For years, we traveled with no cover of the bed of our Ford F250 pickup truck (also known as SEEMORE). The reason was simple: our chosen generator, a Yamaha EF3000iSEB, was a little too tall to fit beneath most covers. The generator was always locked and chained in place, and the other contents of the bed were relatively worthless. (Do you really want to steal our dump station gloves?)
What about a truck bed cap? Certainly the generator would fit beneath a hard fiberglass bed cap (you know the kind) and such a cap would offer enhanced security as well.
Yet a cap does not come without its downsides. Visibility out the rear of the truck cab is greatly restricted anytime you place a large opaque object behind it. In other words, you can’t see diddly squat out the rear windows once you install a cap. For some, this is a worthwhile trade off. For me, I wanted to retain that visibility more than I wanted the cap. When we are visiting certain national parks, I appreciate the ability to view wildlife out the back. Plus, there are times that I actually move to the bed of the truck and shoot from there. (I guess there’s a first time for everything, but I’ve never seen a bison jump into the bed of a pickup truck and gore a person.)
So SEEMORE has lived most of his life as a happy nudist. But matters changed when we acquired a couple of new Briggs & Stratton generators. These generators are simply a couple of inches shorter than our old Yamaha. Now we can equip SEEMORE with a cover and lose very little in terms of functionality.
Overall I’m pleased with the cover we chose — it’s a Tri-Fold model by Tonno Pro. A pretty good value, the cover is attractive and easily installed and/or removed. You don’t get one of these soft covers so much for security, but rather for protection from the elements. Objects in the bed of the pickup truck are now kept dry, and are also protected from the ravages of the sun. Plus, it’s a nice clean look.
If we ever decide we don’t want to use the cover, we can easily remove it in a matter of minutes. (So can a thief, but that’s another story.)
Is this cover the greatest ever invented? Probably not, but it is an affordable and versatile option that has satisfied me so far. In fact, I like it so much I’ll probably keep my eyes open for other options down the road. Although I miss the turnkey electric start of my Yamaha generator, I really like having a tonneau cover on our truck.