Tonneau or Shell?

Guess I am a "lid Guy"
Although it does limit the space for cargo, with just the two of us there is plenty of room for the extra stuff we take. The "Bed Rug" makes it easy on the knees when climbing in to retrieve the items up next to the cab.I guess I just like the looks of the lid when going down the road. Definitely not for everyone.
Jerry

I kept thinking about either a cover or a cap for the last three years. We just bought a motorcycle and two ATV's so I can't use either a cover or a cap.

Except perhaps the hard cover that lifts straight up on hydraulics. That might work.

I know this is a old topic but I have had all three a cap a soft tonneu cover and now have a stiff fiberglass tonneu. speaking from experience I like the caps better but now that I have a hard tonneu cover I really like that because I can get to stuff at the front of the bed without unpacking everything. and if ya load em right most of the time they are waterproof and dust proof. I use my pickup for hunting a all the time in the fall and alot of our roads are dirt. it is nice to put something in the back and it still be clean and dry.

We moved from a Suburban to a F-150 a couple months ago and I got an ARES shell ($1100 ouch!). My thought was that we want as much storage space as possible, I have a flatbed trailer so if I have to haul anything large or high I'll just use that. And of course I was used to all that space in the back of the Suburban.

Tonneau tops just make zero sense to me, they seem to block access to the bed and really restrict what you can put in there. Even tho I'm 6'2" I have a hard time reaching into the side of the bed and a tonneau would just make it harder.

And to top it off, they aren't that much cheaper than a shell: $800 vs $1100. I have heard from several people that the retractable tops fray and tatter and don't last long. Especially at the corners.

We do 20 day trips every summer and plan to move up to multi-month trips in 3 years so storage space is important to us.

It's been two months since I started this thread. Thought I'd post the results of our research and decision. I'm going to buy the Extang Solid-Fold. It is a very tough folding hard tonneau. I actually made the decision a month or so ago but then found they didn't make them for my 06 Tundra Doublecab. I wrote to the company and they said they expected to have them for my truck by the end of the year - not in time for this camping season. I was a bit down but this week I found out that that it is already available.

http://www.extang.com/docs/solidfold.html

I know that some of you were interested in keeping your overhead rack available - something that the Extang precludes. You might take a look at the Bak-Flip. It sits inside the rails, thus keeping the rack inserts available.

http://www.bakfliptonneaucover.com/

[Leslie & Nick]

There's a third type of cover that some may find of interest. It's a lockable, hard retractable cover that rolls into a canister type device located at the front of the pickup bed. I've had one of these on my F150 for about 4-5 years now. It works something like a huge window shade, with the segmented cover rolling into the canister. I was somewhat leery of the longevity of such a device, but it has not failed me yet. It opens and closes quickly, and when necessary I can load tall objects into the bed which I could not do with the fiberglass camper shell that I had on a previous truck, unless I (and some helpers) removed it

Pros -
- Opens and closes in a few seconds
- Can be partially opened and locked into position
- 12 V light built into canister box
- Keeps cargo clean and dry
- Well engineered with quality materials

Cons-
- You lose about a foot of bed space because of the canister box
- It's a little expensive - I think I paid ~$750 for the cover for a short bed pickup, a few years ago, and price has gone up about $100 since

Nick

We bought a CHEAP Pep Boys lockable truck tool box -- those silver things that go across the back of the truck and hook (I think) over the side) several days ago. We had to buy some clamps and then some rubber materials to fit between the truck and tool box. Now, if you buy the expensive ones at a good dealer, you pay $600+ and get the clamps, etc. We paid $149 and paid extra for the clamps, etc. In it we will put the chocks, pieces of wood, etc. The tool box will likely ride in the truck. I am hopeful that this will work. Queen

I have been debating which product to buy for more than a year. Now that I sometimes carry a Polaris Sportsman 700 X2 ATV in the back, I don't think any existing product will work other than to completely remove it when I want to carry the ATV. Sometimes I will carry two off road motorcycles instead of the ATV.

The only thing that might work is the solid top that lifts straight up vertically, but I would be reluctant to drive at freeway speeds with it part way open.