Bed rack or Hardshell?

I also keep my tent on 365 and happy with the rack. I'm able to keep my recovery gear or other valuables locked up in the back seat while in town. When on the trail those items go in the bed.

 

My ugly ARE D.C.U. shell is all aluminum frame covered with metal sheets. Not going to fall apart like fiberglass. 800lb weight limit on top of that.

 

X2

Its a rack on top of a topper best of both worlds

 

It all depends on what you plan to use it for. I sleep in the bed of mine a lot so the camper shell works best for me (long bad access cab, not a short bed). I leave camping gear in the back most of the time so it's convenient. There are Yakima racks mounted to it to carry my kayaks, bikes, Rocket Box, etc. or I can always take the top off if needed but it's kind of bulky and you have to have a safe place to store it.

The shell has the added benefit of folks not asking me to help them move their crap. I do have a utility trailer that I generally use if i need to move something larger than what will fit with the shell on.

 

I don't get what people mean when they say a fibreglass cap is going to " fall apart " ? Fall apart how ?

 

^ Wondering about that too

 

The cap on my truck started getting stress fractures in the corners where the back window mounts after less than two years of use and no weight on top. It was a re-enforced shell. When I built my bed rack and took the side rails off of the bedsides the weight of the shell had started collapsing the top of the bedrails. This is the reason I built a bedrack thats tying into the bed mounts to support the additional weight of my RTT. Again this is just my experience, my truck sees a lot of off-road miles. Shells are great at certain times and for the majority of people they will never have any issues with them holding up.

 

Interesting , I've had my cap for over 4 years and carry heavy loads all the time with no issues

 

I know several people who have shells and leave them on year round (we get a lot of snow) and they do a lot of hard miles. They had no issues. I'll see how mine holds up. I never had it for a year yet. My truck see's more dirt roads than pavement

 

hey man not to sound weird or anything, but you wouldnt happen to be the main man behind that killer slick rock trail video??

 

What if you had a bed rack, then had a custom nylon or canvas cover made for it that you could put on when you needed it to be enclosed?

We have an Amish community that does stuff like that all the time.

 

This is what I'm planning on doing in the future. I think Defconbrix has pictures of the same thing early in his build page.

 

I think Sean @DefconBrix had done something like that last year. Maybe?

 

Agreed , cars and trucks nowadays are made of mostly fiberglass

 

There's a reason I don't have that bedrack / canvas setup anymore. It was not user friendly and was more of a pain in the ass - plus still not weather tight. I did love the aggressive look of it but that was it.

At first I was going for the look but now it's all about function.

Having a shell is just so much nicer. Everything stays clean, dry and more secure.

 

Anymore information about how this shell is working out for you? I think there are many pros from this type of shell/cap.

 

^^ This ^^

 

http://mobtownoffroad.com/product/soft-cover-bed-bars/

just mount your RTT or a rood rack to the bars, you get the benefits of having a "roof rack" to store stuff, but also get covered storage. plus, if you ever need the whole bed, pull the bars and roll up the cover and bam, full bed usage

 

Forgot about this thread so long ago but this is the setup I ended up doing
I'm happy with it hopefully gather the money to get an RTT soon but I might run a cap one day just not anytime soon