Decked w/ Topper

[kaylawiz]

I finally received the topper after a bit longer than expected.
I have taken it on a camping/skiing trip already and worked so well. Happy to have gotten he higher than cab height for the extra head room.
With the drawers for organization it worked great!

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[RangerVA]

I finally received the topper after a bit longer than expected.
I have taken it on a camping/skiing trip already and worked so well. Happy to have gotten he higher than cab height for the extra head room.
With the drawers for organization it worked great!

Yea that looks great! Love it!

 

[RangerVA]

Spent about 7 days sleeping with the Mrs in the back of the truck when we were in Green Mountain National Forest. If it's just you and two dogs, I think you'd be fine with a drawer system.

That’s great to know! Thanks for taking the time to post! I think I’ve been convinced!l that it can work for me.

 

[mark_anderson_us]

I've got DECKED and an RSI SMARTCAP-Evo arriving next week. These apparently take a bit of doing (read: drilling some plastic on the DECKED) to make them work together, as the smartcap brakcets interfere a bit.

But once I get it done, I'll post a pic and report back!

any news? I have decked and thinking about SmartCap

 

[foursquare]

any news? I have decked and thinking about SmartCap

Oops, sorry for the delay! Its now installed, but boy was it a project!

It is totally doable, but I have a number of lessons learned that I would love to advise anyone else on who takes on the project as well:

• The Smartcap is held in not by clamps but by brackets for the ranger, this means you will install it first, then the decked second, which may seem counter-intuitive
• The Smartcap is a bit intensive to fit together --- tight fittings, and bolts that have almost new extra threads on the front/back make it a pain
• The Smartcap should err on the side of gasket to the very edge on the cabside bends, this made it very difficult to fit the brackets down, but if you know in advance, it will be fine
• The Decked Brackets conflict with the Smartcap brackets. This was a judgement call, but I ended up having to hacksaw down the front edges of the decked brackets, and then mount them directly to the RSI brackets on the cabside -- i can post pics later.
• Lastly, the modifications to the DECKED top deck is pretty modest, and the easiest of the modifications (hacksawing through plastic was much easier than through metal, and/or drilling into the RSI brackets.
• The Wiring Harness is still WIP - I think this is complicated by RSI being overseas and perhaps building this for the NZ/AUS spec of the global ranger. Ultimately RSI and Offroad-Alliance have been responsive and are getting it sorted for me, but it took some doing.

This was enough of a project, with enough lessons learned that I hope to post something a little more visual for those that follow in my path, but I'm glad with how it turned out.

 

[mark_anderson_us]

Will hopefully get my RSI installed at weekend and will post pics

I've removed my rack and decked system in preparation. Thought it might be useful for those considering decked to see how much space you lose and how much junk gets in bed (3 months, garaged every night). I'm really not sure why they made the ammo cans so small (I'm sure there was a reason), but they could have been at least 50% bigger. The drawers could have been a lot wider: look at the wasted space between wheel well and drawers. Make me thing they just build a new "fitting kit" around components for a truck with much less usable space.

I still like it, but thought these pix would be useful

Mark

 

[mark_anderson_us]

I posted my install here. Only mod I made to the decked system was to cut a notch in the rear corners for the rear supports

Thanks to all for the info

 

[ZoneOne]

I finally received the topper after a bit longer than expected.
I have taken it on a camping/skiing trip already and worked so well. Happy to have gotten he higher than cab height for the extra head room.
With the drawers for organization it worked great!

What Topper did you go with? That looks very nice.

I ordered my Decked about 10 days ago and they are apparently backordered.

For those that have slept in the back with their Decked.... assuming you have the 5' bed, what did you do to add length? The Decked should be 12" high if memory serves me correct on the specs. I'm 6ft, so I'd need something for my feet.

 

[RangerVA]

This a pretty cool concept. Pricey, but this is a great alternative to drawers. Looks lower profile. Be interesting if anyone has added this.
https://gofastcampers.com/products/flight-deck

 

[Espo78]

I've been trying to understand how that flight deck is supposed to be better than a pull out drawer system. I guess the thinking is your bed is overhead so not on the flight deck floor so easier to access stuff from above but it still seems worse than pulling out a drawer to me. I didn't any think of any use-case that made sense, and certainly not for that much coin.

As far as the Decked system goes, It seems like there is a lot of wasted space on the sides...is there a way to access that from the top? I may tackle just building a plywood version so I can address everything the way I need to.

 

[RangerVA]

I've been trying to understand how that flight deck is supposed to be better than a pull out drawer system. I guess the thinking is your bed is overhead so not on the flight deck floor so easier to access stuff from above but it still seems worse than pulling out a drawer to me. I didn't any think of any use-case that made sense, and certainly not for that much coin.

As far as the Decked system goes, It seems like there is a lot of wasted space on the sides...is there a way to access that from the top? I may tackle just building a plywood version so I can address everything the way I need to.

I wouldn't call it better than a drawer system. To some, a drawer system works perfectly great. I used to run drawers in one of my rigs but ended up taking them out. I ultimately found them too bulky, too heavy, and too restrictive. Once you put the drawer system, you are committed to it.

The pause for me with the Decked--and even the ARB--is the height (and weight, it's always there). Plus, if you have unused space in the drawers you tend to fill the dead space with crap you don't really need just to avoid things from sliding around; and, like you said, you can lose space in the truck bed and the truck stops being a truck.

The GFC system looks to be lower profile and seems to give off a more "truck" feature. You have the benefit of storing items below a flat platform and having access it to via the modular system.

I always travel with my two large dogs so my system is built entirely around them. I'm 6'1" and need all the space in the truck bed that I can get. On the off night that I need the extra security of the truck topper--mainly from weather--I sleep in the truck bed with my two large dogs. Having a drawer system that reduces my head clearance would feel claustrophobic really fast.

I ultimately decided against putting any drawer system or even something like the GFC. Instead, I will be using cargo netting as an "attic" inside the truck bed to store my sleeping bag, pillows, dog jackets, etc., putting a Front Runner wolfpack cargo case on my rack, and installing one swing out cargo box in the truck bed. Right now, all of my camping gear, sans my swag, fits into a Pelican 1740 case, so with these three different storage options, I'm confident I can get rid of the Pelican case, travel lighter, still carry recover gear, eliminate the need for a drawer system, and have a completely freed up truck bed. Another storage option I will look at DIY'ing, is something similar to what Ronny Dahl did with the tailgate on his Hilux. I love the idea of using that dead space.

 

[mark_anderson_us]

I've been trying to understand how that flight deck is supposed to be better than a pull out drawer system. I guess the thinking is your bed is overhead so not on the flight deck floor so easier to access stuff from above but it still seems worse than pulling out a drawer to me. I didn't any think of any use-case that made sense, and certainly not for that much coin.

As far as the Decked system goes, It seems like there is a lot of wasted space on the sides...is there a way to access that from the top? I may tackle just building a plywood version so I can address everything the way I need to.

ridiculously expensive compared to drawers and you could do for a few hundred with lumber of extruded alu. How you gonna get all the stuff under the deck near the cab

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

I've been trying to understand how that flight deck is supposed to be better than a pull out drawer system. I guess the thinking is your bed is overhead so not on the flight deck floor so easier to access stuff from above but it still seems worse than pulling out a drawer to me. I didn't any think of any use-case that made sense, and certainly not for that much coin.

I wouldn't call it better than a drawer system. To some, a drawer system works perfectly great. I used to run drawers in one of my rigs but ended up taking them out. I ultimately found them too bulky, too heavy, and too restrictive. Once you put the drawer system, you are committed to it.

ridiculously expensive compared to drawers and you could do for a few hundred with lumber of extruded alu. How you gonna get all the stuff under the deck near the cab

These are all great points and I’ve agonized over them too. The contractor part of me likes the idea of a decked system. The mountain biker in me likes mounting my bikes in the bed (have a Pioneer Platform Rack but, nope, not using that for bikes if I can avoid it). I wouldn’t mind being able to sleep in the bed if needed. And, M-F, I always need to get my table saw, tile saw, mitre saw, and tool cases in there. So, the space between the wheel wells is prime real estate.

I have a long term goal of building a side storage system that takes up the “dead space“ in front of, behind, and above the wheel wells. My plan is to have the “rear” modules swing out similar to the swing out tool boxes and for the other items to be modular. The challenge will be to keep it all lightweight, as narrow as possible, and integrated. Picture three Pelican cases mounted vertically on a quick release system. Sort of a hybrid molle with cargo cases attached. Tie down straps won’t cut it - I want them to snap or latch in place.

It will take a lot a planning and research but if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.

 

[Espo78]

These are all great points and I’ve agonized over them too. The contractor part of me likes the idea of a decked system. The mountain biker in me likes mounting my bikes in the bed (have a Pioneer Platform Rack but, nope, not using that for bikes if I can avoid it). I wouldn’t mind being able to sleep in the bed if needed. And, M-F, I always need to get my table saw, tile saw, mitre saw, and tool cases in there. So, the space between the wheel wells is prime real estate.

I have a long term goal of building a side storage system that takes up the “dead space“ in front of, behind, and above the wheel wells. My plan is to have the “rear” modules swing out similar to the swing out tool boxes and for the other items to be modular. The challenge will be to keep it all lightweight, as narrow as possible, and integrated. Picture three Pelican cases mounted vertically on a quick release system. Sort of a hybrid molle with cargo cases attached. Tie down straps won’t cut it - I want them to snap or latch in place.

It will take a lot a planning and research but if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears.

You might be a good candidate for a bed slide. With some ingenuity you can use it M-F for all your contracting needs and you could probably figure out a way to add a fork mount to it and mount your bike on it for the weekends. I bet you could cut down a sheet of ply to throw on top of it as a base for a mattress if you wanted to sleep in it as well.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

You might be a good candidate for a bed slide. With some ingenuity you can use it M-F for all your contracting needs and you could probably figure out a way to add a fork mount to it and mount your bike on it for the weekends. I bet you could cut down a sheet of ply to throw on top of it as a base for a mattress if you wanted to sleep in it as well.

Hey Mike,

Thanks, it’s a good thought and it would have worked on a older Ranger I once had. It was a 1991 with one of those toppers that are super high in the back end. My current topper is too low profile for what you suggest. With this one, I have to lower the saddle to get my bike in. I also thought of the 1/2 slider but I really need all the space between the wheel wells and enough headroom to sit up.

BedSlide makes something along the lines of what I want but the units are a bit shallow and you also need their bottom sliding unit.

It’s closer to what I’d like but it’s just not cutting it for me - that’s why I’m thinking of a custom setup.

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