FS: A.R.E. DCU Cap for Ford 6' Bed

[Every Miles A Memory]

We're kicking around some ideas of ditching the A.R.E. DCU Cap we had built for our truck to move to a Custom Flatbed. The A.R.E. is a great platform to build out of and has treated us very well.

Cap has an aluminum roof top rack that came stock from the factory. I then had extra aluminum supports welded on to beef it up.

We had the guys at Aluminess weld on some spreader bars that can be used to hold kayaks, bikes or anything else you might want to put up there. I also screwed down aluminum expanded metal so I could walk up there when strapping down the kayaks

The cap has a lockable tool box on the drivers side

The passenger side has the win-door (Dual Tinted Windows) that is also lockable and allows easy access to equipment stored in the front of the bed

The rear barn doors have tinted windows and heavy duty locks on them too

The inside roof is carpeted from the factory so if you want to sleep in there, condensation wont be dripping on your head

New this cap cost us over $3000 before we added anything to it. It has some minor pin-striping on it from using it as a vehicle we've lived out of for the past 4 years on the road. I'd like to get $2000 obo out of it.

I'm not sure how we'd ship this if you needed it delivered, that would be up to you, but I'd be willing to help out getting it to a shipping location out of Gainesville FL (Nearest Major City) if need be.

We currently live in Cedar Key Florida and anyone is welcome to come check it out in person.

This is the way it's currently set up with the Camping Lab RTT. Pretty sweet set-up. If the cap sells, then I'll probably sell the RTT if anyone is interested in the combo (I'll make a sweet deal as a combo) or wants the RTT separate.

 

[Athabasca]

If I wasnt on the other side of the continent Id be keen GLWS

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Since I've gotten a few emails asking about why we're selling this, I thought I'd post an exert from our blog where I talked about it a few days ago

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I haven't talked about it in awhile, but we've been kicking around some ideas for our truck. If you remember awhile back, we were driving down the road when we had a rear tire blow out that ended up doing some damage to the rear fender.

Right now we're driving around with a jacked up fender and riding on the old, rusty steel rim. The truck looks really bad and I'd rather have it looking pretty like it's always been.

The entire time Cindy and I have been traveling, we've always kicked around the idea of swapping our bed for a Utility Bed or a Flat Bed. The A.R.E. Cap has been great, but it has its drawbacks.

I'm so short, that loading anything onto the top of it is a major chore. It means we always have to carry a ladder for me to load kayaks or anything up onto the roof. The availability of storing things inside the cap means it's always jammed full of crap which drives me insane.

The motorcycle has always ridden on the back of the camper with the custom hitch/rack we had made. That has major draw backs as it's hard on the camper, it's impossible to see if it's still back there and it's a bugger to load and unload.

If we had a flat bed, a simple ramp would keep the bike within easy view on the bed of the truck. It would give us so much more visibility and I can only imagine how much weight it would save us compared to the standard bed and that big A.R.E. cap.

I've been looking around and I cant really find any Utility Boxes that I like, and I think if we were to go that route, we'd end up cramming all the boxes with so much crap that it would get as heavy if not heavier than what we're carrying now.

Cindy and I have both agreed that we like the minimalist approach and would like to streamline what we have and what we carry. By the time we ended up in Cedar Key, much of the stuff we were carrying around with us was just being stored and rarely used.

EBY Aluminum Flat Bed on a 4 Door Ford - Photo from the EBY Website​

Moving to an Aluminum Flat Bed would mean we'd save weight all the way around and quite frankly, it would look really nice. A couple of boxes hung under the bed would hold a few of our necessities and would keep the clutter to a minimum.

If we kept the kayaks, we could just put the Yakama racks on the roof of the truck and the backs of them would hang over the flat bed. This would be so simple to load them like that! Or we could always have a rack made that would go around the flat bed and the kayaks would ride on that rack? These are all things that would be figured out at a later date, right now we're still trying to decide which route to go.

We have both talked about it, and I think we're going to sell our motorcycle and find a smaller moped to carry around. Don't ask me why, but Cindy wont ride the motorcycle because she says it scares her. Mopeds on the other hand, she has no problem with??? It must be a girl thing?

I've been looking around at some options and Yamaha makes a Zuma that is a 125cc moped. It'll go quite fast if you're on a HWY or a road that requires you to go a bit faster, but 90% of the time we used the motorcycle, it was when we were inside a city or a small town and wanted to use it just to cruise around and see the sights at a slower pace. The Zuma also has an 89mpg fuel efficiency which is better than the 50mph we're getting with the current motorcycle.

I think the aluminum flat bed would help us save fuel efficiency on the truck too. I cant prove this before we actually make the switch, but I would think saving hundreds of pounds compared to the cap and stock bed would account for some fuel savings. Plus the aluminum is a recycled and recyclable product, which only keeps within our green ideas.

With the aluminum flat bed, the Zuma could ride right on the back and be kept out of the wind stream, be seen very easily from inside the cab of the truck and heck, I would have to do some measuring, but it might even be able to ride sideways across the bed so loading it would be as simple as riding it up an aluminum ramp we could attach to one side of the bed, then moving the ramp to the other side when you want to ride it down and go scouting around on the moped.

That was simply done in Photochop, but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. This is what we'll be working on over the next couple of months. If anyone is interested in buying the A.R.E. Cap, the Suzuki DRZ400SM motorcycle or our Camping Lab Roof Top Tent, all of these will going up for sale.

Cindy and I recently did an interview with a fellow RV'er who has his own travel forum. Here is a link if you're interested in reading the questions Shane asked us.

 

[Rovertrader]

Several thoughts- the first of which is my interest in the cap. I have an '11 SB F-250, so would only need paint, but my budget is $1500 max-thoughts?? We have spoken in the past, and this would be a good 'reason' to finally get down and visit...
Second, I have a UTE alum flat bed on my PW, and have had a conventional flat bed long bed in the past. The shortbed version is actually 7' square, and I would caution the longbed model being too much for tight spots/trails/etc. I am getting ready to put my PW back to stock, and we could perhaps do a bit of trading, and you could fit the UTE to your existing truck, or one of similar size. Also, remember your current bed is 4'x6.5' between the wheel wells, and the UTE is 7'x7', or almost double the usable flat area!! Check my PW thread for pics.
My thought pattern has left me, sorry- but pm if interested.
Cheers!!

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

I like the looks of that flat bed! I'll shoot ya a PM with my thoughts

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Cap is Off the Market as it's being sold/swapped to Rovertrader for the UTE Bed!

 

[Rovertrader]

three weeks and counting....
thanks so much!!