Bed Slide or Decked? Anyone with experiences?

I've got a long bed, a midrise camper, and now a travel trailer. So I end up throwing a lot of stuff in the bed now for when I take the travel trailer out. Crawling in and out of the bed is kinda a PITA when I unload. A lot of things could probably fit in decked drawers, and then bigger things on top, but would still require getting in there. They could also fit in bins and just go on the bed slide too though. Anyone got experiences why they like one over the other?

 

Do you have windoors on the sides of the shell? (It's not a camper).

EDIT: Yes, you already have Windoors and having access issues.

 

Yes I have windoors on the shell. That's a good thought.

 

I had a BedSlide in my short bed when it had a commercial ARE DCU shell on it (solid metal-framed doors on both sides - bigger than your Windoors) and I didn't find the Bedslide very helpful. I also don't cart around a lot of extra stuff.

I think you're onto something with the Decked giving you two levels vs the BedSlide ending up resulting in stacking things. Decked is going to add a lot more weight than a BedSlide.

You could always build an upper shelf above the BedSlide to have your second tier and then have the lower tier just the big open platform.

 

I had a bed slide and it was pretty awesome for getting stuff in and out with a topper.

 

I have a bed slide. It’s nice sometimes. Comes in handy more times than not.

A decked would be good for storing msc things that you don’t want in the bed. Like recovery gear or stuff like that.

 

Biggest issue with the decked (or any drawers) is you lose a lot of vertical space for taller items, which is one of the reasons to get a midrise shell in the first place. If you don't mind that, then the decked system is pretty nice.

 

Yeah one thing I'm considering is that once I sell my Jeep I'll probably use that money to buy a couple electric bikes for around town when I'm visiting some place with the travel trailer, and I think a bed slide I could build a mount to attach to it so the bikes aren't loose. (small folding electric bikes like this https://www.aventon.com/products/aventon-sinch-foldable-electric-bike) So I am concerned with the decked system taking away vertical space even though I could fold the bikes up and still throw them over the decked top and be fine, but they might be loose then.

 

@VAGTaco52 chime in about your decked.

 

I have a deckd system with a 23" tall ARE DCU, it works great for me. I don't hault super tall items, but I've got just shy of 30" between my shell and the top of my drawers.

EDIT: I did have a lot of sag between the shell and drawers though so you may need to futz with your rear leafs if you go that route.

 

I find that we are facing the exact same conundrum.

Most of my thoughts have been echoed by others, above. And yes, it is a difficult decision simply because we are talking about $1K to $2K depending on what you do; drawers with a slide on top = $2K.

We have a topper on order that will be used for storage only. So, for reasons of security we will have no windows in the topper.

We will have the traditional hatch back opening for access to the bed; tail gate down and topper rear door up to get into it from the rear.

Each side will have two doors that open up. The rear compartment will have shelves that are about as deep as the wheel wells in the bed. This will give us sufficient space to store the things we need the most when we arrive at a destination in order to get a meal prepared with minimal fuss/muss.

The passenger side will also hold lithium batteries with LiFePO4 cathode and a built-in Battery Management System (BMS).

The doors closest to the cab will allow side access to the items in the front of the bed of the truck. While this will work to access a lot of stuff, it will not be sufficient to get heavy items that are stored low down in the bed out because it will just be too difficult to lift them up given the height of the opening.

So, we have agonized over a drawer system, a bed slide or both. After looking at every drawer unit we could find we decided that the one thing they all have in common is that they take up a lot of space and offer very little storage space in return. The only reason we could see to justify a drawer unit based on the amount of lost space would be for additional security. And there are lots of drawer units made just for this purpose.

Where as with the bed slide we could find no downside at all. Yes, a bit of height is given up in order to install the unit such that it is off the bed and will move in and out freely. But, the flexibility that the slide offers is much greater than a drawer unit. If we want to, we can install a drawer unit on the bed slide although we think the odds of doing that are extremely slight. And yes, the same can be done in reverse, putting a bed slide on top of a drawer unit. But, too much height is lost for use on the bed slide with this latter solution. One half of a slide with drawers could be attractive.

So, it looks like we will opt for the bed slide and use it for a while to decide if we want to do anything other than modular boxes that can locked/stacked and tied down so they are immobile during transit.

And, bed slides can be manufactured in just about any length/width you would like. This is attractive because we want to mount water tanks in the front of the bed which we can access through the topper doors to fill. A slide can be made that will come up short of the tanks yet provide maximum access to available space from bottom of the bed to the top of the shell.

The only question we have not resolved completely is the space between the bed slide and the bed itself in front of the wheel wells and behind the wheel wells also. We have lots of ideas about how to maximize the use of this space but until we get things installed and out on the road to actually use it we are not really sure what the solution will be. I suspect there will be a lot of trial and error; time will tell.

So, that's my $0.02 worth and I'm sticking to it! But, having said that, we are open to suggestion. It's a lot cheaper to look at things before we make any purchases.

Regards,

Jim, who is wondering what he has missed....

 

@norsea Yeah you're pretty much confirming all my thoughts. The bed slide seems to make more sense. Now the question is whether or not to build my own so I can make it exactly what I want, or buy one. There's a couple with optional side drawers and such.

 

Tuffy used to sell a framework for a bed slide; I bought one and used it in my 2008 F250 for some time. Sold it when I put the aluminum flat bed on the truck. It was nice. All metal frame/supports/locking gear that I had to assemble. Then a 4'x8' piece of 3/4" plywood had to be trimmed to fit. Was not all that expensive and the plywood worked well because I was able to anchor a small shelf unit at the deepest part (toward the front of the truck) where I was able to put some things that could be kept from sliding around/off the shelves. Worked well.

I also drilled a few holes for eye bolts to hold a bicycle down as well as other equipment depending on what I needed to carry. Sadly, they no longer offer this bed slide.

The Bedslide brand itself seems to offer lots of options for storage and rails to help keep the load in place as well as provide an option to use the space along the wheel well that is above the wheel well. I'm trying to work something out about taking advantage of the space below the height of the wheel well that is in front of and behind the wheel well that will not eat up the space but will allow the storage of smaller items; trying to keep things from getting caught on the slide itself or from running under it.

Cargoglide is another that makes lots of interesting options. I really like the table that is shown in two of their photo gallery shots that attaches to the bed slide and has its own legs; interesting concept. It is not clear that they made it or someone else did. They also have legs that can be used on the bed itself when it is fully extended; yes, this one can be pulled out more than 75%.

Any rate, lots of different options to choose from. "It's only money!".

Do it the American way, spend it as if you have it; or, as Fred Flinstone would say, "Chaaaaarge it!".

Regards,

Jim

 

Hahaha yup it's only money.....This damn truck is a such a money pit, but I enjoy it I guess.

I was thinking about building my own since 8020.net has some free plans available for a basic one and then I can add onto that for my specific requirements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_QAHwuxRQ8

 

Ya, I had seen this previously. I like the concept but I need something mounted to the floor of the bed. I'm not sure how I would go about making a frame for it that could support all of the weight that I want to carry; especially when it is extended outside the bed.

If my aluminum welding skills were better I would probably try something on my own but at the minute I do not have the skills to ensure the integrity of the rack and given the weight involved I'm not much interested in taking that kind of risk on the open road.

I do like the idea of a second slide above the bed slide. This would work for me because I can access it from either side of the truck through the side doors and it would allow me to remove it as well as take advantage of the slide. But, given that I have shelf units protruding into the bed in the rear half of the topper this is somewhat problematic. I also wonder how much weight could be carried given the span between the sides of the bed.

I had been thinking about making a shelf that would rest on the top edge of the bed between the bed and the topper. But, this would be more of a permanent installation because I would not want to be breaking the seal between the bed and the topper in order to remove/install it. So, the sliding shelf is very attractive to me if I could figure out how to calculate the weight bearing capacity of the sliding shelf. The last thing I need is to have something fail while on the road. And given the off road travel we will be doing this is a somewhat critical factor.

Thanks for the link; I had forgotten about this sliding shelf idea and I may well use it...

Regards,

Jim

 

Yeah I wasn't being clear in my post of that. I was just thinking of taking that idea and making it a bed slide. Usually with the 8020 stuff I don't think much welding is ever involved, but it would probably depend on your ultimate goals. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos of 8020 builds for vans to do the vanlife thing. But saying that I'm still learning so you may be right.

 

If anyone is interested in purchasing a BedSlide 1000CL that's been modified to include a platform on hinges, I have one for sale in Seattle.

 

The decked system loses a lot of space around the drawers. It's way less efficient than a platform.

I also have a mid-rise shell and I made a platform with a middle cutout. If you wanted to fit bikes, you could do the same and just skip the storage vault I put in the middle.