Flatbed verses Pickup Box

okan-star wrote:


Its locked and secured behind a diamond plate door when not in use

Very nice.
It's good to see that it fits. I'm not clear on how much space I'll have under there with the AF990 on a 10' bed.

I'm thinking some room? between the camper & cab and under the camper for storage as you and others have it, but don't know the dimensions yet, so it's good to see the gen fitting in there.

I will be getting the rig all set up in a few weeks, end of Aug, and at that time I'll be able to "Fit" stuff in the available spaces. Till then, just seeing the different configs helps.

Thanks..

heheh, that's really a nice Gen Shelve you have there, looks perfect.

fpoole wrote:
Okan, nice set up.

That's sort of what I want to do only not so fancy with the boxes. I'll probably try the heavy duty plastic ones so I can just pull off easily as needed. I like the Generator location and assuming it's secured/anchored down to the slide out tray.

Nice...

Its locked and secured behind a diamond plate door when not in use

Here is my cheap and dirty version , 1/2" pt plywood with 1x2 pt frame . Cost about a $100 for lumber , hardware and paint . Gives you storage of 21" x 21" x 102" . The bed is an EBY aluminum flatbed 94" x 102" . It is raised approximately 4" because I converted it to a dumping flatbed . I made inserts for the stake pockets to attach the hinges . One other thing to note if you are going flatbed on a dually . This truck is a cab/chassis model , not a bed delete . What that means is the rear frame and axle is narrower by 4".It is the same axle used on a srw , so consequently by removing the front wheel spacer you can convert it to a srw by changing the tires and wheels . It also usually gives you a second fuel tank where the spare normally goes and a slightly higher GVW .

Okan, nice set up.

That's sort of what I want to do only not so fancy with the boxes. I'll probably try the heavy duty plastic ones so I can just pull off easily as needed. I like the Generator location and assuming it's secured/anchored down to the slide out tray.

Nice...

My boxes on top of the flatbed have 10 bolts total , I can remove them in about 30 minutes .
The diamond plate in front of the boxes is attached to the boxes , and in that space is a 15 gal water tank on each side , gives me 30 more gals total
Behind the boxes the area on the pas side is storage accessed from inside the camper , door under the dinette , the box is attached to the camper and comes off with it
On the drivers side same type box attached to the camper and holds my Honda gen on a slide out tray
I change out the set up regularly , to flatbed only , flatbed with side boards , or and 5th wheel hitch

Flatbed is the way to go. I've had mine since 2006, still going strong.

markowwes, nice rig. I really like the way you have it set up.

Very nice and excellent information with ideas.

Thanks,
Bill

Went from a 99 F350 Super Duty to a 2008 F550 Super Duty, had the service body built to fit the camper…..it may cost a little more, you will be more than happy with the outcome. We purchased ours out of Helena Montana, will never look back.



No worries about weights, power or milage now!

FWIW, I'll never have a pickup bed again. The storage and utility of a flatbed is just too good to be true.

Utility body versus flatbed? I would ONLY go the utility body route if I knew exactly what I wanted to take with me and especially if I had things that needed to cut through the "plane" of the deck suck as a spare tire mounted vertically or large tanks of some sort (propane, water, natural gas?). If you aren't 100% sure, go with a flatbed. And just to be contrary to BKA, the guy that setup out rig for his South American journey, spent one month getting it ready. So it is possible.

If you want the flexibility of removing the upper boxes, they can be done that way though your idea of plastics totes etc is reasonable. My upper boxes are removable but it is a bit of a chore so I don't do it, but I could relatively easily.
My one recommendation on the flatbed itself, is to get one with stake pockets so you could mount a 2x4 (or x6/x8) as a removable side rail to help hold your boxes in or other gear when you are TC less.

Also in the FWIW department, most flatbed a are 9' long but in at least our rigs' case, the last 10" or so could be chopped off and allow the TC up against the headache rack.

Did I say I'll never have a pickup bed again?

If I was doing it myself, I would likely find a flatbed used. They are around and you'll end up welding to it, maybe cutting it, adding tie downs points or other stuff so just starting with a used one saves you a lot of money and makes you worry less about modding it.

Good luck!
(Got rained out on our Highline Trail hike (Glacier National Park) today popped in here to check in. Hope everyone is enjoying their TCs.....you sure do see a lot up here!