Newb, First time Tacoma and Truck owner

I grew up learning to drive all sorts of large vehicles like pick-up trucks, suburbans, 70's massive cars...but I've always personally owned a smallish vehicle until now. I recently picked up a 2017 Tacoma TRD Off-Road with crew cab and full length bed. It also came with some rock sliders, Open Range tires on Raceline wheels, and a light bar installed IN the grill. Also new to overlanding and so far I really like this truck and keep discovering features about the truck.

Any guidance about where to find info on hard vs soft covers, using the OEM roof rack, and maintenance would be greatly appreciated.

 

by hard vs soft covers, do you mean the camper shell?

 

Sleeping in the back is what we want to do, so yeah something like an ARE canopy or SoftTopper. Concerned about dust/water intrusion while driving but also cost.

 

Got it, I personally have had both on my Tundra and camped out in both setup.
Softopper:
Pros: super light weight (40ish pounds), can be easily open and being a convertible allows loading taller things if ever in need, water sealing is as good as hard toppers, may introduce a little dust however thats from the truck tailgate which would be the same with hard toppers.
Cons: not being able to lock, so can't really store anything of value if concerned.


ARE/LEER style canopy
Pros: factory paint and shape look, can be locked (although with windows a determined thief is still going to get in), slightly higher ceiling due to lack of the framing from within.(also can opt for mid or high rise ones).
Cons: very heavy (250ish pounds), harder to remove if need to haul tall things, expensive (normally +2k compared to softopper can be get around 1.3k).


I had the LEER topper first, and then switched to the softopper because I wanted to be able to mount more stuff on top of the bed space. There are companies making bed racks over softopper and I have had the rack made by xtrusion overland (imo one of the best) on my truck for couple of years and am very happy with it, keeping the light weight and still able to mount stuff.
They just came out with a 3 in 1 style rack+topper+camper product called "xo skeleton" and can be had for any combo or singular mode. I am going to get that for my 2021 tacoma.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

I have found my soft topper tends to be a dust magnet. I saw another memeber just did a long term trip with one and found a tent attachment but I would really look into something more air light if dusty roads are your thing. a rack over the softtopper with a roof top tent would be a sweet way to go. I see lots of those pieces hardly used on facebook marketplace for siginificant discounts. These styles of topper are starting to come out and seem really interesting:
https://overlandvehiclesystems.com/Expedition---Truck-Cap-W/Full-Wing-Doors

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome

 

Enjoy the ride! Welcome to TW.