Context: I'm essentially a one-man business, so I needed one truck that can do everything. Being in a rural area, I usually shoot chip piles and only have to catch chips in the truck a few times a month at the most. So I built a box out of plywood and 2x4s that can hold all my tools, tow the chipper and catch chips when needed. I'm also a pretty organized guy...
I keep all my climbing gear in the cab behind the front seats, having removed the small rears for more space:
And a 10' orchard latter on the top rack.
View attachment 69643
The box on the passenger side holds the chainsaws (9 here), blower, gas/oil, cones, wheel chocks, and my heavy cable/chain rigging/skidding gear.
View attachment 69644
The 'tunnel' as I call it usually holds two sheets of hinged plywood, 2 sets of maxtrax, the gas polesaw and whatever other tools I may need for specific jobs but don't carry daily. Also a good place to toss dirty or wet gear at the end of the day, or a cooler if I'm doing some grocery shopping on the way home.
On the low left are all the pole tools and two 7' 2x4s for whatever I need to do/make with them. The low right has rakes, shovel, pry bar, peavy, etc.
View attachment 69645
The drivers side is all the rigging gear, tarps, bigshot, extra helmets, scoop shovel, felling ax, wedges, etc.
View attachment 69646
Like I said, I almost never have to catch chips, but I can and it works quite well.
View attachment 69647
To unload the chips I have the 'Load Handler 3000' which is a tarp that lays on the bottom and up the back of the chip box. It works surprisingly well and I can unload the box of chips by turning the handle you mount on the tailgate in like 2 minutes. It's no dump truck, but it works well for my limited hauling/unloading needs.
View attachment 69648
Overall I'm extremely happy with the setup, and it has a lot more little tricks I've built in as well. On top of that, I made it kind of like a slide-in truck camper and by undoing 6 turn-buckles you can slide/lift the whole thing out of the truck. Originally I was concerned with longevity of a wooden box, but I sanded and put 3 layers of paint all the way around on every wood part, put calking in all the connections/seams, and have a carport to park under. Three years going and it could use a new coat of paint, but other than that has held up perfectly.
One of these days I should make a video about it...