Tested: The Three Levels of Truck-Bed Storage Nirvana

If you’ve read or watched any of my other work for Outside, you know I’m a huge fan of pickups for adventure rigs. They’re capable, comfortable, and supremely versatile.

You can leave a truck bed open and empty for hauling dirty stuff regularly, or build out the back with an entire custom camping setup. I’ve done both of those things, and my current truck, a 2018 Toyota Tundra, has served as a revolving door of various bed setups since I bought it in 2022. I’ve tried a tonneau cover, a Decked Drawer System, a Leitner bed rack, a Frontrunner bed rack, and a traditional fiberglass camper shell. I’ve also hauled two different full-sized truck campers, and had a lightweight shell-style camper on the back with various storage solutions inside.

I ran Decked Drawers for years in the Tundra and my two previous trucks, and loved them. I’ve written about the older model several times, but to recap, they’re a great way to organize all the crap in the bed of your truck, and keep your gear out of the elements if you have an open bed. They’re bombproof, have an incredibly high payload rating, and you can purchase a variety of accessories like boxes, bags and dividers that help make organization even easier. So, if they’re so great, why did I pull them out of my Tundra last year? I got a Tune M1 camper on the truck and needed more room—I was too tall to stand up straight inside the camper when the drawers were installed. That’s part of the reasoning, but frankly I also wanted to test out some different options and see if another system might suit my adventure rig needs better.

No. 3: Keep it Simple

Dometic GO Hard Storage 50L
$150 at Backcountry $150 at Dometic

The first system I tried wasn’t really a system—I went back to using storage bins. Drawers are handy and a very cool thing to have in the back of your truck, but there are some downsides: they’re heavy, they take up a ton of space, and, as the old saying goes, if they’re there, you’ll find a way to fill them. I often found myself leaving things in the drawers that didn’t need to be there all the time (think camping gear, an excessive amount of tools, extraneous recovery gear, etc.) just because I had the space. All that stuff adds up, and you can easily find yourself with an additional 200-plus pounds worth of crap living in your rig, which affects gas mileage, wear and tear on the truck, and more.

The funniest part is that I found myself constantly taking things out of the drawers and putting them away in (wait for it) bins in my garage. I have a lot of gear-intensive hobbies, like mountain biking, hunting, skiing, and fly fishing, and after a while I got tired of constantly moving gear from one bin to another in the back of the truck. So, I thought, why not just move the same bin to the truck and then to the shelf when I’m done? Because I (and the overland industry) had convinced myself that drawers were a necessity, that’s why.

In making my transition, I tested several different storage containers in an attempt to find the perfect bin: it needed to be durable but lightweight, large enough to fit all sorts of bulky gear, and reasonably priced. I tested options from SidioCrate, Frontrunner, Rux, Yeti, and more, but my favorite is the Dometic GO Hard Storage 50L. It’s a simple, dust-proof and waterproof aluminum storage bin with built-in handles and tie down points, and durable, easy to use rubber latches. You can lock them shut, they’re stackable, and they’re durable enough to use as a step or seat around camp.

The best part is they only weigh about nine pounds on their own, and cost $150, which is a bargain compared to some of the similar-looking options marketed toward more “hardcore” overlanders. I’ve found the Dometic GO 50-liter bin to be extremely durable, and just the right size to pack whatever I need. It’ll easily hold a camp stove like a Jetboil Genesis, plus enough cookware and cups for four people, or a tent and a couple sleeping bags.

No. 2: The Splurge

TruckVault Base Camp 3 Storage System

From $4420 at TruckVault
Though I’d found my perfect bin, I kept wanting to try a stacked drawer setup that would let me have some built-in storage while retaining bed space and standing height in the camper. So, I decided to try another, built-in storage system I’d been eyeing for a long time: TruckVault’s Base Camp 3 system. TruckVault is known for its bombproof, custom drawer setups for trucks and SUVs, and for its security-oriented storage solutions for military and first responders. If you’re concerned about gear getting stolen, TruckVault is who you want to talk to.

Recently, the brand introduced its Base Camp line, marketed toward overlanders and outdoor enthusiasts. I went with the Base Camp 3 because it has stacked drawers on one side, and a removable sleeping platform in the middle that allows me to simply slide it out of the way to fully stand up and walk around in the camper without hitting my head. Like the rest of TruckVault’s products, the drawers are also lockable, which is great for securing expensive gear. With my truck’s tailgate locked and the drawers locked inside, I never worry about things getting stolen from the back.

Each system is built specifically for your exact truck, and once you select the drawers and options you want, the resulting system is shipped pre-built. That meant installation was incredibly simple. You just have to drill a few holes in the bed and install rivnuts, and then bolt the drawers down. Everything fits like a glove, and the fit and finish, as well as function of the drawers, is second to none. Overall, the installation was far easier and less time-consuming than installing a Decked Drawer System, which I’ve done three times now. The TruckVault drawers are also easy to remove with two people, since it just involves removing a few bolts.

What’s cool about TruckVault is that in addition to the base models they offer, you can customize everything. In my case, I opted to put the stacked drawer on the passenger side of the truck bed, and rather than one long sliding drawer on top, I had them divide it between a shorter drawer and two “cubbies” that I could access from inside the camper. That has worked great for me because it allows me to easily grab gear from the drawers while I’m outside of the truck, but I can also keep things I need quick access to at night in the cubbies. That means that, unlike with the Decked system, I don’t have to get out of the truck and open the drawers to grab my headlamp or earplugs in the middle of the night.

Since my camper has a bed above the cab, I don’t often use the lower sleeping platform as a bed. But I do love the fact that I can use it for guests if I need to, or store things like my bow case underneath it, away from prying eyes. It would be an incredible camping solution under a regular camper shell, and I’ve found that the platform—in combination with the cubbies underneath—to be a much more effective use of space than drawers alone. While I’m a huge fan of the setup, there are downsides: my system came in at 343 pounds, and it ran me $4,660 shipped.

That’s a lot of weight and money, but what you get is a very high quality, bombproof storage setup that’s easy to install and can be customized to your exact needs. If you’ve got the dough and the payload capacity, there’s no better setup than the Base Camp line.

No 1: The Goldilocks Setup

BamBeds Lengthwise Bed Platform 

$800 at BamBeds

In my quest to find the perfect storage solution, I also tested a truck bed platform system from a new company called BamBeds. BamBeds systems are sort of the antithesis to the TruckVault setup I tested, and are great for very different reasons. The company makes wooden platforms for the back of pickups that allow folks to sleep on top and store gear underneath. It’s a simple concept that DIY truck campers have been doing for decades now, but BamBeds is the perfect solution for anyone with a truck who doesn’t have the time, tools, or skills to build a platform themselves. A BamBed for a long-bed Tacoma runs just $500, and consists of three birch panels custom-made to slide into the truck bed above the wheel well and rest on the stock ledge. The brand makes a host of accessories like sliders, and it caters to the DIY crowd by offering a deep library of recommendations for other additions, like foldable mattresses or bins that are just the right size to fit the system.

The platform for my Tundra works a bit differently due to the nature of the bed, and it consists of three modular sections of plywood that run lengthwise, plus support legs underneath. You can remove the center panels for more standing room if you need it. The platform itself supports up to 1,500 pounds, and everything installs quickly without any tools, thanks to the ingenious rotating locks they designed for the legs.

The whole thing also only weighs about 100 pounds, so it’s a heck of a lot lighter than a dedicated drawer setup and far easier to remove. I’m a big fan of the sleep platform as a no-nonsense storage solution, and I actually think it’s a better option than dedicated drawers for most people.

The only downside to the system I’ve been testing is that, since it requires support legs, anything you put underneath the platform has to fit between the legs. That gives you less flexibility than having the unencumbered width of your truck bed like you would with a Tacoma-sized BamBed. Overall, though, I think BamBeds are a simple, lightweight and affordable storage solution for anyone with a truck, and you’d be hard pressed to DIY something as high quality without some serious woodworking skills.

The Bottom Line

So, what did I end up running long term? I have yet to answer that question. The TruckVault Base Camp 3 is damn near perfect for my needs, but it does add a lot of weight to the truck and suffers from the “if you have the space, you’ll find a way to fill it,” issue that all drawer systems seem to enable. The BamBed is a simple, versatile platform, and if I drove a Tacoma or a newer Tundra, I would definitely run it because the design allows for more unencumbered storage. For most users, this is likely the way to go. Long term, though, I may end up running just the one driver-side drawer from the Base Camp 3 and leaving the other out, or perhaps building a custom galley or storage cabinet out of 80/20 aluminum. For now, though, it’ll be some combination of the above—and, of course, a few Dometic GO bins for good measure.