Let's See Some Softoppers

Aww man you’re killing me!
I grew up in Imperial NE…. Those plains look very familiar.

Ain’t nothing that holds a candle to a 360’ horizon when viewing the night sky!

 

Thanks. It was the correct bars and I finally got them in. I had to file down a fair amount of metal out of the last bar, hit the sleeve with some grease and beat the living s—- out of it with a mallet, but it’s finally together. I think that one bar was just out of tolerance or something.

 

Hey @Jadamjr...you should post your Marketplace score here...

 

And it’s on. I’m in the club now. Grey on black:

 

You might know, there is a story here ;-)


We pulled into this Eastern CO. state park camping area that features a wonderful reservoir.

There were two camping "loop" options. We drove around the "upper area", the area of the picture, first. It was desolate, primitive, and with no running water, not my wife's first choice.
So, we drove around to the camp ground loop below the dam. Trees, and green and all tidy and filled with RVs and what not. We actually selected a spot there and started to unload and set tent etc. But there was no sky and no view and no interest.

So.... I just didn't like the "Disneyland camper vibe". So I said to my wife, Lets go to the other area. So we did. Packed back up and drove the couple miles back to the first area.

There was one other outfit set up there. We set up about half mile away, at the edge of the improved area (still no water) Started to make supper, and then the wind came up.
(Opening the door to the pit toilet was a real adventure. Millers flying EVERYWHERE!

Dinner cooked, it was too windy to sit in the open. We sat in the lee of the Taco, holding dearly to our diner plates, watching the tent get flattened by the breeze Even with the truck positioned to give a wind break. As the night came, we made a choice and pulled the tent support rods and just let it lay there staked down, as we two made our bed in the truck bed under the Softopper. The wind later died, but the stars sure did not. What a sight to behold.

Curious, the dew was so strong that the topper was dripping on our heads and faces by morning. Day break was dead calm... but a breeze from the west started up before long.

Really, this was My most memorable camp spot of our entire trip. So many spots I can not even recall them all.

I'm a Dakota boy, Born and raised, so I do like the open sky. ;-)

 

Not to take anything away, I just fitted O-rings to do just about the same thing. I'll need to see if they work out, I haven't been driving the Taco much ;-)

 

Nice! These for sure work well— I took it off roading and a couple hundred miles on the highway and it stays taut. Loosening is simple, just flip it open and the straps work exactly like they used to.

 

Thanks for sharing that man…
Makes me miss it and I’ll be visiting soon enough,
Just something about that 360’ of nothing and then the night sky…

Even more awesome when a storm is rolling in front the West and you get this IMAX type view of it.

Safe travels bro,

 

Not too late to matte spray them

 

Looks . PYRITE MICA!

 

I’ve asked this before, but does anyone have both a tonneau cover and a softopper? I have a diamondback cover on my truck at the moment but I’m really considering a softopper. I’m fortunate enough to be in a situation where I could possibly own both, but I was wondering if anyone had any insight or experience with both. I would plan to probably use the cover during the winter and the softopper the rest of the year. I’m honestly thinking I will ended preferring the softopper over the db, but for now I’m looking to potentially use both. Thanks in advance.

 

Going to check out a softopper this weekend, any advice on anything I should look out for? Seller did mention the top part of the topper was slightly fading, should I look into bestop cleaning kit or I was thinking some 303 should work.

 

I would recommend keeping an eye out for any staining or blemishes that you find very unsightly. I bought mine used and love it, but there are a few spots I haven’t been able to get out of the fabric. They are on the top portion and wasn’t a deal breaker for me. To be clear I’m talking about paint drips or bleach spots.

I did do a small write up on how I clean my Softopper and added photos to get an idea of how well they clean up from normal wear:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/lets-see-some-softoppers.277644/page-362#post-27528599

 

what about the Fas-Top Traveler kit that is the tonneau cover and softopper combo? I know it is not a DB cover but may suit your needs?

 

The idea of a hybrid of having both the cover and topper together sounds nice, but I love the db cover because of the security and the fact that I don’t have to roll it up to load things on top. I also like that if I do have to, I can remove the entire cover in about 10 minutes. But the softopper looks much better aesthetically lol

 

The DB and soft top are on opposite ends of bed storage solutions. If you aren’t locking up stuff in the bed, the SoftTopper is the way to go. But, the both use the accessory bed rails so it would be a pain to go back and forth between them.

 

Love the setup! Is that the Black or Grey option? I was thinking Black with the Lunar Rock would go good but I can't ever tell from pictures if it's black or grey on the Lunar Rock ones I've seen with these on them

 

Can you open the tailgate only without unzipping the rear window of the soft topper or not?

 

I can drop my tailgate without unzipping anything.

 

Yes, you sure can.