Wouldn't you need to flag a sheet of plywood in the back of a Maverick? My old '06 Canyon doesn't require that and it's actually a smaller truck than the Maverick.
you’d need to flag a sheet of 4x8 in quite a few of the full sized pickups after you get the extended crew cab which shrinks the bed and makes them more of an SUV than a truck. THeres a platonic ideal of a truck bed holding 2x4 and 4x8 sheets, but it’s more of an ideal sometimes.
The overall problem is that the ratio of vehicle size to carrying capacity has gotten way larger. Small 2-seater pickup trucks could comfortably carry this stuff in the 80s and 90s and were not that much bigger than a sedan. Modern trucks are enormous and can't even carry as much unless you choose options that make them even bigger.
Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic.
They have shorter beds, because of the larger cab, but a 1975 Ram one ton could carry 3500 lbs of payload in the bed, and pull a 11,500lb trailer.
A 2025 one can carry 7500 lbs of payload in the bed, and tow 37,090 lbs (some states require extra permits or licenses for that much)
All modern trucks can carry and tow WAY more than they used to.
and the 1/2 ton ones have dramatically impvoved mileage (the modern 3L diesels do about 29Mpg, and the gas ones turn off cylinders when crusing, and can do 20-25mpg when empty. My older small pickup (old ram Dakota) from the early 2000's got 15-16 on the highway.
Total weight is up, but volume is not, and for most people volume is far more important because they aren't trying to put a full pallet of concrete in the back. The weight capacity of basic 90s and '00s trucks were already enough to fill it solid 3 feet thick of stacked wet treated lumber.
Yeah, but they were 2-seater trucks. Very few people want that these days.
Our truck carries stuff a lot. Bags of feed, bales of hay, etc. But unless you want to stack it unreasonably high, 10 bales is about the limit. For big loads, it has to haul a trailer. If it were only a 2-seater, with a bigger bed, it could carry more, but that would mean that all we wouldn't be able to carry all the stuff that's typically in the back seats for safety or protection from the elements.
>Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic.
I will forever be sad that Canoo was wildly (possibly fraudulently) mismanaged and went bust before they ever built any of their planned pickup trucks:
They were going to be built on the same platform as their vans and the best way to describe them is "Kei truck upsized and uppowered enough to be safe on US roads." They had neat party tricks like a compact bed for daily driving that could expand out to fit full size ply and fold out workbenches on all four sides of the truck.
I'm not even a truck guy and I desperately wanted one of these things. Just such a cool concept.
> They had neat party tricks like a compact bed for daily driving that could expand out to fit full size ply...
Unless I'm missing something this sounds like the bed extenders which I've seen on lots of trucks that allow the tailgate to be used as part of the bed when folded down. I was initially think they might be allowing the passenger compartment to be opened up to temporarily get full bed size but I didn't see anything like that when browsing the page. The closest thing I ever saw to that was on the Subaru Baja (which was far more a sedan than a truck) and given how short the bed was and the the fact that the back window was immobile seemed like it had less hauling utility than a standard hatchback.
Thset is really sad - I'd seen a review of an early model on YouTube and it seemed like a brilliant idea - really hope someone else can make something similar work.
Sure, but who cares? Unless you're a contractor/tradesperson, that's a fairly rare edge case.
I've owned a few pickups over the years, owned my house much of that time, and can probably county the times I've needed to move plywood or other oversized lumber on one hand. Add a second hand for times I've moved long pipes or other oversized stuff that required flagging.
If you’re a contractor or tradesperson, chances are you’re having sheet goods delivered to the job site by a supply house, unless it’s a tiny project/service call.
My electricians have pipe racks on their work vans, but if they’re buying 5,000 feet of 3/4” conduit (10’ sticks), you better believe a box truck will deliver it. If they need 40 feet for a quick service call, that’s what the pipe racks are for.
I agree with you though, the ability to move sheet goods flat in a truck bed is almost completely unnecessary.
If you really want to do this in a 5’ bed pickup, you can get a rack for above the cab and a crossbar with two posts that installs into the topper mounting holes near the tailgate to provide a 4’x8’ plane to carry sheet goods on. Here’s a universal example for $200, a nicer one meant for a specific truck is probably 3-4x more: https://wmastore.com/product/universal-drywall-plywood-mattr...
Currently, towing a travel trailer and hauling filthy camping shit and mountain bikes. So nice to toss wet stanky shit in the bed instead of in the cab. I need the tow capacity either way, so may as well have a useful bed (vs an enclosed SUV).
Previous truck was to haul a race car on a trailer. Same fringe benefits for the camping shit, plus tools and spare parts for the race car (engines sometimes, wheels/tires, etc).
