Show us your truck bed sleeping platform/drawer/storage systems

I used rivnuts - designed for plastic. Drilled holes in my month-old truck! (The first page of my build thread has some pictures.)

I found the rivnuts at McMaster-Carr. I also used backing washers underneath the bed, to help spread the load. Of course, then you need 2 people to install the rivnuts.

 

Do you have a tow hitch? If you hook up a strap to you tow hitch, and slowly pull up the strap, it will lift the center of the tail gate to the point where you can grab the top of it and close it with your hand. It will also allow you to open it and slowly let it back down.

 

Brilliant. Many thanks.

 

I took two feet of 1" webbing from a ratchet strap, bolted the ends under the middle tailgate cap screw.

It creates a loop to pull when you get it. It's soft and thin enough that it never gets in the way either.

 

This is what I did too.

 

Thanks, it is very self explanatory but, do you happen to have a pic? Cheers

 

You could try something like this:
http://www.droptail.com/

You would have to know about 30 minutes ahead of time if you needed to get out for a quick piss, because it seems to move really, REALLY, slowly......

 

Literally the same exact thing.

 

Excited to see this. I’ve been debating on board water vs something portable.

 

Gonna use an on demand 12V pump for pressurizing waterline. Tank will be a 6" diam x 5' long pvc pipe. To hold 5 gals mounted on bed rail. I don't want that weight high above the cab, and for pressurizing, I don't want to have an air compressor to pressurize periodically. Pump is small and only $30 to get 30-40 psi.

 

my biggest concern with onboard water is, what happens when it freezes? whats your back up plan?

 

I thought the short bed was 5' 6". Either way, you could lay at a bit of an angle. There are also tents that go over the rear of the shell and enclose the tailgate, so you can leave it down. Then you just need an extention piece that connects to the main platform and rests on the tailgate.

 

Sleeping 2 people in a short bed is gonna be a struggle. I’ve done 2 people in my long bed and as long as you sleep relatively still it isn’t bad. Short bed would be cramped I think unless you dont mind sleeping like a pretzel.

 

Plenty of people with short beds build these kinds of setups, but they're usually more of a storage thing than a sleeping on top of them thing.

 

I cannot imagine a short bed for sleeping 2.

 

Just got done reading through this whole thread, getting my cap this weekend so I'm stoked to get started after seeing everyone's builds!

 

Camp in a warmer climate!

 

Blow out the system in cold weather and dry camp in winter. Have a quick disconnect for a air blow out

 

Your question is a good one for those who camp when it's freezing. I live in the SW USA and most my off grid overlanding will be done in NM,CO, UT, or AZ during "warm" months (May-early Oct), even at elevation...most probable for me is that I won't be in it when its a hard freeze. If by chance I find myself in that situation, I'd just empty the water tank and buy a few water jugs for carrying up front in the seating area where I have some control of the climate.

Well, that's the plan for me for now...