I have been looking at a ton of differnt sites online and i ran across a nissian mini site. I noticed they had a mod section so I started looking at it. I found this cutom bed cover and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to do something like this. The idea seems somewhat stupid but I think it could been done and actually look pretty decent. I was thinking about getting 2 sheets of ply wood. cutting them to fit over the bed, screwing them together with some braces going across so it doesnt sag, and then fiberglass over the wood and paint it. I could come up with some sort of latching mechanism to hold it shut and add two struts to it to make it lift up. Anyways here is the site.
http://www.nissanminis.com/modshop.php?mod_cat=67

 

if youre willing to put a lot of work into it. either way, i still dont think it would look that great no matter wut you do.

 

Well I called the local place that sells camper shells and be covers. Camper tops for my truck are 975 dollars and the fiberglass bed covers are 699. I might end up trying it. I have the time to do it and I can get the wood for free or really cheap. I was thinking about it more today and I could just get some of the roll on bed protecter and coat the wood in that.

 

i think it will be heavy, awkward, and youll be hard pressed to find a good way to mount it. it will also look like you took 2 sheets of plywood to make a bed cover. you would also need some major struts to lift plywood AND fiberglass. by the time you get everything youll have spent $200 and a week on something thats not worth it. i think you can a checkmate cover for a few hundred bucks, that would be the cheapest way to go if you want a hard cover that looks half decent

 

no thanks i dont want a wood bed cover!!!!

 

yea it would warp and crap and look weird.. plus it would never be a color match...

 

I didn't look at that site, but if you are going to make one- at a minimum, use a piano hinge and make it out of two pieces. Use the hinge to separate them. Trying to butt 2 pieces of plywood to look like one will be a *****. You could open from the front or you can open from the back.

If you don't want to do that, cover it with something that will make it seamless. Galvanized steel, maybe coat that with bedliner. Formica is another option.

Like soundper4mance said, you can spend a lot for something that goes to the dump.

 

I had a few ideas for making one. I know I couldnt get a sheet of ply wood to but up perfectly. I was going to use the piano hinges to open it up. I have a cobra 5000 for my truck and have it mounted on my bed and do not want it any where else so i was going to attach it to the back of the bed by the window, bolt it in good and slide the wood in between it. I am really thinking about using the herculiner stuff to cover it with. The only thing I think i would have a problem with would be sealing the truck up, making it water tight, which may be near impossable. I like doing stuff to my truck and custom making things. I dont really like buying crap that you just bolt on. I dont think bolting stuff on is really modding. My friend is going to look and see how much a sheet of metal would cost to fit on the back of my truck.

Also I wasnt going to do it exactly like the other truck. I am going to do it a lot differnt than the one there.

 

lol that right there's redneck, i dont care who you are.

 

Your truck is pretty much stock other than your big mud tires. Maybe it would look like a redneck if you made it but I can actually make things that turn out not to be crap. I dont want my truck to look the same as everyone elses. I have the money to get a bedcover or a camper shell I just dont want to **** away the money when I could make something that will be just as good, if not better. I am also going to put a gun rack in my truck.


o damn i forgot to take the deer off my hood from last season

 

a 2 inch thick 200 pound cover better than a 50lb checkmate? i think youre going overboard with the wanting to be different by making all your stuff. i could make wheels out of pretzel sticks. it would be different. what you could try, since you say youre good with fiberglassing, is to use the plywood as a mold for your fiberglass, then remove it. if you can get a gelcoat smooth enough it would look good, and you would avoid the weight problems with actually using the plywood in your finished project

 

I'll 2nd that. Go for it if you are that determined to be different. but i'd put money on the fact it wont look good or work right. And you'll probably regret it after 1 winter when it starts warping. Did you ever think there is a reason companys use fiberglass instead of plywood? It's not because it's cheaper.
Maybe after you do the plywood bedcover you can do the hockey puck body lift that'll look good too.



Oh yeah what is the point on stating that you are gonna have a gun rack in your truck? Whoopty doo a gun rack. Not like every other truck out here doesnt have one.


Whatever you decide it's your truck so do what you want. But if you do make a plywood bedcover post pics so i can see it.

 

Well Cheesehazard, I see where you're coming from, that spending $400-$1k on a hardcover jsut doesn't seem that worth it. So I'll try to think from a "i dont give a damn about quality" angle.

Ok first of all, why do you need 2 pieces of plyboard? I thought that's what people were saying. 1 piece of plyboard sounds fine enough to me.

Also, SoundPerformance's idea of using the wood as a design to make a fiberglass topper sounds good. Fiberglass can be pretty damn strong, so you might not need the wood.

Why not just get a soft cover? I think some of them look just as fine..

Aaron

 

He was just joking, on being called a redneck, especially since his truck is lowered. Also, I bet if you made a post "do you have a gunrack in your truck currently up?" you couldn't get 10 posts of "yes". Oh and umm, are you the guy from RPS that talks about your exhaust? If so, I talked with ya on msn a bit and you sent me somee clips.

Aaron

 

Well at least someone saw that I was being sarcastic.

As far as me not giving a damn about quality, if I didn't give a damn about how it would look I would just screw in some hinges into my truck and plywood and call it done. Also it wasnt me talking about my exhaust. I have stock exhaust.

 

make that All terrain tires...

 

oops my bad on not getting the sarcasm on the post about the gun rack. And no if i started a thread about who has a gun rack i probably wouldnt get 10 post on hre from people that do. But where i live every other full size truck has one it seems so it's no big deal to hear someone say anything about a gun rack. Sorry for not getting the sarcasm.

As for the cover. If you think you can do it and make it look GOOD (at least in your eyes) than more power to you. Go for it. I would just hate to see you put time and effort into something that may not look good or be of the best quality.

I wasnt trying to bash you. it may have sounded that way but i wasnt. If you can do it than go for it.

And im not the one on RPS talking about my exhaust.

 

I made on for my old truck. It was a flareside so one sheet was enough and I made it but against my tool box. It sealed good and looked pretty good for what it was. No one ever made fun of it and it served itz purpose. I think you could do it and make it look good.

 

Awesome. What did you use under it for a gasket or did you even have one? Do you have any pictures of it by any chance?