I have owned several pickup trucks over the years. During that time, I have often asked, “What is the best way to keep the stuff in the bed of my truck dry, clean, and secure?” In my research, I have come across several ways to keep my truck bed contents clean, secure, and dry as well as some pros and cons to each option.
So just how do you keep your stuff dry and safe? The short answer is, you cover the contents in the bed of your truck in some fashion to keep things as dry, clean, and secure as possible. The bed and content covering options include truck cargo bags, tonneau covers, and pickup truck bed caps or shells.
Many people simply choose a tonneau cover if they want their pickup to maintain the factory look and shape of the truck or they choose a shell if they want to be able to carry more volume and lock the contents up. Truth is, there is a lot more to think about and consider than mere shape, size, and lock-ability for both shells and tonneau covers plus completely different alternatives than either.
The Truck Cargo Bag
One of the simplest and more cost effective ways to keep your gear covered and protected is by using a truck cargo bag. There are a variety of options and price points with varying degrees of quality, weather resistance, and waterproof protection. These bags vary in size from smaller ones that just fill a large portion of your truck bed to much larger ones that fill the entire bed of the truck. Bag capacity can vary from about 25 to 50 cubic feet for a 5.5′ bed, 25 to 58 cubic feet for a 6.5′ bed, and 25 to 75 cubic feet for an 8′ bed all depending on the exact type and size of bag you purchase. The least expensive options (less than $100 USD) provide a good middle ground as far as cargo capacity is concerned but the quality, durability, and actual rain or weather resistance is probably questionable at best. If you are like me and better waterproof protection and overall quality is a higher priority, then a mid ($100 to $200 USD) to upper ($400+ USD) price range bag is the way to go.
Most of these truck bags have the following characteristics:
- Made of a weather-resistant polyethylene or a waterproof PVC vinyl material
- Designs are very simple – basically flexible rectangular boxes that expand and collapse depending on how much gear is stored inside the bag
- Zipper around the top edge or somewhere along the sidewall for opening and closing
- Many have rings or loops attached to the bag along with ropes or bungees and hooks to attach and secure the bags to the corners of the truck bed
Benefits of a Pickup Truck Bed Bag:
- Keeps items more secure by keeping them out of sight and out of mind of passers by when your truck is parked
- Can be easily removed from your truck bed when you need to haul larger items that need more vertical space and don’t need covering such as a motorcycle or ATV
- Collapsible so it can be folded up and stored behind or under a seat in the cab of the truck when not in the truck bed
Most Affordable:
If you just need a very inexpensive option to keep items covered and out of sight in the bed of your truck but weather resistance is not much of a priority, you could go with something like the polyethylene bag found on amazon here. These bags are less than $100 USD, are good sized from about 34 to 68 cubic feet (cu ft), and cover things up, although they don’t do a lot to keep the moisture out when it rains. There is a 4 ft, 6 ft, and 8 ft size with about 34 cu ft, 49 cu ft, and 68 cu ft capacities respectively.
Mid Price Range and Good Quality but Small:
If waterproof protection is your main priority yet you still don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it, there is another option for your truck bag. At price point between about $170 to $200 USD, you can get a truck cargo bag like this one. However, you will have to sacrifice on bag size as this bag comes in only one size that is just over 4 ft long with a capacity of just over 25 cubic feet. Regardless, I personally believe this is the best all around option for value based on quality, weather protection, and price, especially if keeping your contents dry is your goal.
Upper Price Range, Good Quality, and LARGE
On the upper end of the spectrum ($420+ USD), for those of you that just want to fill the maximum amount of space in your truck bed with a high quality waterproof bag, you could go with one of these truck bed storage bags. These bags basically fill the entire bed of the truck with a 5.5 ft, 6.5 ft, and 8 ft with capacities of about 52 cu ft, 61 cu ft, and 75 cu ft respectively. However, with the price you will pay for one of these larger bags in order to maximize waterproof protection of your bed space, you may want to look at some other options which takes us to the next alternative on the list.
The Tonneau Cover
In the attempt to keep items dry, clean, out of sight, and protected, one of the most popular ways to cover the bed of trucks is by using a tonneau cover.
Tonneau covers come in a seemingly endless variety of styles but the basic idea of all tonneau covers is to close off the top of the pickup truck box or bed by providing a slender lid that simply caps it all off and keeps the bed of the truck looking just like, well…the bed of a truck. Most styles are fairly inconspicuous or discreet while a few options have a little bit more of a “look at me” attitude.
Let’s face it though, one of your main reason for reading this article is to find ways to keep your contents under that cover dry, secure, and protected so lets take a closer look at that.
Waterproof? Not completely. More Like Water Resistant.
The truth about tonneau covers is that none of them are completely water proof. This is due to their nature of closing off the top of the bed while also having the capability of being rolled or folded back to access and even use the bed of the truck to haul larger taller items uncovered when you need to.
Depending on your cover type, the seals where they close near the top of the bed rails can be Velcro, overlapping rubber flaps, bulb seals that press against the bed rails among other types. Regardless of which type of seal a cover has, most of them are just pressed against each other or against the bed rails of the truck when the cover is closed. This does make them quite weather resistant in normal rainfall, but if the wind is blowing the rain sideways or you are washing your truck with high pressure water, the water or rain can lift and/or push its way through those seals.
Further, very tiny gaps can often be found between the tonneau cover frames (or mounting hardware) and the top bed rails of the truck where the two meet together, especially along the front rail or bulkhead directly behind the rear window of the cab. Water can seep through these small gaps even without high pressure.
A final place where there is often a gap is along the back edge of the tonneau cover where it meets with the top of the tailgate when both are closed. The sides and bottom of the tailgate itself also usually have gaps. This tail end of the bed can creat one more place where dust and water can make its way in.
What Can Be Done to Better Seal These Gaps?
Many people will identify these gap points along the bulkhead, the bed rails, and the tailgate and seal them with something like a closed foam seal strip. These can be found with a one sided tape adhesive or you can even find some special tailgate seals or truck bed seal kits. You can look for areas on your tonneau cover and truck bed that need to be sealed by closing yourself into your bed with the tonneau cover closed on a sunny day to look for spots where there is light coming through. Make sure you can open your tailgate or cover from inside before doing this or have a friend or spouse outside the truck bed that can open the tailgate when you are done. With the help of some of some seal kits and a little attention to detail you can make your tonneau covers a much more weather resistant to reduce the amount of moisture and dust entering in.
If All Else Fails…
Another thing that can be helpful is to have something for your gear to sit on in the truck bed that can elevate it out of any puddling that may occur if some moisture does get past your cover. You could also simply store your gear in a water proof bag under the cover. Lastly, you could wrap items in large heavy duty trash bags and tie them off or twisty tie them shut to protect them from the small amounts of moisture that might push it’s way under the tonneau cover.
Security:
Most tonneau covers are unlatched for opening underneath the cover just inside the tailgate. Thus, if your truck has a locking tailgate, your cover can’t be opened if the tailgate is closed and locked. This helps keep your items more secure as it further prevents a “would be” thief from going to the effort to steal what is in your bed. It doesn’t mean they wouldn’t, but it’s one more barrier of protection. Additionally, if your tailgate does not lock, there are aftermarket lockable tailgate handles for most truck models so you can overcome that problem.
The Pickup Truck Cap or Camper Shell
The last method we’ll discuss for protecting what’s in your truck bed from rain, dust, weather, and onlookers is using a truck shell or cap. There are other names that often are used for these covers such as camper shells, canopies, toppers, bed caps, or box caps. Regardless of what name you like to use, camper shells are one of the best ways to keep your cargo secure and dry. Shells usually come in aluminum or fiberglass.
Looks:
Over the years, fiberglass shells have become more popular because the don’t tend to get stress cracks from vibration over time like the aluminum ones do. Additionally, the fiberglass shells can be painted to match the color of your truck so it seamlessly blends in and looks like a natural part of the vehicle. Painted fiberglass shells look very nice and, by far, look much better than their aluminum counterparts.
Weather Protection and Secure-ability
Shells provide a solid covering that keeps the water out as long as you make sure your bed rail seams are sealed as discussed in the section about tonneau covers. Most shells have a glass rear window door that folds up and down for access to the bed. This window door is usually lockable to help keep your stuff more secure in the bed of the truck. When this rear shell door is closed, it laps over the back of the tailgate so as to provide a natural cascade over the outside of the tailgate when it rains or snows, and helps keep the tailgate from being opened when the shell door is locked.
Options, Options, Options…
There are so many options to consider when getting a shell. Shells can be the same height as the roof line of your truck or you can get taller ones that taper up towards the back for hauling taller items.
You can get windows in the side that slide open for airflow if you plan to camp or sleep in the back or haul dogs back there.
If you want easier access to the sides or front of your bed without having to crawl through from the back, you can get side windows that are hinged on the top and swing out and up, much like the rear window door. This makes it so you can reach into the bed from the sides.
Some people even like to get a shell with tool boxes in the sides where the windows normally are. The options and possibilities go on and on.
Some Drawbacks to Consider:
As with everything, there are some drawbacks to shells. Their height limits the height & size of items you can haul in the back, although most items you would be trying to keep dry would easily fit. If you want to haul something taller than will fit with a shell, you have to either take the shell off or haul that item in a trailer behind you.
Shells can be heavy to remove and they take up a good chunk of space when being stored somewhere other than on the bed of the truck.
Lastly, some people don’t like the look of any type of shell but this is completely subjective and up to personal opinion.
What is the Right Fit for You?
In summary, there are many ways to keep items dry, protected, and secured out of sight while they are in your truck bed.
The truck bag is a good option if you are looking for the least expensive route and you only need such protection on occasion.
If you constantly haul items that need to stay dry and secured with the best moisture protection, a camper shell may be the way to go for you plus you get the perk of being able to throw in a mattress and camp in the back of your truck more easily.
But, if you want to do a good job at keeping items protect but need the constant versatility to haul tall items, like motorcycles, ATVs, refrigerators, etc, than a roll back or folding tonneau cover is the way to go for you.
No single solutions is the right solution for every person’s needs but hopefully this helps you as you consider your needs and ultimately make your decision on how to make your truck bed best function for you.