“When are you going to put that thing in?” A legitimate question my wife posed to me about the box sitting next to her car labeled “TruckVault” that had arrived 4 days earlier and was “still” sitting there. To be honest I was a little worried that this was going to be a project that would take more hours than I had time for at night after work.
I wasn’t a TruckVault guy at first, while on their website I read the words “composite” and “carpeting”, then thought about our awesome NW Florida summer humidity and said nope, not happening. But SOFREP Managing Editor Guy McCardle told me they were going to be at SHOT Show Industry Day and I needed to check them out so I did. I spoke with Lisa Herrera and her team at Industry Day and learned that TruckVault has many Public Safety and Law Enforcement contracts in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and more especially along the Gulf Coast where I live. I learned about the seal on each drawer protecting the contents from dust and the elements, the all-weather coating that insulates and protects from the elements, and the proven fire protection. The all-weather coating is something that affords many benefits and comes standard on the pickup series, check out how it performs in the extreme fire test here.
I spoke with two Florida Wildlife Commission Officers who use TruckVaults and they both agreed, TruckVault was an essential piece of equipment which made their lives and jobs both safer and easier. The first officer had spent over 15 years on the Gulf Coast and his first truck had a TruckVault that was over 12 years old before it started to warp but the drawers were still functional and waterproof. Both officers stored their trucks outside and had endured hurricanes, tropical storms, the ice storm, summer humidity and heat along with rain and more rain. Choosing TruckVault for my in bed storage system was an easy choice, but now I had to get it installed.
After some emails back and forth I had a TruckVault order placed and I waited anxiously. When it arrived it came boxed and on a pallet via freight delivery with two big men who were terrified of my dog Layla. After Range Day I used the tractor to smoothly move and position the TruckVault in the back of my truck and started installing the hardware.
The first part is to position the vault correctly, in the center of the bed, after that then the install is straight forward and simple. Install the Gussets using a screwdriver or a powered driver as I did, install the end pieces and then finger tighten the turnbuckles and use an open end wrench to tighten the lock nut. Congratulations, you’re done with the major part of the install and it only took just over an hour to do!
I put in the side pieces and added my “Geek Tie Downs”, AKA used computer power cords which stay pliable in all weather, to the included D rings, stashed a few items in the side channels and went to work with the drawers. NOTE, the side channel covers are not made to be waterproof so the items I stash here are able to withstand water.
The Vault came with two vertical (long length) dividers and 3 horizontal dividers to which I added another horizontal one. I’m not sure if I’ve got the best use of those dividers at the moment but it’s easy to change them so I can move things around as needed.
TruckVault is lockable, counts as secure storage for my weapons, can help keep food cold and store my equipment out of the elements. I can still use the bed of my truck and I have available tie downs, it comes with a three year warranty, a spectacular track record, and awesome customer service. Most of all, they listen to people and constantly innovate to make their products better. The product line today isn’t the same as it was two years ago and they have already released the next line called the “Pro Line” .
I wish I would have had this in Puerto Rico and on the border! Garfield out.
