Temporary bed cover

I'm going to be taking a trip this summer and don't want to crowd the cab. I wondering if anyone has any good ideas for a temporary cover for the bed to help keep luggage and misc things dry. Pictures would be great or just any ideas, I'll make sure to post pictures of what I end up doing

 

Not sure if my idea will work for you but here it goes..

Last long road trip I took I stoped by the local Uhaul rental store and bought a plastic bed mattres sleave bag type. Its made to cover your mattres when your moving. Its basicaly a huge strong plastic bag. I put my luggage in there an keep it nice a dry. Just my 2 cents.

 

There is a bed tarp at Lowes for about $29.99 comes with hooks and everything you need to secure it to the bed. Looks good, but I haven't needed a cover yet so I haven't tried it out yet.

 

blue tarp with ruber bungee cords

 

Definately a few things I had not thought of, good ideas!

 

If you've got front d-rings (or other tie-downs at bed level) you could get a 8-point bungee web and use it to tie down a plastic tarp front and back and hook on to the rail sliders on the sides (especially if you're stacking the center higher than the bed rail height.

If you use the u-haul mattress bag, just make sure it's secured down and won't flap much. I used one of those on a 1100-mile drive and the slack got shredded in the first few hours on the highway.

 

cool info, definitely needed it a few times on long trips and unpredictable weather.

 

It's kind of redneck, but it works for me. Get a large black garbage bag and put a suitcase/bag in. Wrap the excess around it and duct tape it tight. Disadvantage - all packages look alike. You could always label the duct tape though. You need to bring extra bags incase you open a package and for the way home. Advantage - price and keeps your stuff dry.

Always remember, if you can't duct it, _ _ _ _ it!

 

+1

 

This is the same thing I did before I had my cover. Wrap it up and store the stuff you might need as you drive in easy to access spots- You'll be set.

You can also look at one of those soft bags that people use on top of minivans- They are for the most part waterproof.

 

You could get some duffle bags at a Army Surplus store. Those for the most part are water resistant, all the ones I have been issued are.

 

This is what I do, it works great. We could fit all of our luggage that we didnt want to get wet.

 

There was a picture on here once of someone taking off the bed cleats and sliding a sheet of plywood in the bed rails..sorta redneck but I'm sure it worked.

 

maybe find someone here that will let you borrow their tonneau cover for a few days

 

This is what i do on long trips. Its cheap and works great. who cares what it looks like, it gets the job done!

 

Maybe we can all pitch in on one and have a timeshare. The tonneau covers are nice but expensive and I just don't think I need to have my bed covered all the time.

 

Sounds like a really nice and effective way to keep things dry, that may be redneck in your parts, out here it would probably look like I was smuggling something

Thanks everyone for responding, I'm going to check out the lowes tarp and maybe combine it with the mattress cover. still exploring options!

 

If using a tarp and expecting to hit heavy rain I'd reccomend putting a smaller tarp under the stuff (especially if you're hauling cardboard boxes) and bungee/lace the sides up and across then put a bigger tarp over the top and tie it down.

No need to cover the bottom if you're just looking for dust/wind protection, but if there's lots of water around and you don't have the bed covered from rail to rail, then the grooves in the composite bed could channel it under the bottom of your stuff and possibly soak it from underneath. The cargo-bag idea would also protect from this.

 

I'm going to measure the bed of my truck and see if I can do this for my up coming road trip. I have tons of plywood lying around already.

 

I too am going to explore this option, let me know what you come up with.