Trailgate Vehicle Shelter

[numike]

Will this work on the Maverick? If not what do you all recommend/use atm? TY
https://www.rei.com/product/193121/...f_AL-_-2467-_-2906-_-3402&avad=2906_e32f297d5

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[son of a ..sven]

well..the price is right. I think you should try it out, and let us know. Really, it would be great if the part over the bed of the truck covered the sides, or had that option...Interesting post!

 

[paneubert]

I will be the guinea pig. I have a rack over my bed, so my experience will not nesisarily be the same as others. But I will report back about how it works or doesn't work.

 

[fossil]

fair weather sun shade at best, read the reviews before you spend

 

[Maverickman74]

Hawaii is too windy for that. Maybe in low wind camp or tailgate situations but not really a beach thing.

 

[710-oil-614]

Hawaii is too windy for that. Maybe in low wind camp or tailgate situations but not really a beach thing.

Or mountain top thing!

But I am an REI member and I think that should qualify for the outlet pricing and if so, for $58 I'll take a swing and miss.

 

[paneubert]

Or mountain top thing!

But I am an REI member and I think that should qualify for the outlet pricing and if so, for $58 I'll take a swing and miss.

This is why I went for it. I apparently had ~$5 in rewards on my REI account. Plus the REI credit card I think gives me 10% back on REI purchases? I don't use it much, so cant recall.

 

[numike]

Im going to snag one and give it a try I like the look

 

[paneubert]

If not what do you all recommend/use atm? TY

To answer this part of the question, this is what I have done in the past.

Two different version of using a rain fly and poles.

First try:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/-what-did-you-do-to-with-your-maverick-today.4404/post-498967

Second version/try:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/-what-did-you-do-to-with-your-maverick-today.4404/post-514364

 

[caa60126]

consider a sun and RAIN protection combo, the REI looks like a rain catcher.

 

[numike]

nope decided against this one
wait for better

 

[paneubert]

Ok, so I finally got around to doing a super quick and dirty trial run. Did not unzip/extend the front zippered flap to make an even larger "rectangular" flat roof via using some tent poles and guy-lines. The section you see with the big REI logo. This was in my driveway, so could not use any sort of stakes or anything that would need to be driven into the ground, so I skipped any testing that used guy-lines. Also disclaimer that my Mav was at a bit of an angle in my driveway, so one side of the shelter had to be about 6 inches higher off the ground than the other (up on a short retaining wall).

Overall impressions are that it has a TON of straps, clips, loops, etc... for tying it to things or staking it down to things or.....whatever you might need. When you include the super long "tire" straps along with the other straps and loops that are on the "rear" of the shelter (the side that faces the cab of the truck), I think I counted 6? 8? separate attachment points spread along the "rear" of the shelter.

These first few photos are of the shelter if you strapped the "rear" of it to your tires like the instructions say to do. The shape of the material does form a triangle/wing on those tire attachment points so that it forms a bit of extra wind/rain/sun shelter in a triangle shape as it heads towards your tire. By attaching to the tires, I sacrificed a bit of bed coverage by not snugging the other "mid-span" straps to my roof rack. I could have, and it just would have changed the angle of the "tire" straps a bit. As you can see, I had to use some cement blocks to anchor the front of it since I cant drive stakes into my asphalt driveway.

This second set of photos are if you used those tire straps and attached them to something off to the side of the truck like a tree or tent pole with guy-line/anchor, or in my case, the roof rack of my wife's Subaru. Haha. As I mentioned before, the shape of the tent material attached to the "tire strap" does form a triangle/wing on those tire attachment points, so stretching it out horizontally like a roof did provide some extra sun/shade/wind/rain coverage. Not going to keep you dry, but would provide some extra shade. When I did this configuration, I also snugged the mid-span straps to my roof rack so that this now covers essentially 100% of my bed starting at the rear glass.

This photo is of the metal pole and tension strap that keeps things together. Works really well and I did it by myself. The metal pole is pretty beefy, and instead of each section bowing sligtly to make a half circle, 2 (maybe 4) of the sections have a bend in them permanently that form less of a perfect half circle and more like a straight section coming up from the ground and then a bend near the top of each side. I like it. The beige strap you see on the ground is a set length that keeps the bottom of the poles from spreading out once pinned in to the grommets. Makes the entire thing stable. I had a bit of wind when I was setting up, but it did not fly away or get away from me. Other reason for this photo is to show you that they put even more tie down, stake down, snug down options at each place you might want one. In this one photo you can see that you could stake down the beige strap if you wanted to, could also tie or stake down the lighter colored shade material (there is a loop you can sort of see), and you can also snug down the material via that black buckle. This type of double or triple "tensioning"/securing option is present all over this thing. I was pretty impressed.

Thoughts about if I will ever use this in the real world........not sure. Maybe. It definitely might look and work better on a truck with a bed cap on it. But it would work fine for me as well, as long as I am not looking for a 100% rainproof and windproof truck bed.

As you might have seen in one of my earlier comments in this thread, I have played around with some rectangular rain fly's, suction cup hooks, and tent poles/guy line combos that work pretty well to accomplish at least the "rain shelter" aspect of this product.

First try:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/-what-did-you-do-to-with-your-maverick-today.4404/post-498967

Second version/try:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/-what-did-you-do-to-with-your-maverick-today.4404/post-514364

My experiments with those purpose made rain flys did not provide any shelter from wind or any other sort of vertical "wall" to the coverage, but I think I might like those purpose made rain flys options better, even if it means loosing the "wall" that comes with this REI branded shelter.

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