There’s no shortage of truck toppers out there that you can use to maximize storage room in your pickup truck’s bed while protecting any gear it contains from the elements. Whether your camper shell is made from aluminum, fiberglass, or some plastic composite, they suffer from the same problem: they take up a lot of space in the garage as soon as you take them off the truck. The Flated Air Topper offers a more space-efficient solution.
An inflatable truck cap, it gives you the same covered fixture for the truck bed as traditional truck toppers, all while being able to deflate when you don’t need it. That way, you can stash it in a cabinet in the garage, a bolted trunk in the bed, or even somewhere inside the cabin, sparing you from the hassle of having to find room for it in a crowded garage.
The Flated Air Topper is an inflatable camper shell that’s shaped much like any of its hard-shelled counterparts. Designed to be durable and rigid, it uses four chambers to ensure it can hold its shape, with drop-stitched military-grade PVC construction providing a rugged shell that will keep nicks and scratches at bay. To ensure the cab’s performance can hold up to its hard-shell counterparts, it doesn’t use traditional PVC layers for the side walls, instead relying on a specialized material that uses internal fibers coated in liquid PVC before integrating with the outer shell.
Like traditional toppers, it comes with integrated vinyl windows on the sides and rear, so you can check inside the bed without having to open the tailgate, each of which is zippered, so you can even use them to reach inside the truck bed, too. All windows can be replaced, as well, so they won’t be that big of a liability, even if they are weaker than the rest of the structure.
The Flated Air Topper even comes with removable screens on the side window, in case you want to open the windows to let air in while keeping any bugs or critters from creeping into your stash. Yes, you can also use when spending the night in the truck bed, in case you decide to go car camping with this thing. The cab, by the way, comes with eight attachment points (two cam straps and six J-hook tie-downs) that you can use to secure it to the truck rails, so this thing won’t just come off that easily, along with two web handles for easily getting a hold of it during installation.
Want to store stuff on top of the camper shell? Not a problem, as it gets four tie-down D-rings for securing surfboards, kayaks, and whatever else on the roof, although they don’t give an exact payload rating (hopefully, it’s substantial). It comes in three sizes: one for mid-size standard truck beds, a full-size short truck bed, and a full-size standard truck bed, so most common truck sizes should be duly covered.
The Flated Air Topper is available, with prices ranging from $1,899 to 1,999, depending on the size.