Eugarps wrote:
Sleepy,
Do you use any kind of bed mat or horse stall mat under your camper? I may plagiarize your design. You know how much I like simple and elegant design. I'm a Civil Engineer, so the simpler the better.
Thanks my friend,
Bill
No!
When I bought my truck I looked at the options that other people had already installed in their truck beds:
Some seemed to cause much more trouble than they solved;
In my opinion...
WorstThe drop-in plastic bed liners. I observed damage that they caused.... dirt/grit/moisture that worked it's way between the liner and the truck bed and sidewalls caused abrasian and rust. I saw more than one bed rusted through.(possibly pushed by road salt)
Not as bad: but I would not have themI rejected the bed mats and horse stall mats... The surface of the trucks bed has high low strip grouves running forward to backward in order to drain moisture... the mats fill the grouves and can trap any accumulated moisture.... potential damage.
AND, I personally want my truck camper to sit as flat on the floor of the truck as possible. I don't want the camper to twist or flex an 1/8" repeatedly... over and over flexing will eventually cause hairline cracks at joints.... possibly entry points for moisture... camper body failure
(Bigfoot campers are probably the only types immune to this kindof damage) In my opinion bed mats can probably compress or flex more than I want... in addition to preventing moisture from draining.
In my opinion... Nothing at all in the bare painted bed is better than a horse pad trapping moisture
My solution... LINEXI had Linex sprayed in the trucks bed on the way home from the dealers when it had 12 miles on the odometer...
I know... I couldn't return it to the dealer for a refund.... it was a special order, so the Linex modification didn't make any difference) Why Linex... it sealed the trucks bed... salt, dirt, moisture, and the camper wouldn't hurt the metal of the bed...Linex looked good too! The bed still had the ridged surface I wanted to minimize flexing. It also left the draiage grouves. And... nothing else that I would haul in the truck would hurt the bed either.
I hope this helps.... looking forward to seeing your new truck and camper sometime in the future.
Sleepy