Pick up truck bed cap or shell?

Depends how much stuff you want to take with you...Its like having a shed, the bigger it is, the more crap you accumulate. 

I have both, a raised cap, which would help you deflect wind over your camper. Also have a soft bed cover that I use in the summer, as I have a 5th wheel hitch under it. 

Thanks for the input.

When I went to pick up out Compact 2000 miles from home, I needed the shell to carry tools and even some precut lumber for a quick repair. But that was a tiny truck in comparison to what we have now. Even so, unloading everything to get to a box was a hassle. I wondered if people on this forum felt the flat cover on a full size truck was enough space for trailer junk?

Two things I was told...are they true?

*Soft covers don't wear well. The folding and unfolding along with being scuffed and scraped make for a short life.

*And, hard raised shells help gas mileage a little.

The folding soft version seems like it would be easier to get to our junk. But it has half the space of a raised shell.

My truck has a hard tonneau cover and I'm not happy with it. There's only 19 inches clearance and it's a bit heavy to open with one hand. (say you have parts in the other hand) It does make the truck look nice and is supposed to help mpg, not sure on that.

I would rather have a canopy/shell with a little more height.

This is really helpful. 

So my options are a raised shell with plenty of room but I can't open the gate (unlike my small truck) when I'm hitched to the camper. And it's hard to get on and off.

Or a flat cover that's solid, heavy and only gives me 19 inches. Not much space.

Or a folding (Bakflip) aluminum which is lighter, but also gives me only 19 inches space.

I've ruled out the folding tarp-like covers. I'll rip it in no time with lumber or junk.

People online say that their fuel savings are as high as 3 MPG. Hard to believe. Although I do believe a raised shell saves the camper some wind pounding.

A tough decision.

I remember an episode on Mythbuster's. They did a test on if a pick up truck got "better gas mileage" with the tailgate Up, or DOWN?

In their fun testing style, they concluded that it got better gas mileage with the "tailgate in the up position". They felt that when the gate was up, that the truck's bed actually filled with air pressure, and the air flow over the entire truck was improved, which led to the miles per gallon improvement.

It makes you wonder if the improved mileage claims for various accessories are based on any real testing, or if they are just marketing hype?

Good point. 

I went from a 4 cyl Mazda B2200, to a 6 cyl Mazda B3000, to a 8 cyl 5.7 liter Tundra.

According to my test of the three, I'm losing ground as far as MPG is concerned.