Mission: Cargo managment for the Tacoma

I’m sorry for your loss, Tony. God bless you.

 

Thanks guys. Sorry to have hijacked the thread. It's just me and the cat here now, and the little fucker could care less. So, we return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

@tonykarter - Thanks for sharing your thoughts on setting up a truck, and for sharing your story. I'm sorry for your loss, that's rough.

 

Jesus christ thats rough man. So sorry to hear that. I was going to make fun of your setup until I read that next part. I especially like what you said in this quote here. Brought a tear to my eye. I went to go see my wife right away and did just that what you said. Thank you for sharing and stay strong.

 

Tony,

I couldn’t stop reading your words.

Although I complain that my wife gets upset that I spend money on my Tacoma, she is my life partner and I have to remember to keep her wishes from turning into disappointment.

Very sorry to read about your life in the past 2+ years. You’re caring and have your priorities straight.

Thank you for the camping tips. It brought out memories that made you the person you are today.

E
****

 

Here, I caused all this. Lemme' get this thread back outa' th' ditch: Somebody roll a fattie.



Well, that's rather cast a gloom over the evening, hasn't it?

 

I mean I guess we can all joke that you're missing out on inflation since you have stockpiled enough goods to feed a small African village...

 

From your needs, sounds like a camper shell is what you really need. I would suggest ordering and waiting a few months instead of putting in too much effort and then realizing that you still need a shell.

 

Considered that. For my particular situation with a major 3 week ski bum trip happening, my options were to buy the cheapest available tonneau, and do exactly as you suggest, wait, then sell the tonneau. But the more I thought about it, I really like the potential versatility of a tonneau + bed rack: modular, able to gradually add on stuff as needs and budget allows, lighter weight (though adding a RTT negates this).

Now fitting a tonneau and a rack narrows the field considerably, which from my research is a Retrax, Pace Edwards, and a backflip revolver (with a special bracket), oh and the other cheap roll up types. They do make racks for other tonneaus, but all impacted the operation of the tonneau in some way, which eliminated them from my criteria. I chose the Retrax, since I could get it quickly, it was a little cheaper than the pace, and the dealer's unsolicited opinion was that the Retrax was better build quality over the Pace Edwards. The Revolver wasn't available in a timely manner, plus I know future me would have to spend more time researching to get the right fitment with the future bed rack.

Now the only real advantage to the shell (for my use case, anyways) was that it the sleeping scenario was easy: build bed platform, done. No tent flapping in the wind, stealth camping option, no setup or break-down. And cost, since adding the tonneau + rack + some sleeping arrangement easily exceeds even the fanciest shell. (which currently is the ARE MX, from the quotes I got back).

Downsides included lead time, and the eventual question of where to put a 33" spare. Given that my truck has the BSM and other BS, going to a steel bumper with swingout means ditching the BSM, which already has saved my bacon from backing out of the work parking, sandwiched between a lifted F-350 and Dodge (it's right along one of the warehouse roads with load trucks running all day), and from hitting a jogger at 5 am wearing all black on a poorly lit street. Could mount the spare on the roof, raise the CG a bit I suppose. So went with the rack, and I'll see how it goes..

 

I used to store my gear in action packers. One for kitchen, one for bedding, and one for misc camping gear. That system worked well for short camping trips but I found it pretty annoying on long road trips when the bed was fully packed. I had a low profile bed rack back then so I couldn’t just pop the tops off and grab a couple things. If I was just making a pit stop and wasn’t setting up camp, just needed a couple things to make food, I had to unstrap and unpack the truck to grab the bigger items. After that trip I got a Decked system and everything is much more organized and easily accessible. Downside is that they are pretty heavy and lose about half the height of your bed so I’ve upgraded to a mid height bed rack now.

 

I was running potato rolls on this day, brother!

 

This is awesome! Any advice on building that drawer system? Also, approximately how heavy is it?

 

Use a kreg jig to screw things together. Depends on what wood you use. I got free 3/4" birch sanded plywood but it’s heavy stuff. Sliders are very heavy too. I’d estimate ~200lb for my setup

 

I’ve always liked low profile cross over boxes and roof racks when I’m not just loading it in the back. I also have two Kong job site boxes that are light, tough as hell and fit well. The cross over has about 6” under it for long flat boards. The rack is infinitely versatile. Two Kong boxes fit in my long bed behind the cross over.

 

I use a massive Dewalt rolling, locking, waterproof toolbox. Going on 3 years of abuse and it’s still perfect. Get 2 of them and they’ll hold everything you possibly need for a camping trip, nice and tidy. It’s also a perfect canvas for sticker-bombing.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-...Vkxh9Ch36kgCZEAQYAiABEgIVY_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

What is your MOLLE rack setup?

 

@tonykarter I really can’t imagine myself going thru those myself. I love my wife so much. She’s my everything .can feel your love for your wife and your pain of losing her . Hang in there Tony .

 

Some really good ideas there Tony, thanks. I like the gasketed Sterilite totes too, they keep out dust for sure. Plus they’re clear and you can see what’s in each of them.
Taking care of your dad and your wife during those times all I can say is sorry for the loss of your wife, and that you sir are one good man.

 

It’s the full Cali Raised system. Roughly $500 for all 3 sides.