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

Hey all, There are a lot of great ideas in this thread. Here is what I'm using:
11 30cal cans (could've easily used 2 less in the middle, but I had them laying around)
3/4" plywood. 3 segments, taper around wheel wells. Stained black, and added a few coats of spar urethane.
Hornady case, bolted down to the bed between the wheel wells, with rivnuts. Door of case is facing truck cab and can be accessed by tilting front plywood piece up (last pic).
a couple pieces of plywood to help distribute weight in front & rear of Hornady case.
2 pieces of chain to secure plywood to truck bed
6 tie down rings (4 facing up to tie down gear, 2 facing down to loop chain through)
2 padlocks to secure chain to tie down
2 tarp poles (these run the length of the bed and fit right between the Hornady case and wheel wells)
4 conduit clamps to hold tarp poles
Note that it is necessary to (unlock and) open the tailgate, and slide out the two tarp poles to be able to lift up the front piece of plywood to access the Hornady case door.
This has worked well, though I think I will also secure the two pieces of plywood together in the middle with a locking gate latch. This should be able to fit on the underside, between the first and second set of 30cal cans.

 

Holy heavy overkill! But it'll work!

 

I have been putting this off for quite some time, but I finally bit the bullet and spent some money today. It's a simple drawer system that can be removed pretty easily, but gives me a lot more storage than what I had. I still have to do a handle on it so the temporary one will get replaced at a later date.

 

I took someone else’s idea deep in this thread, it is very easy to remove, I initially ran with a full bed with the cross supports utilizing both cutouts, but I like single bed mode with this frame and it was a lot easier to access gear under the bed without having to open the truck and get out.

 

Has anyone here had any issues using UHMW plastic for drawer slides? Debating going that route instead of 50 skateboard bearings and 3/4” square tubing

 

I gave it a shot and it didn't work as great as I had hoped. If you do decide to go with it, I recommend having several strips (2" wide would probably be ideal) mounted to the base that your drawer will be sliding on. Then make sure the underside of the drawer is sanded very smoothly, and the edges are rounded over. If you have many sharp edges making contact and a lot of weight in the drawers, you're likely to see some gouging.

 

I tried slides, and then surface bearings but now just use rubber wheels mounted in the drawer. Don’t need sides to hang a drawer from this way, the wheels self guide in the floor ribs.

 

Not a bad idea, the wheels don’t take up too much drawer space? How thick are they?

 

I find the drawers slide pretty easy on the composite bed by themselves.
My drawers are made from steel that had bed liner sprayed on them. I had planned on adding a slider system but never did as I'm happy at how they slide.

 

Worked a little on my drawer for my truck bed, added another divider and organized it. Also had to rebuild the cup holder on the right rear corner as the other one broke.


I added a curtain to the front of my camper shell. Sewing is not one of my gifts.

 

Looks about like what I want to do. Thanks for sharing!

 

No risk of someone stealing your solar panel???

 

They'd need a step ladder (standing on the bumper isn't going to cut it) and about 10+ minutes to get to all the mount points. 100W panels are fairly inexpensive. They want to jump through the hoops and take the risk for a $79 dollar panel, so be it.

 

@Phessor is your PWM controller for lights?

 

You

You could always add some tamper resistant screws (https://www.mcmaster.com/screws/) but I'd worry about someone tearing up the truck or the panel trying to get them off.

 

It is primarily for my auxiliary battery, but I have the load side wired for my refrigerator.
I was excited to discover that after the auxiliary battery is fully charged the Blue Sea battery isolator closes and allows the solar system to charge the main battery as well.

 

I have 6 rubbermaid tubs (3 on each side para-corded together) as the "drawers" under my platform in my Tundra. Im thinking of getting a couple of these sleds for the drawers in my Tacoma.

 

That rotary knob with the widening color arc isn't a PWM controller?

 

That is the adjustment knob for my LED strip.

 

Haha so it IS a PWM (i.e. dimmer)!