Composite ute tray

[ai4kk]

Building a flatbed for my T100 and was planning to use aluminum, but then found nidacore which seems very useful for the purpose. Strong, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive compared to some of the other core materials.
Any thoughts about building a flatbed and fold-down sides from this stuff covered with fiberglass? I'm really trying to cut back on weight as well as I will be asking my truck to haul a homemade truck camper made from the same stuff and pulling a sailboat while travel-nursing..and no, I don't plan to leave the engine or suspension stock either. Looking at a 6.5L GM diesel and grafting the entire front and rear suspension and axles from my old FJ80 that I lost in Hurricane Michael.

 

[shade]

Building a flatbed for my T100 and was planning to use aluminum, but then found nidacore which seems very useful for the purpose. Strong, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive compared to some of the other core materials.
Any thoughts about building a flatbed and fold-down sides from this stuff covered with fiberglass? I'm really trying to cut back on weight as well as I will be asking my truck to haul a homemade truck camper made from the same stuff and pulling a sailboat while travel-nursing..and no, I don't plan to leave the engine or suspension stock either. Looking at a 6.5L GM diesel and grafting the entire front and rear suspension and axles from my old FJ80 that I lost in Hurricane Michael.

If you plan to leave the slide-in camper in the bed full time, you could skip the added weight & complexity of a bed altogether.

 

[rayra]

I'd be worried about the weight of a camper on it. I'd consider using it for side panels. Or even making a tiny camp trailer out of it. How do you close the cut edges, is glassing the only way?

 

[tanuki.himself]

having built my slide in camper out of composite beams and panels i would definitely consider doing this myself. As you are transferring load to a few frame mount points i would use pultruded beams on those and then sandwich over the top for the bed. The deeper the sections you use the stronger it will be - all the bending strength is provided by the top and bottom flanges/skins so the farther they are apart the stronger it is for very little extra weight or cost, and it increases at something like the 4th power, so a small increase can make a big difference.

the advice i got for my camper was to make anywhere likely to receive impacts with an epoxy or vinylester resin as it will absorb damage better than cheaper polyester resin, and i used a combination of chopped strand mat with a woven roving outer layer for added point impact resistance as the longer unbroken fibres will dissipate the energy over a longer distance than the shorter CSM fibres