s and motorized RV’s. Especially those motorized ones with 10’ or more of overhang behind the rear axle. Cwazy!! (Just kidding. Wink wink, nudge nudge). :W

:):)

[noteven]

whizbang wrote:
Unloading is just nuts.

The camper allows you to take you toilet, kitchen, bed, etc with you. Why leave that stuff behind?

Naaa it’s not... for example

A. it’s a shorter fall to the ground if one has too many pints and misses a step.
B. what if you want to go get a load of pallets and a old sofa to throw in the fire?
C. hard to nearly impossible to steal a unloaded big TC without suitable equipment.

[BlkPrl15]

We really do both, which is one of the main reasons we went with the TC. We probably leave it on about 70% of the time while camping. I've been down plenty of "no RV" roads with it on without a problem. I've also stayed in primitive campgrounds that only allow tents or RV's under 25'. Some of those campgrounds were so wooded it was stressful getting in and out, so dropping the TC made more sense when we wanted to dink about the area. To each his own, but the beauty of a TC is that it doesn't have to be either or.

[whizbang]

Unloading is just nuts.

The camper allows you to take you toilet, kitchen, bed, etc with you. Why leave that stuff behind?

[robseg]

I take mine off anytime I can. it takes me less then 10 minutes to unload/reload the camper.

[noteven]

Sometimes yes
Sometimes no

[harley4275]

Did Nfld and Alaska and never unloaded but last week went kayAking in Michigan and towed a 14' enclosed with camping gear and bikes and kayaks....so unloaded to use my truck to haul 5 kayaks to drop off fpoints....harbour fright saw horse supports and some 2 x4 s to hold some of the weight and jacks and good to go......had the youngest people hand crank...

[mountainkowboy]

Yup ours Comes off almost always...takes 20 minutes either way.

[Kayteg1]

stevenal wrote:
Never saw the attraction in unloading. 21 years of TCing, and we've removed the camper once during a trip. That time was to drive the loop around Monument valley without shaking up the beer too much. ....

That only shows how totally different approach we can have on the same issue.
When I unload camper almost everywhere, to leave dogs with AC on - Monument Valley campground did not offer any utilities, so we drove dirt roads with camper on.
Dogs were happy. 😛

[otrfun]

NRALIFR wrote:
. . . I used my load-guide ropes to help me get back under the camper easily . . .

Guide strings work well for us on our SRW with Torklift frame tie-downs while loading our '19 Northern Lite 8-11. Takes me about a minute to use painter's tape to tape a string to the inside, bottom of the white front/rear upper support legs on each side (takes about 15 sec. to remove). With the guide strings in-place it's easy to see if you're backing in completely straight and square because you can see the distance from the Torklift front and rear frame tie-downs and the string at all 4-corners (on both sides) with just a glance or two in the mirrors. On our SRW the four Torklift frame tie-downs are only 4 in. or so away from the guide strings on each side of the truck the entire time we're backing-in, so it's easy to keep things square realtime at all 4-corners. Without the guide strings it's much more difficult to accurately judge side-to-side distance as the rear Torklift frame tie-downs are transitioning from the front, to the rear, camper jack legs.

FWIW, this is a different approach from NRALIFR because we have an SRW (vs. NRALIFR's DRW). Our SRW offers a clear view of all 4 Torklift frame tie-downs (specifically the rear tie-downs) as you back-in. Also, the jack legs (and string) on a SRW are much closer to the frame tie-downs (vs. a DRW) making it much easier to keep things visually square as you back-in.

YMMV.

[jimh406]

I think people have pointed out why they remove their TC. I did. We almost always leave ours on, too.

[stevenal]

Never saw the attraction in unloading. 21 years of TCing, and we've removed the camper once during a trip. That time was to drive the loop around Monument valley without shaking up the beer too much. Otherwise we have what we need without unpacking/repacking each day trying to anticipate the needs of the day. Food and cooking equipment for lunch and sometimes dinner, our canines for companionship, clothing for worsening weather, toys for all species, chairs and reading material if we just want to relax somewhere, swimsuits and towels if we find a good swimming hole, bed for napping and other stuff, 1st aid kit, tools, bathroom, water, etc. And we may decide we've seen enough of an area, and simply move on to whatever's next.