kbroderick

Just gonna throw out that the most-obvious vehicle solution hasn't been discussed. From what you've said, you need a van—a truck with a topper could work, but a van is more secure and has climate control for the cargo area. If you've got instruments to transport, that's a non-trivial consideration, and you should still have reasonable towing capacity if you need to pull a trailer for a trip.

If you look used, you can also usually get a van for a lot less than a comparably equipped truck, so long as you don't need 4WD/AWD. That's a lot harder to get in a van.

Flamingtaco

I'm the person that mentioned it, and guess, what... groceries go into the bed as well. My wife was t-boned at the grocery store by an HD Silverado that decimated her car and shattered several jars peaches in glass jars that were thankfully in the trunk. Eight bags of groceries flying around the cab, no thanks.

My suggestion of a trailer is not at all absurd, and it's up to the OP to decide if it's a fit for him or not. If the OP hauls gear once a year, probably not a good idea to get even a used cheap trailer as uHauls are cheap, but for all we know, he's hauling gear nearly every weekend, and needs the space taken up by the gear in the house.

I bought my small enclosed trailer with primarily one use in mind, ended up finding a few dozen other reasons to use it, and now it sees a few hundred miles a month in addition to the 800 or so miles I originally intended to tow it each year.

Good luck, rockin

Wanna Ride

I’m not arguing with you, but to suggest a trailer is required for 400 pounds of cargo is overkill. I’ve hauled all kinds of trailers, all over the continent for thirty years, with loads upwards of 40,000 pounds. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of about two million miles. Anytime you can safely get away with not using a trailer, you’re better off.

Just about any car getting t-boned by a fullsize truck is going to get decimated, and peach jars are going flying. Earlier, I believe you said you had a Ford Escape... where would you put groceries in that? Because it doesn’t have a trunk... in a trailer?

2018LLB4x2

Another big advantage of a small trailer is load height. The bed floor of an F-150 is much higher than what a small trailer would be. If the cases have casters and the trailer has a ramp then there may be no need to lift anything either.

I have a tiny clam shell trailer that's like having a full size trunk. It's not large enough for music equipment, but it did fill a useful niche for road trips with a lot of luggage. It was pulled by both the turbo Miata and the Mustang Eco. Neither had any issues maintaining any posted speeds even going through mountains. It was only 150 lbs dry with a GVWR of 650. Before I got it it was pulled by a Harley

Depending on trims, the payload of an Escape is actually not far off from an F-150. I'd guess it's going to have a much smaller volume than at least the larger two beds on an F-150 with a cap on, and all of the strange angles and cuts may make it harder to fit things. Advantage to the Escape for both fuel economy and parking though.

Ricktwuhk

The Expedition will have a Payload sticker on it just like the F-150...

Flamingtaco

I mentioned the trailer as a solution if the OP wanted to keep a smaller vehicle, not as the only solution.

The Escape came with tie-downs at the four corner of the cargo area, and a cheap cargo net, which I replaced with a custom cargo mesh, like you see on kayaks, just a lot larger. I also made a cargo net from 1" strapping. We camp a lot, so strapping gear down needed to be a cinch I modified a roof rack I built to mount the largest Skybox Yakima makes, and I built a 2" receiver so I could attach a large cargo tray. As my boys and our gear grew, I got the 5x8 to take the weight off the Escape for the one or two trips we'd take each year. Now that I've got the 150, I can probably get by without it, but it's very handy, easier to use than the bed and roof of the truck, and carries a lot more than I can ever safely get into or onto the truck, both in weight and size.

Wanna Ride

I completely understand and can appreciate your position and situation. I sincerely intend no disrespect.

All I'm saying is, after an extensive career and need for hauling trailers (not as a hired freight driver, just hauling my own gear) professionally for three decades, any time you can eliminate a trailer, you're better off. Whether it was in one of my duallies, OTR tractors, or standard pick-ups. I've had many trailers that I used to travel hundreds of thousands of miles: as large as a 53' Kentucky triple-drop, a couple 40' Featherlite car trailers, a few 20' enclosed car trailers, and even a couple 12' utility trailers. All were always in 100% top mechanical condition and ranged from brand new to five years old. And way back in the day, even some much older trailers, but I still kept them well-maintained too.

But at the end of the day, a trailer is essentially like doubling all of your travel concerns and precautions. It's another vehicle; with that, comes more axles, more suspension components, more tires, more maintenance, decreased fuel mileage economy, greater tolls, increased difficulty maneuvering in traffic and parking, and it increases your highway footprint. And many people (average drivers), have a difficult time hauling and driving with trailers. They just never really seem to acclimate to the handling characteristics of a trailer, even small ones. In fact, smaller trailers are often more challenging than larger ones. Hauling a trailer isn't for everyone, despite how much it's second-nature to the rest of us. But I stand firm on my position... enlisting the aid of a trailer for 400lbs, isn't really practical.