Truck Bed Cover Ideas

[wyatt]

That's the one I saw! He has quite the following, and his craftsmanship puts my model to shame! I've heard this one said, "There's nothing new under the sun", and it applies here too I guess.

[fud2468]

Using Bondo's design, could the shape be extended (at the same angle) a couple of feet beyond the tailgate with additional FE benefit?
At least in California the law used to allow something to extend up to 3 feet beyond the rear of the vehicle without having to hang a red flag on it--not sure if that's still the law or not.
Of course that would complicate the rear lighting issue.
Ray Mac

[Cd]

Originally Posted by wyatt

I have had an idea for a bed cover for a while, but now that I know how to use Google SketchUp well enough to make poor drawings, I don't feel as bad posting my ideas.


Basicly a typical truck looks like this.


Most of the bed covers that people look into making look like this, or aren't even tapered at the end.


What I am thinking looks more like this. With the tail gate down there would be a lot less trailing edge.


Or with the "fins" tapered down. Obviously the fin tapers would have to be clear for the tail lights.

Is there a reason for not doing this? The reasons I can think of are:

• The amount of volume is reduced.
• There may be additional turbulence created by the "fins".
• The angle may be too steep depending on truck

Are there others that I'm just not thinking of? I know Phil Knox didn't do this, so I figure there must be a reason. I don't have a truck to do this on, but I suggested it to my dad and he said it would be too much hassle to get in and out, so he wanted nothing to do with it... but I thought maybe someone else would.

Rising this thread back from the dead, because I missed it originally, and another site had a link to this thread Arerodynamics - MJ Tech - Comanche Club Forums
( It's nice to see a truck forum not bad mouthing EM and taking it serious )

So I too have thought of that fourth design, ( haven't we all ) and I was wondering if the question was ever answered, regarding what makes the 'finned' version an inferior design. ( never-mind the angle of the aero shell - I'm just talking about the sides of the truck that become the 'fins' of this design. )

I'm guessing there would be no benefit because you would still get the spill over that results in a vortex. The air in that area is moving upward to where the tail-lights are and spilling over, not going straight back like we think it would.

[freebeard]

Batman Junior & wyatt -- That would be ZZTop's Cadzilla; possibly the finest custom car ever.

I think the designs are reasonable, just add a circular arc instead of the angle and flat top.

Edit: Just noticing now that it's a zombie thread. Cadzilla is still the best.

[rumdog]

Wow that looks slick, nice pics. Too bad they are probably mega vortex generators. But sometimes style is worth it!