Chorky
Observer
So as mentioned above, some CAD drawings of other customers beds have been sent to me a while back. More or less this is the idea of what I have though about for a while now.
In this image, the red is crossing out the bumper of the bed. I would opt to have the bed bumper not included to instead have a buckstop rear bumper with winch mount. I have reasons for this desire. Instead of an open rear bottom of the bed, in blue is the outline of a aft-axle box (to go on both sides). It could house the tire chains, bottle jacks, and jack stands likely. Up front I would prefer to not have the headache rack, or at least have it removable (for reasons below).
Now comes the more complicated bit. For which I am posting to get community input and suggestions, as I'm a bit lost of a good route to go from here, although I think I know what I want, just not sure if it will actually work and fit the way I would like.
So some items intergral to the bed/boxes itself are listed below. These items I would like to be mounted to the bed in the case that I ever parted with the truck, it got wrecked, or what ever reason, I could essentially remove the bed, place it on another truck, and not have to re-do all this work.
Items:
Ok so now we get even more complicated. To make this all work the way it is intended I need a canopy. The canopy is to of course keep items dry, but also to camp in. I'm tired of tenting it in bad weather, and camping out of the truck as it is now has been super convenient!!! I like it a lot. Just enough comfort to enjoy camping, and not fancy like a campervan or truck camper -= after all the idea is to mostly camp in the aformentioned custom cargo trailer camper, and this would be mostly used for supr of the moment hikes that result in wanting to sleep at the trail head if they run long and i'm too tired to drive safely, or if road conditions prevent travel for a day or two which happens. Additionally, the canopy would keep secure a ATV - hopefully one on tracks. Not a side by side, but your standard quad. I believe they are no wider than 48" and no longer than 7" on average??? I have never owned one though. The interior of the canoyp can be built to offer a lot of conveniences or be left plain, that is to be decided later, but for now, I believe a standard extra high canopy with swing doors on the rear and flip up doors on the sides (with windows) would be good. It must also hold 300#'s of kayaks (think the hobie cat tandem island mirage sailing kayak) - for which I will have to thinki about some sort of mechanized loading system since it would be tall, and that kayak is pretty heavy. Additionally, still to be sorted out is tire storage. I had originally thought about dual rear tire carriers on a buckstop bumper, but that also restricts rear views; however, it frees up space inside the bed. Lastly, it would all ride on spring mounts to prevent frame stress and potential cracking between the bed and cab. Although this seems like a lot of weight to be spring mounted.
Anywhoo, these are some thoughts that have been on the brain. I am interested to hear what others think, and what suggestions or changes others may make based on different eperiences.
In this image, the red is crossing out the bumper of the bed. I would opt to have the bed bumper not included to instead have a buckstop rear bumper with winch mount. I have reasons for this desire. Instead of an open rear bottom of the bed, in blue is the outline of a aft-axle box (to go on both sides). It could house the tire chains, bottle jacks, and jack stands likely. Up front I would prefer to not have the headache rack, or at least have it removable (for reasons below).
Now comes the more complicated bit. For which I am posting to get community input and suggestions, as I'm a bit lost of a good route to go from here, although I think I know what I want, just not sure if it will actually work and fit the way I would like.
So some items intergral to the bed/boxes itself are listed below. These items I would like to be mounted to the bed in the case that I ever parted with the truck, it got wrecked, or what ever reason, I could essentially remove the bed, place it on another truck, and not have to re-do all this work.
Items:
- viair compressors (dual)
- viair tanks
- batteries (2? 4?)
- electrical wiring (for all the goodies in the bed)
- water tank (not sure what size, think a quick shower after a day of fun to keep the truck clean, or to transfer water to a camping trailer if water access is difficult)
- naturally a water pump to go with the tank, and necessary hoses, etc...
- it would be super sweet to have a water heater too, to alleviate at least some shrinkage in the shoulder seasons (I dont like driving nasty/sweaty for hours after a day's of intense hiking)
- Refer (probably to go in the bed or maybe in the truck if i remove the rear seats and opt for storage) - mostly for camping and bringing lunches so it can be small'ish, but could also be used for grocery runs and to keep food cool since it's usually an hours drive to the store, and removes need for a cooler and allows a cooler to be used for dry food storage
- and some other items I'm sure my brain failes to think about
Ok so now we get even more complicated. To make this all work the way it is intended I need a canopy. The canopy is to of course keep items dry, but also to camp in. I'm tired of tenting it in bad weather, and camping out of the truck as it is now has been super convenient!!! I like it a lot. Just enough comfort to enjoy camping, and not fancy like a campervan or truck camper -= after all the idea is to mostly camp in the aformentioned custom cargo trailer camper, and this would be mostly used for supr of the moment hikes that result in wanting to sleep at the trail head if they run long and i'm too tired to drive safely, or if road conditions prevent travel for a day or two which happens. Additionally, the canopy would keep secure a ATV - hopefully one on tracks. Not a side by side, but your standard quad. I believe they are no wider than 48" and no longer than 7" on average??? I have never owned one though. The interior of the canoyp can be built to offer a lot of conveniences or be left plain, that is to be decided later, but for now, I believe a standard extra high canopy with swing doors on the rear and flip up doors on the sides (with windows) would be good. It must also hold 300#'s of kayaks (think the hobie cat tandem island mirage sailing kayak) - for which I will have to thinki about some sort of mechanized loading system since it would be tall, and that kayak is pretty heavy. Additionally, still to be sorted out is tire storage. I had originally thought about dual rear tire carriers on a buckstop bumper, but that also restricts rear views; however, it frees up space inside the bed. Lastly, it would all ride on spring mounts to prevent frame stress and potential cracking between the bed and cab. Although this seems like a lot of weight to be spring mounted.
Anywhoo, these are some thoughts that have been on the brain. I am interested to hear what others think, and what suggestions or changes others may make based on different eperiences.
