In 2004 my husband retired from the Sheriff's Office...he bought me a 2004 Chevrolet crew cab 2500HD Duramax Diesel 4X4...with the intent to get a camper some day. We looked at both types of covers and decided on the shell painted to match our truck. We have never taken it off. I drive the truck to work and shopping etc. He does all of the camper towing but I plan to learn how to do it in a few months. Tom will tell you that I park and handle the truck better then he does. In reality...I prefer to park at a distance...and do pull through parking at malls and the grocery, etc. He drives a military style jeep (the model with the star on the hood) or his BMW motorcycle...so it is a big jump in size when he switches to the truck.
I have never backed into anything but last year I did take off the front bumper of a Camero that has been lowered...my front right tire made fast work of it.
I wish someone would invent some way to get the outside of the rear truck window and the outside of the front window of the shell spotlessly clean.
We like the shell for when we go out West...we pack our hunting gear in there and also a buddies. We usually have a couple of coolers full of fresh frozen fish and shrimp for the the Aunts and Uncles.
Occasionally we toy with the idea of taking off the shell but then change our mind. We have a 16 ft cargo trailer if we need to haul something like building materials and we also have a 14 or 15 ft utility trailer. We use all this stuff a lot.
Some years ago we had an S10 pick up with a shell cover and went to visit the realatives in Missouri...afterwards we went to a self bow jamboree in Marshall Missouri called MOJAM. When we left Maryville we had a chair made entirely of Amish horseshoes and the trunk of an Osage tree in it along with a lot of other stuff. At MOJAM...everyone wanted to give us all kinds of stuff..........that S10 went down the road with it's tounge hanging out.
