Well I did my first feed haul with the softopper. This is barley, the barrels are 55 gallon, with not lids, so it's got to be covered and in the past I've used tarps, but because of all of the cracks and gaps in between the barrels it's a pain in the butt to get a tarp on it and not have it want to windsail on the highway. And no matter how well I secure the tarp it'll usually only hold up for two hauls.
I had discussed this with
@77 K20 Mike, I think a few years ago when I was first thinking of wanting a softopper and he wasn't sure how well the softopper would retract and open with the barrel in the bed. So the answer is it worked just fine with one caveat. So when I got to the farm I was buying the grain from I opened the softopper and removed my empty barrels. I loaded the first 2 full barrels into the truck bed about a foot from the bulk head of the bed, lifted the roof parts of the topper up above the barrels and slid the barrels the rest of the way in. Then the softopper (still retracted) rested on those two barrels instead of on the bulk head of the truck. Loaded the rest of the barrels, opened up the softopper the rest of the way, paid the man and drove 100 miles back to the farm. Using the softopper saved time vs getting tarps wrapped securely around the barrels, and it certainly was easier.
I did not think to take pictures at his place but I did snap a pic of the barrel to softopper clearance at the gas stop on the way home, plenty of height clearance:
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And unloading on the farm:
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And here is what I was talking about, I can retract the softopper and let it rest on the barrels closest to the cab and be able to handle the barrels just as easy as if I didn't have a bed cover.
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I'm happy with it for sure!
