I am looking to buy a light weight camper or possibly a pop up for my f-150 sCrew. Has anyone bought or hauled a camper on a shortbed. I also tow an 18' reinellI/O boat. any comments or ideas would be apreciated.

2001 Screw Just bought it used and loving it.

 

I frequently tow a 1999 Coleman Mesa Pop up. It weighs about 3500 when loaded. Tows like a dream.

I do use a break controler jus to be safe. The SCrew seems to pull better as far as sway etc. than my previous truck (a 1997 Dodge Ram)

I think you should be fine

 

I tow a Coleman Niagara pop-up (about 3500 pounds) with no problem (I use a break controller and anti-sway bar). I also tow an 18' Sea Ray I/O, again with no problem. I had a Tacoma with a V-6 that strained to tow up hills. My Screw with the 5.4L V8 does the job much better. I do take the overdrive off when I tow. This keeps the speed constant regardless of hills.

 

You'll hear all kind of outrageous claims of what folk tow with their Screws and other 1/2 tons on here. Please just do the math and be conservative. Almost anything will get almost anything started down the road BUT......

1. You don't want to prematurely destroy your truck.
2. You don't want to endanger yourself, your family, or other motorists on the road.
3. Just cuz ya get it going don't mean ya can stop it.....

Remember that for most every wreck you see there's one driver who was being careful and one that wasn't.

 

I have a 2002 Supercrew, with the 4.6L engine, 3.55 LS back end and trailer tow package. I pull a 22 foot cuddy cabin boat with it (weighs approx 4000 lbs). At other times, I will tow a 23 foot travel trailer (weighs about 3500 lbs). In the 1 year (almost to the day) that I have owned this truck, I have driven it 40,000 miles with no trouble at all!

I've had no problems in towing either, nor travelling at highway speeds with either load. The Supercrew is very stable and is well engineered to handle this type of towing.

I would also recommend a hitch system and hardware that will level the load. In addition an anti-sway bar setup would be money well spent and would give you peace of mind while under way. Finally, if your trailer has an electronic brake setup (as opposed to surge brakes), a decent electronic brake controller is a must. Several good manufacturers are out there, with Tekonsha being one. Their Voyager model is the one I've purchased, and it works very well in my opinion. The brake controller is a pretty easy do it yourself installation with the instructions that come with the unit.

Good luck!

 

For a small lighter weight TT, check out Casita. All fiberglass, all the amenities. We love it!

Follow link in sig.

 

For towing, I dont think of the Supercrew as a short bed. It has a wheel base equal to that of a Supercab with a 7 foot bed.

I once pulled a 3000 lb, 16 ft trailer from Austin to Dallas in a (full sized) Ford Bronco. The truck was heavy enough, but with that short wheelbase the trailer pushed the front end of the Bronco all over the road. We pulled that trailer with a lot of different trucks and the length of the wheelbase made a big difference.