Water leaks

I'm getting ready to replace my tonneau cover with a hard canopy on my '15 longbed and have been doing my research. I see a lot of complaints about water leaks, A recurring area is between the canopy and the bed rails. If I'm understanding things correctly, the canopy sits on top of the plastic bed rail protectors and that causes problems with height differences at the forward bulkhead and no seal or gasket between the plastic protector and the metal bed rail. So, I'm wondering, why not just remove the plastic protectors and sit the canopy directly on the metal bed rails. Wouldn't that eliminate those problem areas? Seems like a good idea...am I missing something here?

 

I think you might be on to something.

 

Nah. I think the canopies are designed to interface with the plastic. Most people remove the plastic bed-rail caps and run a bead of sealer down the metal underneath. Reinstall the plastic, put the canopy on with bulb style weatherstrip, and you're good to go. Also pay attention to the interface on the front bedrail. I don't know about 2nd Gens, but 3rd Gens have major gaps there. I used putty to seal the front gaps, the gaps in the lower rear of the bed and to seal the cubbies. Mine is pretty much leak free except for some minor drips after carwashes.