Rainwater can affect your truck beds if you have sealed drainage holes. It can destroy parts of your vehicle, therefore, it is essential to inspect your pickup regularly, especially in rainy seasons.
Do Truck Beds Fill Up With Water When It Rains? Truck beds do not fill up with water when it rains. Sometimes, this can happen when drainage holes in your pickup become clogged with random materials. You can remove water from the bed if you unblock these holes. In addition, you can drill some additional holes of bigger size to fix this issue. Moreover, you can park your vehicle on an inclined surface to remove rainwater through the tailgate. Furthermore, hitting the brakes while your truck is in motion will help remove water.
It is better to protect your truck bed from rain. For example, you can use truck covers, bed mats, and bed liners to make your truck bed covered and protected.
Why do Truck Beds Fill Up With Water When It Rains?
The pickup trucks are designed so that there are small gaps between the floor of truck beds and walls to drain rainwater from trucks.
The truck bed can fill up with water when these drain holes do not work properly and when you park your vehicle in the rain for a long time.
These holes are small in size, and it is not surprising for you to get them clogged with random materials.
Moreover, dust and debris play a critical role in blocking these tiny holes and preventing water flow from the vehicle’s bed.
As a result, water accumulates in the pickup truck’s bed, creating an issue with the vehicle’s handling.
These holes are built in to keep the bed of your truck dry, and it becomes essential to unplug these holes to prevent the accumulation of water.
How to remove rainwater from the truck bed?
It is not challenging to remove water from the truck bed when it rains. There are various ways you can simply follow to do the procedure. In this article, I will discuss some of them with you.
Drill extra holes
Drilling extra holes is an effective step to remove pooled-up water. Although there are many holes in the truck’s bed, blockage of these holes causes problems of draining water from the truck’s bed.
It becomes essential to drill some additional holes to accelerate the process of water drainage if it pools up in the vehicle’s bed when it rains.
It is also essential to maintain the appearance of these additional holes in your truck’s bed. You can use paint to mark new drain spots.
Also, you can cover these holes with high-quality protective liner sprays to maintain their overall look.
Drilling bigger holes simultaneously will help to do the job of water removal more quickly and easily. This is because bigger holes are not clogged as soon as smaller holes become.
Park on an incline
There is no worry if your truck’s bed fills up with water because appropriate parking is suitable to get rid of water.
You should park your vehicle in an appropriate position to make this the best way to prevent water from dwelling inside the bed.
This best position includes the presence of any inclined surface around you. The water will run off through the bottom of the tailgate when you park it on that surface.
Park your vehicle in an incline position, and it is more applicable for pickups with drain slots closer to the front wall.
Hit breaks while in motion
You can easily remove water from your truck bed with brakes that will bring good results. This procedure of hitting brakes will be more effective in removing stagnant water when the vehicle is in motion.
Drive your vehicle in reverse and hit brakes continuously at regular intervals to speed up the process of draining water.
This process also provides a way of cleaning the dirty bed.
Dust and debris are also the main culprits in blocking the drainage holes, and therefore, this will also help remove this.
Use truck cargo bag
Truck cargo bags are available in various sizes ranging from smaller to larger. Smaller cargo bags will cover up some portion of the truck’s bed, while larger ones will be more beneficial. It is because it will accommodate the entire bed.
These bags are weather resistant and especially come with the characteristic property of waterproof protection to avoid the dangerous effects of water.
Use plastic ramps
One of the best methods to remove water from your vehicle’s bed is the use of plastic ramps. It is convenient to use them because they are portable.
Plastic ramps with water outlets are also available in the market that helps to prevent the accumulation of water in your truck’s bed when it rains.
They are made up of high-quality plastic materials that have enough strength. In addition, they are water and pressure-resistant and can stop water from pooling up in your truck bed.
How to protect your truck bed when it rains?
It is not challenging to protect your truck bed from getting water. You can take the following measures that can be effective enough to aid you in this regard.
Inspect holes
First of all, access the drainage holes that are the main factors to cause hindrance in water removal from your pickup bed.
It will be a good idea to inspect your draining holes at regular intervals because these holes are so small that the defect is visible.
You should pay attention to having a closer look at these holes, especially when rainy days are approaching to avoid water trouble.
Locate holes and check them to make sure they are clear. Then, you can get rid of random stuff and dust in simple ways. For example, you can open up the blocked holes using some tools like a utility knife.
An air compressor can also prove effective in clearing the blocked holes.
Compressed air is sometimes called canned air and is a gas compressed in the form of liquid. A shot of air is forceful enough to clear dust and dirt in its path.
You can also use a shop vacuum, a special type of vacuum with a suction unit and high powered motor.
This suction unit sucks up dust and chunks of materials from blocked holes. You can also use a garden hose nozzle, and the water pressure pushes away the dirt from holes to clear them.
Use of truck covers
You can also prevent your truck’s bed from water using Tonneau Covers. These covers act as a cap and cover the top of your vehicle’s bed.
These are made up of hard and soft type materials and protect the vehicle from the weather. Truck caps provide the best permanent solution to protect your cargo when it rains.
You can install them permanently on your truck’s bed, and these are efficient enough to add value and style to your vehicle.
You should call a professional for its installation if you are unaware of the procedure.
Truck canopies also provide the best solution because they make your truck’s bed a covered area to protect it from getting water.
You can use a truck bed camper, also called a slide-in camper, and this covers the overall length of the truck bed and aids in protecting it from water.
Use truck bed mats
Truck bed mats can be made up of durable either plastic or rubber materials. These are one of the solutions to protect your truck’s bed during rain.
Unlike truck bed covers, they require non-permanent installation and are easily removable. You can simply unroll these mats to cover your bed when it rains and roll them when not needed.
Use bed liners
One of the methods to protect your truck bed from harsh elements is the use of bed liners. Spray-on liners are a good choice among them because they are more reliable as compared to others.
They come for a lifetime warranty and are efficient enough to make a watertight seal. Therefore, they are waterproof and aid in protecting your truck bed from water.
In addition, they seem to make a rubber-like second skin layer for your truck’s bed to prevent it from damage.
Are pickup trucks safe in rain?
Pickup trucks are not entirely safe in the rain because it destroys the nuts and bolts of your vehicle, and they will become rusty.
You can use a good quality liner for your vehicle’s protection; it will also start to damage on exposure to rain.
The overall functioning of your pickup will be affected by rain, and this becomes challenging for a truck owner to prevent it from harmful results.
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