I want to put a decked system in my new '23 F-150, followed by an RSi smartcap. The truck will mainly be used for road trips, camping, and biking trips. It seems like a good idea to get a spray-in bedliner done prior to installing the drawer system, but since most of the bed will be "protected", I'm not sure if it's worth spending the money.

Does anyone have experience from which to give advice? Would the system scratch the unprotected paint over time?

 

Anything added to the bed does move slightly. It just happens. But you wont see it unless you remove the Decked system. I would just go naked on the bed.

 

I have not had the decked brand box system but have had a competitor thats steel and aluminum and functions the same. It wont wear on the paint. Theres only a few points of contact with bed and they dont move. They did create cracking over a 2 year period at the mounting points due to boxes being loaded heavy and bouncing around or being extended while loaded heavy. Probably beyond whatever weight limit was in place. I dont think it would've been a point of catastrophic failure over the course of a 6 or 7 year truck life span. Or if loaded appropriately or not extended full length while loaded up. Or if not left loaded heavy every day the truck was used. At some point it wouldve ripped loose of that bed and left a piece of torn up metal to be repaired.

The boxes are cool theyre useful but you lose a significant amount of bed space. All that space in front and back of the wheel wells is lost. Its still physically present but theres not much you can fit in that awkward shaped small space thats left behind. Like boots or a fire extinguisher still fit there but youre not getting a cooler or duffle bag of clothes or shovel or gas can in there. You end up with 4’ by 5’ x like 18” of bed space to use. But it was significantly easier to access gear than a traditional across bed tool box.

 

I lined my bed before installing the decked, there is a lot of bed exposed, plus the tailgate area outside the plastic piece.

 

Just to close out this question: I have not yet purchased the decked system, but I did decide to coat the bed. I chose Line-X and am very happy with the job they did.