Actually rubber bungees will give and stretch a long way before they fail, I drove flatbed tractor trailers for 6 or so years, and Our tarps were held down with rubber bungees in all weather conditions, the key is to use the right amount of them.
Plywood and tarps are to different things Let’s just say I don’t want to drive beside you
If anybody else is thinking along this line, you need 1/2" Baltic Birch 5x5 sheet, marine grade preferable. Water seal is worthless - paint it all around (with several layers on the end grain) with a bombproof automotive paint to match the truck. Use U strut channel for the side attachment - you have to slide it in to be safe, and the locking tailgate will secure it. MUCH more secure than a rollup and will last longer. Rollups don't last and don't hold snow.
who you calling redneck, gator?
that's just plain dumb. it's a pickup.
Need 5x5 baltic birch ply - no problem.
nope - 1 sheet Need 5x5 baltic birch ply - no problem. Slide it in U channel, done.
too complicated - Need 5x5 baltic birch ply - no problem.
nope. Need 5x5 baltic birch ply - no problem.
The Baltic birch I'm seeing uses interior-grade glue, I could order a 5' x 10' sheet of ACX for about the same cost, if 2 people would be willing to share.
This is false. I have always used Truxedo rollups with velcro sides to keep tension. Never had a problem with snow or ever had one wear out for the life of the truck. Even their cheapest models last and function just fine. Adding more slats or higher quality materials just makes them even better.
I mean that sucks for you but some of those cheap mass produced trifold that your charged tons for are garbage and fail more than you hear about. But again have seen many homemade yet to see one come off even the ones held down with bungees. If your homemade topper is sealed correctly and the bungee keeps that seal compressed no air can get in to pull it off to begin with.. I will be doing mine similar to the video I posted just because it's more secure from others trying to break in. But would feel comfortable with the bungee setup
What, do you sell bungee cords? The early cars used leather belts as hold downs, Jeep uses hard thick rubber hold downs. No engineer at any car company would ever say “ let’s just use bungee cords to hold that down” They would get laughed at and be stripped of their engineer degree.
No, no stock what so ever and yes you are correct a car company would get laughed at for mass production vehicles getting that. But that's what it's considered a homemade tonneau not everything has to be engineered to death. I realize your from California land of extreme caution I mean heck even water gives u cancer in CA. But for the average joe that isn't an engineer and had literally seen hundreds of sheets of plywood held down by bungees and be fine at highway speeds I will not be taking you opinions that it will fail as facts. Yes someone may build a setup that fails but hey wasn't you the one that said the manufactured one fail so I mean did that engineer get laughed at for a part failing... if you feel unsafe by a bungee being used don't use one simple but to tell someone else not to because your professionally built topper failed is stupid.
Please keep us posted when you get it. I am very interested in how secure these are. I occasionally have to park in areas that are sketchy AF and security is a big concern.
