Know the truck I want, but what bed setup for a new family in the mountains?

[Mattys010]

I have a 2021 f150 5.5’ bed super crew with cab height topper and DIY decked. I have two kids and love this set up.

You could always put in a hitch rack to bring more stuff on the odd occasion.

 

[Slickhill]

Regular cab long bed 4wd base trim.

Make the big dog ride in the back like everyone did from the invention of the pickup until 6 years ago when dogs became people. Buy a $7 blue tarp and some cord to cover your tent and stuff in case you drive in some rain, labs love being wet so he doesn’t need to be tarped. Put some mud grips on it and be sure you get plain white paint so you won’t care about any brush pinstripes. Steer well clear of campers, kids growing up in comfortable campers will never be hard enough for tenting it in the backcountry, if they don’t know any better they’ll think tents are luxurious.

Use leftover money to buy a Camry or Civic with 150k on it to drive to work and fit in parking garages.

Problem solved!

 

[HuntHarder]

People's reading skills are severely lacking on this site lately. Just answer the man's question.

I have 2 kids and a dog and we go camping in my crew cab 1500 5.5' bed with no issues. I put the bakflip cover on my bed and really like it for keeping things concealed and not easily taken. Also keeps the weather off of your gear. We mostly tent camp and easily have enough room for long weekend trips.

 

[tony]

My opinion
You will be fine with a 5.5 bed. If anything it'll make you think packing for a trip a little more.
Me, my gal and our 85 pound doberman fit all our shit in a 5.5 bed.

Toppers, no idea but thats the route I'll go next time.
If you need a bed to haul, that decked will eat up space and they are expensive. Me, I'd buy a good lid and some various sized totes to put your stuff in.

What is an executive parking garage? Never knew they built different sized parking decks.

 

[fngTony]

What is an executive parking garage? Never knew they built different sized parking decks.

I think it's a more modern parking garage that's a little more roomy and consistent clearance. In downtown Denver most are older and won't accommodate heights over 6'8. Newer structures typically allow 7'4 and have a maintenance area on the first floor that can handle tall roof shuttles and service vehicles. Don't know what op does for work so not sure if he is needing access to upper floors or not.

 

[mtnbound]

I have my first kid on the way and Im looking into buying a new truck and thinking about the setup I would have for this new sized family. Based on our situation below, What do you suggest?

1. It will be me, my wife, 90lb lab, infant in a car seat.
2. We live in Colorado and are very outdoorsy which means at times we have a lot of gear. Mountain bikes, fly fishing gear, camping gear, hunting gear, all dependent on whats going on. We also do a lot of off-road stuff in the mountains
3. I will be getting a F150 Supercrew with 5.5 ft bed
4. Thinking if I need a bed shell, decked system, bed cover, combination of these, none of these etc. to make my life easier.

The Deck system is cool and keeps gear secure, but you lose some head space if you put a canopy on your truck. I have used a canopy on several rigs, and they have some benefits. Their only drawback is hauling tall items. I have been using a Retrax cover, and I like it, but my favorite setup was a canopy with lockable swing-opening windows with integrated storage shelves. It made it easy to access and stash gear quickly, but it was not the best for a dog in the back as there was not much air movement. I would also look at the Mollee frames that can be mounted to the sides of the bed because they give you a lot of storage options.

 

[Braaap]

Thanks for the reply, I want a 6.5 bed but I’m worried about having to park in parking garages and off-roading with the wider wheelbase. I already kinda push the limit.

Edit: not sure how I missed you mentioning the wheelbase already lol

My advise is DON’T get the longer wheelbase. I bought one and sold it after 1.5 years and went to the short wheelbase and couldn’t be happier with the decision. The 6.5 ft bed and super crew was terrible off-road and I rarely miss the extras be space. We are a family of four with two 50 lb dogs. I have a regular shell with decked drawers. I might add a roof box at some point but we can camp and hunt just fine with the space we have.

 

[LongWayAround]

Guy asks about a truck setup for outdoors stuff in Colorado.

Gets butthurt about the size of parking garages in Seattle.

Go figure...

I wouldn't buy a truck that I couldn't comfortably sleep in the bed.

I hope it has good locks for those rough and tumble trailheads off Colfax.

Pro tip: ignore the comments you don't like.

 

[menhaden_man]

Three kids and a dog here - I like a tonneau cover myself, hitch rack for a cooler or bikes if you need it. I always camped with a Kodiak tent when my kids were little. Dome Big Agnes when backpacking or boating in.

 

[ETtikka]

6.5’ , dog in back, cheap commuter car, that is my suggestion

 

[Fireflyfishing]

If I had to park in a parking garage everyday, I wouldn’t bring a truck. Figure out a way to have a truck and a commuter. Buying used vehicles allows for more bang for your buck.

 

[5MilesBack]

Well the problem is that the job that pays for all of them requires me to go into corporate parking garages.

Perhaps the company should be paying for a vehicle that works better for that, and then you can get whatever truck you want/need for yourself.

I love my F-350 crew cab long bed, but it does get tight in some places. You do what you gotta do. Just make sure the family is comfortable.

 

[uglymud]

Anything under 6' bed in a full size truck just seems pointless, just get a large suv at that point. Concerning a foot longer bed or shouldn't make a difference in the parking garage or offroad. No one is putting their new truck in situations where it really matters.

If you really need to park in right spaces get a beater camry or civic. Saves wear and tear on your truck too.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

 

[307]

I have a short bed and don't like it. I'm 6' tall and having to sleep corner to corner just destroys my ability to keep anything else in the truck bed when I'm sleeping. That extra foot would make a world of difference for me, but the truck is only 15 years old so I'll have to manage for a while longer.

 

[Speaks]

I think you are making the right call on the truck, I really thought I would hate going from a 6.5 to a 5.5 but its been fine for 99% of what I do and I appreciate the extra back seat space more than the bed space I gave up.

I run a decked and a rack though in retrospect a decked and a cap is what I would have done, even more if I was using if I had a kid and the extra stuff that entails.

I would get a smart cap and the new decked system that uses more of the dead space and call it a day.

 

[tombombadilo]

Our needs might differ from yours, and ours are focused mainly on camping, but here's what works for us. We're in northwestern NM, so mountains and deserts in NM, CO, UT, and AZ are our usual haunts. We have a 4WheelCamper on our Tacoma, and it's been a game changer for us in terms of getting out often and easily for overnight trips. I'll admit that it's a little snug with my wife, myself, a 14 year-old kid (sleeps on the couch), and a 50 lb lab mix, but it works! We keep it loaded with bedding, shelf-stable food for 2 days, water, and a change of clothing for each of us. What we get in exchange for it being so tight is that it'll easily go anywhere a 4x4 truck can. We don't use the furnace much, but it's so nice to turn it on when making coffee on a cold morning in the mountains. The fridge means we don't have to take a cooler (but sometimes do), and we use it all the time for bringing cold groceries home in the summer, because we live a ways out of town. The hot water and exterior shower are things I didn't know I needed. There's nothing like being clean when we get into a clean bed at the end of a sweaty day. We use the exterior shower for doing dishes, too. The trailer hitch often gets a swing-out bike rack or a platform carrier for extra gear. Our bumper has a swing-out storage box, which is super convenient for things that don't seem to fit elsewhere, or if something is wet or smelly and we don't want it in the cab or camper. The other side of the bumper has a swing-out for a spare tire that I don't use, so I'm planning to convert it to something else. Maybe another storage box with a fold-down galley table since we do most of our cooking outside. An awning on the side of the camper makes sweet and easy shade in the desert. I can tell you more about cheap little things in the camper that help to keep my wife comfy and eager to go out if you want. In terms of our overall lifestyle, we've found the central tenet of behavioral economic rules: If you want to do something more often, make it easier to do. So almost everything about our setup is centered on that idea. The result is that we spend a lot more time exploring new places than we used to. We can head out with very little planning or preparation, and deciding to turn a day trip into an overnight can happen at any time during the trip. We also have a small pop-up camper (early 2000s Fleetwood Cobalt) for when we want more space (needed to add another person) or if we want to leave a camp set up somewhere while taking the truck on day trips, though we only do that a couple times a year. I wouldn't say we have everything perfectly dialed, but we're at least 80% of the way there and finding ways to make it better is fun but not necessary at this point.

 

[tombombadilo]

One down side to our 4WheelCamper setup is that it is not exactly light or cheap (though a lot lighter and cheaper than a lot of other camping rigs we see). If it were just me, or if my wife didn't have arthritis, I might go with something a bit more minimalist like a Go Fast Camper. I had a FlipPac on my old Tacoma for years and it was awesome. It was not what we needed as a family, though.

 

[307]

Our needs might differ from yours, and ours are focused mainly on camping, but here's what works for us. We're in northwestern NM, so mountains and deserts in NM, CO, UT, and AZ are our usual haunts. We have a 4WheelCamper on our Tacoma, and it's been a game changer for us in terms of getting out often and easily for overnight trips. I'll admit that it's a little snug with my wife, myself, a 14 year-old kid (sleeps on the couch), and a 50 lb lab mix, but it works! We keep it loaded with bedding, shelf-stable food for 2 days, water, and a change of clothing for each of us. What we get in exchange for it being so tight is that it'll easily go anywhere a 4x4 truck can. We don't use the furnace much, but it's so nice to turn it on when making coffee on a cold morning in the mountains. The fridge means we don't have to take a cooler (but sometimes do), and we use it all the time for bringing cold groceries home in the summer, because we live a ways out of town. The hot water and exterior shower are things I didn't know I needed. There's nothing like being clean when we get into a clean bed at the end of a sweaty day. We use the exterior shower for doing dishes, too. The trailer hitch often gets a swing-out bike rack or a platform carrier for extra gear. Our bumper has a swing-out storage box, which is super convenient for things that don't seem to fit elsewhere, or if something is wet or smelly and we don't want it in the cab or camper. The other side of the bumper has a swing-out for a spare tire that I don't use, so I'm planning to convert it to something else. Maybe another storage box with a fold-down galley table since we do most of our cooking outside. An awning on the side of the camper makes sweet and easy shade in the desert. I can tell you more about cheap little things in the camper that help to keep my wife comfy and eager to go out if you want. In terms of our overall lifestyle, we've found the central tenet of behavioral economic rules: If you want to do something more often, make it easier to do. So almost everything about our setup is centered on that idea. The result is that we spend a lot more time exploring new places than we used to. We can head out with very little planning or preparation, and deciding to turn a day trip into an overnight can happen at any time during the trip. We also have a small pop-up camper (early 2000s Fleetwood Cobalt) for when we want more space (needed to add another person) or if we want to leave a camp set up somewhere while taking the truck on day trips, though we only do that a couple times a year. I wouldn't say we have everything perfectly dialed, but we're at least 80% of the way there and finding ways to make it better is fun but not necessary at this point.

Great post. Welcome to Rokslide.

Paragraphs are cool.

 

[tombombadilo]

A. Get a 6.5ft bed. You WILL run out of room with the small bed and you will not have any issues with the wheelbase.

B. Topper. One with an integrated tent if that's your style.

This is easy. And there is a reason everyone gravitates to those two things.

BTW F150 toppers even with integrated tents like GFC, AT Atlas, etc are pretty easy to find on FB marketplace.

Agreed! Toppers with integrated tents kick ass. I spent hundreds of nights in my old FlipPac, and the newer ones like GFC look much better than what I had. I kinda wish that type of rig still worked for me, but a less minimalist truck camper turned out to be what my family really needed. I made a longer post on that elsewhere in this thread.

 

[307]

Don't you people have wind? I'm from Wyoming. A rooftop tent sounds like the seventh ring of hell. I'd put mine in a hole in the ground if I could.