Ridgelander cover system installed - my thoughts

[widespreadhawk]

Background - I researched and it came down to the Ridgelander from Undercover vs Diamondback SE cover - I ultimately decided to go with Ridgelander cover.

My needs were a secure cover, where I could install a rack and have good access to the truck bed with a cargo basket and ski rack/bike rack installed, water-resistant (as close to water proof as possible) and didnt want to weld/drill/jimmy-rig together something custom... the biggest part of my decision was that I need full truck bed access for hauling shit about 6-10 times per year, so needed something removable for full bed access. For me, it came down to the option to raise the full cover with the Ridgelander with my attachments installed on top vs the Diamondback SE where I'd not be able to access front/rear without removing my racks.

Ordered and delivered in less than 10 days, freight ship delivery to home -packaged well and secure, no issues... with discount on both, I am saving about $500 total on the Ridgelander vs Diamondback SE (LineX version) - I didnt care about cost, needed best setup for my needs)

Install was pretty easy, 2 hours for me by myself but needed a neighbor to help me seat the cover into the bolts and slot forward to lock into place. Anyone who says they can do this on their own... I dunno how - I tried... failed, got my neighbor to help and it was simple with help. This cover is pretty heavy and tough to manage on my own - with two people it was pretty easy to put on and take off.

Impressions - high quality all around, well built , fits Raptor perfectly - easy install (w/help to set cover). It looks water-resistant but looking forward to see how it performs under rain storms... will get water in from tailgate for sure with pressure wash, there is a very slight (credit card width?) gap. Normal rain storms - looks to be pretty tight overall, I dont think water will be an issue.

Love the rhino rack system and components, and easy to bolt on my thule cargo basket and ski carriers.

I will need to likely upgrade the struts with the weight I'll be loading up on this thing... recommendations from other forum members say go with a 90lb strut vs the 45lb they provide - with my basket and ski carrier installed - with no other weight added - lets just say it will be the next $65 bucks I spend...as when this closes, it slams down pretty "hard" into the lock latch... almost a safety issue if my wife or friends had to close this without some warning.

I'll post more as I learn more through time... but so far, so good. impressed with this cover, quality, initial experience... my only negative thoughts so far is that when I need a full bed - I will need help to re-install vs Diamondback SE that I could do completely on my own.

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[widespreadhawk]

A few more pics of the Ridgelander... first week of ownership.

Updates worth sharing... pressure washed truck and no water in the bed, which is a good sign. This cover is pretty damn tight!

Replacing the struts with 90lb set today, should be a nice upgrade to keep this open with gear loaded on top, as the weight of my system, with snowboards loaded was enough for it to close down with the original 45lb struts and not stay lifted... in fact it slammed down on me.

 

[epicraptor]

@widespreadhawk any update on this setup? Specifically around water tightness? Do you wish you had something that would fold back to allow for the bed to be opened up for larger items?

 

[widespreadhawk]

Yes, so far so good. So far I've only had to take the cover system once and its definitely a 2-man job. We just got back from a 600 mile road trip for mountain biking out in SW Colorado, had lots of gear loaded on the cover - no issues... We also completed a 2800 mile road trip through the Midwest and it saw some massive rain storms; some leaks in the rear corners by the tailgate but not too bad, dry throughout otherwise. Loading and unloading all our gear for these trips is super easy with the ability to raise the cover up. The cover is very much high quality and so far I've not had any issues other than one of the brackets slipped out of alignment by a half inch or so, once I reset and tightened it down a bit more its been rock solid overall.

For us, various purchases or projects dictated when we'd need a full truck bed and lately its been pretty much not needed to take this thing on/off. If that was more of the norm, I would have gone another direction as its a bit of a pain. Probably takes 3 minutes to take off the rack platform the way I've got it setup with the cargo basket, then another minute or two to loosen the lock knobs, then a minute or so to release the struts... then you gotta carefully lift it off the mount brackets and have a place to store the cover... again, its a 2 person job for sure! About the same time to reset the cover and the rack system. I might setup a pulley system in my garage as a side project so I can hoist this thing by myself vs needing a friend.

I do get tons of compliments with the system. Love the ease and options of the rack system for current and future needs.

 

[epicraptor]

@widespreadhawk Thanks for the update! If you would have gone another direction, which direction or cover would you have gone with at this point?

The leaks in the corners at the tailgate, see anyway to resolve that or improve it in any way? Or was it really immaterial?

 

[widespreadhawk]

I was initially going to buy the Diamondback SE but I didn’t like that I had to drill through it for my rack needs, and I wanted a cargo basket on top so that limited my ability to open each end for access to the bed. The other option I looked into was the Retrax with the bed rails for a rack setup... this was more expensive and I read too many issues with people having leaks and failures with the cover. I’m happy with my choice to go with the Ridgelander overall based on my needs and use case.

Regarding the rear rain leaks in the corners... I think that I’ve done all I can to mitigate, it’s basically about the amount of water of a shot glass that drips in so I just make sure anything I need to keep dry is stowed more towards the front of the bed, or on top of something that can get a bit wet? It’s really not a problem unless it dumps rain. I did reposition the locking catches so it’s a tighter seal when closing the cover, but if you go too tight it’s harder to cleanly shut the tailgate... after some playing around I think I’ve got it pretty much dialed now and very little water gets in.

 

[epicraptor]

That is all really great feedback! Thanks for taking the time. Trying to decide like you between this or the Pace Edwards Ultragroove Metal retractable. I agree with the horror stories on the Retrax. My only snag here is your same issue where if you need the bed its a little bit involved to be able to use the bed but security and dryness are my top priorities.