Double Cab Dog Seat

This is a little project I’ve had in my head for a long time.
My fiancée and I have a 70lb Weimaraner lab mix who will be 13 in December, and he goes just about everywhere with us. He is a big part of why I wanted a double cab to begin with.
For transporting the dog, I have always just flipped the back seat bottoms forward, and thrown a dog bed down for him to lay on. Keeping him off of the seat bottoms does a few things that I like. The loading height is lower than getting him up on the seat, which was great when he was able to jump in on his own, and now that his arthritic hips can no longer make the jump, it makes it easier for me to lift him in. The folded-forward seat bottoms also prevent him from sliding off onto the floor.
The only part I didn’t love was the dog bed itself. It didn’t fill the space door-to-door how I would have liked, it gets hot on summer days, and it gets bunched up constantly. The bunching up started causing some difficulty for Grayson when trying to get up to turn around or get out since his weakened hind legs affect his overall confidence and stability. We also added a second dog to the family, so now there is comfortable seating for two back there, where only one dog would fit on the old bed.
What I designed is a 2” thick foam insert with a custom duck canvas cover that is a pretty close match for my Covercraft/Carhartt seat cover. A very close friend of mine owns a small company called Yellow Birch Outfitters that designs and creates a bunch of different EDC pouches, messenger bags, holsters, and other things (yellowbirchoutfitters.com) and agreed to stitch the cover for me. We have been trading favors for years and I recently did some suspension work on his JL Wrangler, so the four-ish hours of laying out a pattern and putting the whole thing together cost nothing.
The insert perfectly fits the width and depth of the underseat panel, and as a bonus has identical dimensions to the tailgate of the truck, so it doubles as a bench seat for the tailgate. The cover has a heavy duty zipper that runs down the rear edge so that it is removable and washable. My original design had a pocket hanging from each end if there was enough left over material, but it all ended up getting used. The result is truly a car seat for dogs, moreso than a dog bed for the truck. The overall fit and finish of it is insanely high. It is professional grade, production quality. We have been using it for almost two weeks and could not be happier with it.
I am considering brushing up on my sewing skills and making a few to sell, but the time to do so is near non-existent and the retail cost of them would have to be between 250 and 300 bucks in order to make a small profit.
For now, just wanted to share a cool idea for those who cart their dogs around and have not yet found a perfect solution.

Pics below of what I am calling the TaCoPilot.

 

Nice

 

Very nice!

You wouldn't happen to have the materials list and all those measurements, would 'ya?

 

Looks great, good job !!

 

Nice work! My dog’s getting older and is having trouble with the big jump, might have to try this.

 

This also helps with ingress/egress.

 

Do you mind telling mw who makes this foldable step Looks like a great option for older dogs. Thanks

 

I'm not seeing the one I bought. Pretty much any 5-step pet stair on Amazon will work, like this one

Dog Car Ramp for Large Dogs, LOOBANI Lightweight Dog Stairs Support up to 200lbs, Folding Dog Ramp with Increased Nonslip Surface, Pet Ramp Help Your Senior Dog Easy Get In & Out of SUV, Truck 6 Steps

https://www.amazon.com/LOOBANI-Dog-Ramps-Large-SUV/dp/B09NJJRTNH?th=1

 

A ramp definitely helps, up and down.

 

Neatly done!

 

If you make one, put me on the list to buy one.