Let's See Some Softoppers

What is the tie down thingamajig you got there?

 

The silver vertical bar in the lower left?

 

Exactly

 

L track. It’s a very cool tie down system. If you google it you’ll see what it’s about.

 

What do you mean by haul anything?

I ‘haul’ gear.

I didn’t buy my Tacoma for construction (I work in that industry btw). I drive it on weekends and vacations. It’s a recreational vehicle that gets maybe 7500 km a year.

I like the ability to load up my bed when it’s uncovered. I like to keep my stuff reasonably dry and dust free too.

I really like being able to sleep in the back at a trailhead (winter here means rain. Lots and lots of rain) and not have to set up my tent at 10pm and tear it back down, soaking wet, at 6am before I start walking (or skinning) in the morning. I also like hauling a sled.

I leave stuff in the bed all the time. Usually two k02’s on rims, my ghetto homemade traction ladders, shovel, axe, high lift and a sceptre full of gas and another with water. None of it locked up. I park on the street.

IMO most people are too f*cking stupid to figure out how easy it is to get into a soft top or figure out how to undo a quick clamp. On the flip I also choose to presume that most of my 4x4 brethren aren’t douchebags that will strip my truck if they find it parked in the backcountry.

Speaking of douchebags, a topper, be it hard or soft, just discourages the casual thief. For security it’s the same a padlock on your spare or highlift. If an a$$hole parasite is motivated then there’s very little you can do. I could get into a hard shell with a screwdriver (amazing what a 6” shaft flat head will gain access to) in about 30 seconds. If I really wanted to steal shit from trucks I’d probably invest in a battery powered grinder with a cut off wheel. Your $40 dollar locking mechanism on your ‘whatever’ will take me 10 seconds to defeat. That’s for remote situations when I’m too lazy to undo 8 bolts and I want your entire bed rack with all the gear on it. In town I’d just use a pair of bolt cutters to quietly harvest choice parts.

I also have a zero deductible for if and when I’m disappointed by my fellow man....it keeps happening in all other areas of my life, the Tacoma related drama just hasn’t happened yet.

 

I'm about to go camping in the softopper for the first time. I've seam sealed it. It's getting its first rain right now but not sustained. Seems dry so far aside from what got through the mesh. Anything I should prepare for?

 

a great time

 

Hiiiyooo

 

If you don’t already have one, a bed mat is great. Then most any water that gets in runs under the mat. Other than that, remember it’s not some perfectly sealed system. Don’t go tossing pillows back there or anything like that. I keep everything in those black/yellow lid Home Depot totes.

 

I have a bed mat and plano sportsmen boxes for storage. Probably using a full size air mattress to sleep on

 

After I seam sealed my Topper seams, I ended up having water wick through the side buckle webbing and drip inside. So, I soaked the ever living chit out of the webbing with black PlastiDip. I taped off the area around each buckle so as not to spray the actual topper material.

That worked so well, that I flipped the Topper inside out on a few plastic tables and thoroughly soaked the seams again with clear PlastiDip.

Completely tight up there now.

PlastiDip is my new fabric/seam sealer.

Works awesome for fixing faded Trasharoos too! Edward Shin hooked me up with his faded and well used Trasharoo when he switched to another brand. I made it look like new with black PlastiDip. It was faded to a nice brownish color before I started.

Sorry for the topic derail.

 

Well, I just went out to check in the downpour and the seams are sealed but looks like the water wicks through the straps as mentioned here. Do I just seam seal the crap out of those?

 

Read my post above how I did it. That is why I posted it, to give you an additional option.

 

Did the same thing for my ammo cans. Not storing ammo but they are great for straps, bug spray, gloves etc...
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/softoppers-and-ammo-cans.682204/

 

Bro takes less than a minute. Unsnap the snaps on the sides, loosen the rear strap and fold that down. Probably 30 seconds at most. Unless you're folding it super nice and neat to put in the bag.

 

You have a write up or link for the quick disconnect on your 3rd brake light?

 

I would be hard-pressed to fold mine up in less than a minute unless I was running around my truck like a Chinese fire drill to see how fast I could do it.

 

We should have a fold up contest here lol. Obviously the video is sped up, but she folds it down in 21 seconds. Probably 2x speed so still less than a minute and she's unhooking the front flap which I don't do. I will say, I am more careful around the last snap button at the back because I ended up bending on from just yanking it out, but the replacement button and tool were super cheap from softtopper.

 

You guys are making a mountain out of a mole hill! The fact is that its easy to fold and for sure under 4 minutes. Y'all act like you want it to fold itself up because your too lazy to spend like 3.5 minutes to fold it up! Good Lord! It's a soft topper and it rocks it's just that simple! Anything worth having takes a little bit of work (But its like 3.5 minutes at most) Just look at the amount of time you spend on your truck at this point your splitting hairs!

 

If I remember, I'm going to time myself tomorrow out of curiosity. It'll give me something to do while I'm "working from home."