I'm having a BedSlide custom made and wanted to get your thoughts on the design aspects of it. I posted this on the other forum and got lots of great feedback, including people who had made one on their own. If you have experience with this, would you share your results.

I had a BedSlide on my Avalanche and loved it - but the thought of getting one on my F150 always set me off because the slide (by design) wastes space. Here's what I mean ... a typical BedSlide would waste the space in blue:



So I asked Slide-Master if they could extend the deck to compensate for the space. They had done one previously for another customer that looked like this:




Since I don't care for the harsh right angles midway up, they are going to transition at 45* angles instead of 90* (which gives slightly more deck space). The lip around the edge is 2" ... I asked them to shorten the lip at the tailgate to 1" in height.

I've also replaced the **** shown in their picture with an auto-locking push / pull handle, like this one found on the BedSlide model:



Here is a general mock-up of the bed:



Any thoughts on the design or things I might have overlooked. The basic model (just a rectangle) is usually $503 from this company. Add the aluminum deck and spring loaded locking handle and the price jumps up to $645. The added fabrication takes the overall cost to $857.

 

I like what you're doing. I would only bother adding the extra "wings" in the corner pockets if you plan to carry something large enough to span that width. Otherwise those corners are very accessible as soon as you lower the tailgate (so making that part slide wouldn't do much for me). It all depends on what you're planning to haul or carry. If it were me, I'd probably save the money on the custom fabrication and skip the wings (plus I don't like having that weld at the waist where the 2 panels join in the middle of the bed).

 

If it were me, and there was an opportunity to utilize the otherwise wasted space then I would definitely do it. I'm sure there will be an added cost and if that added cost would be worth it then I would surely go for it. You never know when that extra space will pay for itself.

You must be an engineer. LOL!