so i'm making a homemade tonneau

i was gonna use plywood with vinyl but i kinda changed my mind and i'm thinking a single piece of sheet metal. i can make all the supports and shit. but would sheet metal be too heavy? what do you guys think about this whole thing in general? ill take pics as i go so i can post them when i'm done or as i go

im in the process right now making a tonneau cover. i thought about the sheet metal but i think that it would get fairly heavy since youll probably have to make a frame for it.

im just making one out of plywood and covering it in vinyl. it will open in to spots and its guna b held on with hood pins instead of hinging it.

Interesting topic. Just made a tonneau for my F150. More of a temporary tonneau though - making a trip to the inlaws and wanted a dry place for luggage and presents. Built mine out of 2x4's and a sheet of 1/2" OSB. Covered it with opaque white poly sheeting. Keeps the snow out

what did you use for the hinges?? not trying to jack the thread... just trying to get some info that might be helpful to u aswell effdbmx1

thats a good idea. i was thinking about sheet metal and i realized that it would get dented too easily. and if i got a thick enough piece that wouldn't dent, it would be way to heavy. i also want to be able to paint it. is yours waterproof or can it be waterproofed pretty easily if you tried?

ya no problem. i'm thinking i'll go to home depot and get some good ones and then just modify them to work. and then buy some strong shocks for it

actually i'll probably not have shocks. it the tonneau would be for show and i dont really use my bed so if i need to i can just hold it up once i a while

my suggestion would be to make a mold out of wood. you can make a mold out of anything and then spray it with a releasing agent and lay your fiberglass. the tonneau cover on my f150 is fairly heavy so i do not know how many layers of glass they used. you will also want to make some fiberglass ribs for it to keep it from bowing. as for the hinges, your local sheetmetal supply should have hinges that you could either mold into the cover, make a metal frame and weld the hinge to the frame or you could rivet it to the tonneau cover. you will really want to make a metal frame (not real thick or big) and mold it into the cover. hope this helps you out a little.

Here is what I bootleged up back in the day.

Two pieces of plywood. Cut top part of bed (near cab) out of one, bottom out of other. Used router on edge of front piece of plywood not along cab, so other piece can hindge up. Connect the two pieces in the middle with piano hindges from lowes. Go to upholstery store, and get xtra wide vinyl. Cover the entire hindge contraption. Mount to bed with angle iron (front piece only). Angle iron is all around bed, but the front board (along cab wall) is screwed to the iron (Helps to have a freind push down on the makeshift cover while you lay in the bed and screw up. haha ha) Use treated lumber if you can, or the second/tailgate board will eventually warp up. This worked for me for several years.

thats not a bad idea either. but i'm trying to make it as flat and low profile as possible. i'm planning on spending a lot of time on it.