Any Auto Upholstery fabricators here?

Hi all,

I’m attempting to have a waterproof canvas installed in some shape or form attached on the inside of my bed rack. I want to do the inside in lieu of the outside so the rack can still serve a function! My initial thought was to install some stud buttons in the cloth material and adhesive snaps for the inside of the frame to snap together. This seems pretty feasible in theory, but my hiccup is trying to figure out how the canvas would attach to/near the bed rail cap. I’ve noticed soft toppers Come with an additional assembly piece that rests on the rail caps for the soft topper to snap in to, so I’m not sure if these can be bought individually or not. Can anyone offer any suggestions? If you need more clarification I totally understand! Haha

 

does it need to be waterproof while driving, or just waterproof for like shelter while camping?

 

For both, similar to the function that a soft topper serves

 

I bet sail cloth cloth with snaps would be a pretty good option.

 

I am a marine canvas fabricator. The adhesive snaps probably won't hold. They do "ok" on slow ass boats, once the wind picks up they don't last. I'd do something more secure, drill and tap the frame with lift the dot fasteners. As far as attaching it to the bed rails, you're going to have to be creative. I'm sure if I were doing what you're trying to do I could come up with something that utilized the existing rails, but without knowing how you're going to make it, offering recommendations is pointless. I'd take a look at marine supply websites and see if you can find something that might work with what you have in mind

 

Thanks for the input! it's really appreciated. So what would you suggest for the rail caps then? studs still the best option? Don't think I can screw into the rail cap.

 

That depends, how good are you with a sewing machine? I would fabricate some blocks that attached to the rails, could use wood, metal, synthetic board, something to attach the bottom to, snaps probably? You want to keep it water proof?

 

sail cloth is spensive !

 

Boat Canvas for Boat Tops like T tops or Bimini tops
Sunbrella / and a marine canvas shop

 

I would probably go to an Upholstery fabricators to get any sewing done I might need. Yes I want it waterproof

 

True, but it’s virtually impervious to the elements and would last as long as some of these tucks do.

OP, I’d try and integrate a zipper into the bedrails, that was you could roll it up relatively easy.
Maybe not feasible but it would be bitchen!

 

Zipper seems like an excellent idea! I’ll explore that route.

 

You will definitely want sunbrella for this application. If you're going to a canvas shop for the sewing, maybe you should go talk to them first before you do anything. I own a canvas shop here in Seattle. If you brought me a mess of fabric you wanted sewn, wouldn't happen. If you came with an idea and let me do it, that'd be a different story.

 

Is that material water proof? I read it was water repellent, does that degrade over time?

 

Wyckedan will be able to answer that question better than I can
I know Sunbrella is the best Canvas product available on the market.
The White Color deteriorates faster than any other color available

 

I have access to all kinds of expensive fabrics, still used sunbrella on my boat. Yes it's waterproof. It will loose some over time, easy to spray 303 fabric guard on it after a few years. It is by far the best option for what you want to do.

 

What about magnets? Strong ones to hold it down but you could also remove the sides easily, or just magnets for the tailgate portion.

 

Maybe make a canvas top that is cut to fit over the rack and snug around the side racks and a whole bunch of snaps?

 

Years ago I used convertible top material for truck winter fronts. Colour choices were pretty much black or white. That stuff did wear like iron & we never had one returned. Can't remember the name of those half turn fasteners we used but Velcro was as WoW as bubble wrap back then.

 

This may be kinda laughable but this is a rough idea I had for putting the canvas on the inside of the rack.