Truck Boot Alternative

Hey Folks,

Long time lurker, first post. Looked around online for something similar but couldn't find a solution I liked.

I've got a 2015 DCLB with a Leer 180, rear slider, & windoors on both sides. I'm a big whitewater kayaker and have 78" thule bars on the cap and the factory roof rack on the truck, have had up to 7 creekers on my roof on various trips and generally sleep in the box on a platform. I've also got 4 ~75lb dogs that like to ride in the back when we visit family/go hiking etc and was looking for a way to somewhat climate control the back for the dogs/camping. I purchased one of the inflatable truck boots but I found it a pain to store in the truck, get into the window and inflated, and it squeeked like crazy over any bumps etc.

I wasn't really a fan of getting a compression boot due to the potential paint damage, so I started looking at DIY solutions. I found a product called "Perfect Seal" peel & stick weather stripping, comes in a roll 13' long and 1" wide with adhesive on one side, it comes out of the packaging 3/8"-1/2" thick and the packaging says it expands slowly to 1" thick. Without taking the cap off the truck or moving it at all I was able to measure and cut all my pieces, double layered the foam and stuck it to the truck, keeping it on the trim around the sliding window only and off the paint. I then installed one single layer on the trim around the sliding window on the cap so that the truck and cap both had glued surfaces and any rubbing would be foam-on-foam. after getting all 3 layers installed there was roughly a 1/4" gap between the layers of foam, but I was expecting to get 1.5" of expansion from the product. Left it overnight and all the gaps closed up.

Drove to work today, in the rain with both windows open, didn't hear any crazy wind or road noise coming through the back window, didn't see any leaks either though i'm not overly worried about it it being weatherproof as both sliding windows will be closed 99% of the time. Going camping/kayaking this weekend for some spring-flood creeking and looking forward to being able to remote-start and warm up the cap if/when desired. Had the trucks heat cranked and the fan on high and my wireless thermometer mounted near the tailgate was reading 18C after my ~30 min commute at -3C outside temperature. In the summer using the inflatable donut i've had the box temp down to 21C using the AC with recirc off and fan on high at 43C outside and 4 dogs in the back.

Hope this may help somebody looking for a similar solution.

 

I'm in Canada, appears every hardware store carry's it. Home Depot, Rona, Home Hardware...

 

Great idea, I will have to try this out. Seems fairly straight forward but do you happen to have a picture of where you stuck the insulation?