DECKED Truck Bed Systems

I guess that "works great" is a subjective statement. What I mean is that the movement and operation of both the soft topper and the decked drawers are not affected by their co-installation. You can install a soft topper, and pivot it open and closed, even with the drawers installed. What you cannot do is sit upright on top of the drawers, if you are using them as a sleeping platform beneath a soft topper, unless you are a small child.

Here are some photos showing various stages of installation. The second-to-last shows my typical camp setup, including the Decked drawers as a sleeping platform, the Softopper as shelter, two sleeping bags for warmth, and one wife for companionship.

Virtually any of my trip reports or camping videos are going to feature both the decked drawers and the soft topper, although they are rarely the focus of my photos and videos. For example, last year's trip to Utah was the first time we had perfect enough weather to fold down the topper and camp beneath the stars.




Note: This is for the long bed -- not sure how it works with the short bed!

 

Finally installed the new outlet.

 

Yes, I have my ARB compressor mounted in an Expedition Essentials mount—I can still get to the compressor but it’s very tight.

I had to drill a new hole in the softopper frame where it folds to raise it up slightly, away from the DECKED floor (else it wouldn’t fold without interference).

I love the DECKED system—it holds everything I need—everything has a place (and it stays there). My only complaint—if I overstuff my tool bag, it hangs up on the DECKED flooring above it. If it were a smooth surface, it wouldn’t catch as easily. But it’s just a nag and I’ve learned to avoid it.

~T

 

Wanted to check in with feedback on my DECKED setup, which I've now had for over three years. I use it to carry a lot of stuff, far too much in fact, and have also loaded lots of heavy things on top of it. It is holding up quite well.

Unfortunately, one of my "ammo can" cubby lids recently broke. These are just held on with plastic tabs, and one of them is gone now. Probably because I beat the hell out of it, although in my defense, I recall the official instructions from DECKED telling me to "give it the Fonz." (I had to look that up!)

With the tab broken, there was nothing (other than gravity) holding the lid down, so I was taping it down with duct tape to keep from losing it on the highway.

I'm out of warranty on it, so I was concerned about how to replace it, since they aren't sold individually on the website.

But when I wrote the folks at DECKED, they shipped me a new one right away! No cost, no questions. It arrived on my doorstep last weekend.

So here's a shout-out to @DECKEDUSA for having awesome customer service, and making a pretty damn durable product. I don't know if they're still active on the forum, but if so: Thank you, you guys rock.

Oh, and here are three free ideas for how you can get me (and probably many more of us) to keep spending money on DECKED stuff:

1. Sell a rotomolded drop-in water tank for the ammo cans. I'd guess you could fit maybe 3 gallons in there, which is enough for a lot of folks' camping needs. Having it integrated in the DECKED system would be pretty dang convenient. You could make a fuel-rated one too, I bet that would sell like hotcakes. Dang, my credit card is looking worried!
2. Make something useful we can install in the void in front of the wheel wells, replacing that block of plastic that leaves so much unusable space (the "left stud" and "right stud"). It could be anything, but what I know I'd buy would be a version of this front bracket that can mount an auxiliary battery--of the largest standard size that fits there. Lots of folks here install second batteries in their trucks and are looking for places to mount them. Even a small-ish battery could be useful, what with today's new-fangled lithium batteries. I'm content with one battery on my truck, but man, if you made it easy to install a second one in this location, I'd be unable to resist! I just love making unnecessary upgrades! Here's a photo of the space I'm talking about:

3. Okay now this one is really far-fetched, but have you seen what people are paying for planks of fiberglass-reinforced plastic these days? I'm talking about "recovery boards." If you offered a version of the deck surface with removable surface panels (e.g., along either outboard edge, over the wheel wells) which could be used as recovery boards, perhaps many of us existing customers would upgrade. And as an option for new customers, market pricing for Maxtrax suggests this would be worth at least a $300 premium, and I'd argue considerably more given the integration with the deck. Recovery boards are stupidly bulky, there are few places to store them unless you are going for that instagram look. Plus, recovery boards eventually break, even the good ones, so there could be a market for recurring sales there.
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I know it's not always the best idea to introduce specialized products with narrower appeal, and I don't know if I'm a good representation of your customer base, but I'd be quite enthusiastic to see upgrades such as these offered even at relatively high price points. And hey, if you need someone to help test them, you have a volunteer right here!



Finally, for the rest of the readership, I thought I'd show off what I finally did to relocate the power outlet and other stuff in my truck:



I relocated the AC outlet to the bedside above the platform. It has a little waterproof cover to protect it from the elements. Looks to be the same one as @drewnali used above. I wanted to put it in the bedside instead, so that it's still functional on the rare occasions that I remove the whole drawer setup.

I also made a new subpanel to replace the one that used to be in my bedside cubby, which gives me some 12V power outlets as well as switches and circuit breakers for some other accessories I've installed in the bed.

I've now deleted the original bedside cubby and am fabricating a metal enclosure for a diesel parking heater that will go in its place. I'm hoping that will make camping under the soft topper more pleasant in the winter. I ran the outlet duct to the little cubby over the wheel well. Currently trying to figure out where to hide a diesel fuel tank for it, probably will go in place of the lower cubby on the other side, which is still pretty inaccessible behind the drawer stuff.

To the left of the subpanel is a fill port for a water tank I installed beneath the bed, and a connector for a brake light on my topper. To the right (barely visible here) is a retractable shower hose. There is a water pump behind the bedside and a heat exchanger up by the engine for taking hot showers at camp.

 

Tight work there! That looks to be the same outlet. Mine seems too simple now. I’m gonna need to add water storage and stuff!!

 

Water storage is a great idea and I prefer it to be closer to center of balance. I don't imagine I need more than 3 gallons for most trips. I can bring more if needed. Plus about on top of rack water storage is it sit's in the sun all day. Minus is higher center of gravity. I usually throw a half filled 5 gallon on top of my deck system on the passenger side.

 

recently installed one of these and lost my switch setup. whipped this up and boom. room to spare

 

Wanted to give another shout-out to Decked... who is sending me an entire new drawer under warranty!

I don't overload the drawers, but I definitely load them to capacity, all the time. And I do a lot of spirited driving in the desert. Managed to punch a hole in one of the drawers, where it rests on the roller.

Keep in mind, this is an older design of their system--over five years old at this point. They have improved it since then.

Most impressively, though, my system predates their lifetime warranty. As in, mine didn't come with a lifetime warranty, so you might think I would be shit-out-of-luck here. Yet here they are, sending me a brand new drawer for completely free. No questions asked.

If you are on the fence about Decked, my feedback is that they are a solid company with a great product that they back 100%. I was on the fence at the time, thinking maybe I could build my own drawers that would be better or cheaper. There is absolutely no way I could have made something so durable and lightweight, and even valuing my time only at minimum wage, no way I could have done it cheaper. With each passing year I've come to view this as one of the best purchases I've made for the truck.

 

Agreed!! I recently had a problem with part of mine which is nearly 5 years old, and they were quick to make it right, and sent me new parts. Very good customer support.