Truck Camping Modular Side Shelf

I saw a photo of a truck bed side shelf, on social media, so I decided to make my own variation on it. We camp quite a bit in the back of my truck, and have a GoFastCamper topper (GFC). My truck has a very short bed, only 5.5' long, so space is at a premium. In cold/rainy weather, it's great to sit in my truck bed, and the GFC topper makes it very roomy and comfortable, and I thought a side shelf would be a great addition. The space above the wheel well, and on either side of it is awkward/unused, and this makes it more useful.

Go to gofastcampers.com if you want to see the camper/topper- they're made in Bozeman Montana, by great folks.

https://www.duluthtrading.com/s/DTC/heavy-duty-square-milk-crate-24630.html?color=BLK

So, this is basically just a couple of milk crates, with a board on top, for a shelf. These crates are available many places, but for this project, I wanted them all to be uniform in color, and nice and clean, so I bought them from Duluth Trading Company, for $10/each. These are exactly like the ones you see in alleys everywhere, and are quite sturdy. These are not the cheap Ikea/thin plastic ones, they can hold quite a bit of weight.

I had to cut a little bit out of one, to make it fit around the wheel well of my very short truck bed- I just clamped the crate to a work bench, after marking with a silver sharpie, and made the cuts carefully with a cordless circular saw. A Jigsaw would work great for this as well, they cut pretty easy. I set it in place, to see if it would fit. Pretty simple...

If you have a longer bed truck, you might not even have to do this, the crates probably fit on either side of your wheel wells.

I bought an extra crate to "sacrifice" to make the openings have a half-stop (I don't know what else to call it?) so items in the crates wouldn't slide out while I was driving. I thought I'd have to cut up a whole crate, but quickly realized that if I carefully cut one piece out of a crate, it would work as a "finished" crate, with the opening I wanted, and the piece I cut out could be attached to another crate.

I used a drill bit that was just a little bit larger than the zip ties I had laying around- then I trimmed the zip ties (cause we're not savages!).....

I also cut a thin piece of plywood that I had laying around to create a bottom for the crates, so small items would not fall through the gaps in the crate- it just finishes them nicely, too.

I really like the way these work for modular storage, to keep small things like propane, my cook stove, etc. from sliding around the truck. And I can still take them out when I need to use my truck bed like a truck bed, not a camper.

I used some leftover stain and poly I had in the basement to put a finish on the $9 1'X12'X4' board from Home Depot. I didn't even have to cut the board, it was just the right length I needed- a little short on the back side, near the front of the truck, but you don't really notice...

To "attach" the shelf, so it doesn't slide off while driving, I just put some velcro on the bottom of the board, and on the top of the crates- it was self-adhesive velcro, but since it didn't really stick all that well to the wood shelf, I stapled it in place. It's not super-strong, but it gets the job done, and has held it well so far.

I just used a 48" bungie strap, and hooked it to the built in hooks in my truck bed, to hold the bottom crates in place. This way, I can take it all out, if I need to haul stuff, and it could be used as a side table, while camping, too. Pretty easy to put in and take out!