Tonneau Cover

[KenaiGary]

Not having a garage to tuck my 61 WM300 in, I was concerned about how the nice wood bed would deal with our Alaskan winters. With the snow, ice, freeze and thawing, I decided to have a custom tonneau cover made by a local upholsterer. I think they did a nice job. While I didn't like the thought of putting snaps on the bed rail in a few places, I believe it will help preserve the wood and provides cover for when I haul stuff.



Some may not like it, but it serves my purpose and circumstances.

[JStinson]

I think it looks great!

[Frank Irons]

I think it looks great!

I agree, it looks good and serves the purpose.

Frank

[Brutus I]

I like it! Sharp looking truck too! What did the cover cost you?

[KenaiGary]

Tonneau Cover

Yeah, the place that did it is called the Poofy Puffin. I'd always thought it was some frilly female place that made pillows and quilts, but I visited their place and learned they did all kinds of stuff to include vehicle seats, headliners, boat tops and more; great craftsmanship. It's a husband/wife team and I plan to have them make me a radiator cover for the winter.

Cost was not cheap, $430, but things aren't in Alaska. It is top quality.

[Jerry Henry]

It looks really good on the truck. I had a '55 Chevy and a '56 Ford with a tonneau cover. This was in Calif. I don't have to tell you, in your climate, you will need to be quick with the broom to keep the rain, snow and ice from collapsing it.

[maineSS]

You could add a set of bows, if there's enough extra material in the cover- that would support it for an overnight dump of snow.

[Doc Dave]

Gary,
Looks good!
One caveat I heard about with covers with snaps is, however, if you take it off in cold weather, it shrinks enough where you can't replace it due to the shrinkage effecting the snaps position on the cover vs. the bed. A friend of mine had to take a hair dryer to heat the cover to get it to stretch back.
So, be careful if you take it off in the winter.
For my modern pickup, I got a cover called an Agricover that uses velcro rather than snaps, and so is not effected by the cold weather shrinkage. However, I am not sure how easy you could have one custom made for a power wagon bed design.

[Blaszer]

Just lay the cover over the bed....Drop your tailgate and set a torpedo heater on it pointing inside the bed...5 minutes and you will be in good shape!

[KenaiGary]

Tonneau Cover

I made an upgrade to it yesterday to strengthen it under a snow load. I cut four 2x4s and put them in the stake pockets, cut two 1x2s to go across the bed, screwed them down to the 2x4s and put some thin padding on the edges. You can't see them and they'll help it from sagging, before i get a chance to brush it off when we get the big snows overnight. Also when I want to take the cover off, I can just pull out the wood supports as two units and set them aside. Quick and easy.

[Jerry Henry]

Sounds like your support strips will help you out. I'm sure your snow is dryer and lighter in weight that some of the stuff we get here in Idaho.

[KenaiGary]

Tonneau Cover

We get some of that wet stuff in the fall and spring, but when it looks like that I'm hoping I can convince the wife to let me park it in her garage. I finally convinced her that she needed a remote start for her Jeep and that will be installed Thur, hahaha. Now she can't argue that by letting her rig sit out in the cold that it will be too cold for her in the morning.

I just get to hit the remote start before she gets up in the morning. I tested the theory last week telling her my PW needed to sit inside all week due to the rains and my leaky windshield, and if she gave up her space I would start her Jeep each morning. She was happy. Also told her that my truck was 50 years old and his bones are aching (like mine) and her rig is just nine years old. That also seemed to help.

Where in Idaho do you live? I went to the University of Idaho for a year in 1976 and built a log cabin near Deary and Bovil north of Moscow. Pretty far out in the sticks and haven't been back to see it in the last 28 years. We built it stout so I am optimistic it's still there.

[Jerry Henry]

I'm in Sandpoint, About 70 miles south of the Canadian border.
We've been here since 1971.
Sounds like your wife is cooperating with you on the truck. My wife would do the same, if need be. Fortunately I am a builder and have one garage for her car and my '06 Dodge Ram and another for trucks and working on them. Then again, being a builder isn't so fortunate right now, in this economy.
Jerry

[KenaiGary]

Tonneau Cover

Beautiful country, Jerry, and I spent some time up there. If I couldn't live in Alaska, we were going to look in that area and Great Falls.

Three years ago, I wanted to lengthen and raise the height on my garage so I could get my F-350 crew cab with camper in it. That led to my wife saying maybe we should consider redoing the kitchen, which eventually wound up as a full gutting and complete remodel of our main floor. The designer pushed the kitchen and laundry room into part of my garage resulting in my original two-car garage turning into one that would fit her Jeep and a subcompact. By the time all was said and done, there wasn't enough money to lengthen the garage. She got a remodeled house and I lost half the original garage.

Sold the F-350 a year later and bought a new Ford Fiesta which is great for commuting and gets 38 mpg combined. Good thing about all this is that after being truckless for quite awhile she understood that I needed another truck...and then I bought my 61 WM-300.

Now I need a place to work on my grandson's 50 B-2-PW so here we go again.

[Jerry Henry]

I know what you mean. After over 40 years in building/remodeling, I know which rooms in the house take precedence and which parts take a back seat. But it sounds like she sympathizes with your needs now, and I'm sure the future project for your grandson will carry some weight toward the need for more work space. Good luck. Jerry