It’s been four months since I installed the Decked Drawer System in my Chevrolet Silverado 1500. Four months of organizational bliss. Four months of security. Four months of rock-solid durability, whether I’m fishing, surfing, camping or just taking the dogs for a run in the woods.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Assembly

The assembly process overall was smooth as a hot buttered rum after a cold day of steelheading. All together it took three or four hours of work, mostly by myself but with some solid assistance from my son, Carver. Thanks to his help, we can confirm that a 6-year-old fits in the drawers.

A nice thing about doing the assembly yourself is the opportunity to get a look at just how thoughtfully and solidly the system is built. This isn’t a case of a durable outside covering up a cheap or shoddily built under-layer or frame. Rather, from the bottom up it’s solid—even all the bits and pieces you don’t see once it’s complete.

(I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the copy-writing team at Decked. It’s nice to see a company that’s not afraid to have a little fun, even with something as pragmatic and generally workaday as assembly instructions.)

ABOVE: Jason Rolfe loads rods, boots and gear bags into the Decked Drawer system. Photo: Colby Mesick

D-co Cases and Deets

It’s the little things that make the Decked system shine. Drawer dividers and Decked’s own D-co cases make further organization a cinch. My own D-co cases—my setup came with a Halfrack 32 and a Sixer 16—were quickly put to good, and obvious use. The smaller Sixer makes for a great tackle box, easily swapped between truck and raft, and handy for bringing in the house to refill or exchange gear. The larger Halfrack is my catchall. Currently, it houses a couple of notebooks, small camp stove, sunscreen, first aid essentials, and a couple packages of ramen for cold day emergencies. Basically, the kind of go anywhere stuff that is nice to have around and which you don’t want to have tumbling willy-nilly in a truck bed or backseat.

But then, on top of it all, we’ve got drawer dividers; we’ve got stash bins; we’ve got d-rings that swivel and fold into a handy recess when not in use. Basically, we’ve got details, and as with any good piece of equipment it’s those details—the little things that are less obvious but just as important to functionality—that really set Decked apart.

Between the D-co cases, drawer dividers and stash bins, all my gear is easy to find and easily accessible in a way that wouldn’t be possible without Decked.

Adventure Time

I like camping in the back of the truck, which is not the easiest thing when on a mid-winter steelheading trip or jaunt into the mountains with a truck bed full of gear. The Decked system is tailor made for rolling up to a trailhead or campsite, unfolding a bedroll and grabbing some shuteye before an early start.

On top of providing a comfy place to sleep, it offers the added benefit of providing plenty of space for a partner, a kid, or a pair of excitable river dogs that will certainly give me the stink eye if I don’t drag them along.

Perhaps the best part of the system is the fact that it adds an extra layer of security. There’s no getting around the fact that if you’re a fly angler heading out for a few days of fishing, there’s a decent chance you might be rolling with anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars’ worth of gear.

A few years ago, I suffered a truck break-in that resulted in the loss of more gear than I’d like to admit. Had I had the Decked system at that time, it’s very likely the loss would not have been nearly as significant. Whether you have the locking drawers (or simply lock your tailgate, meaning the drawers can’t be opened) the Decked system secures your gear about as well as can be hoped for—at least in a truck.

Final Thoughts

The other day, I had the decidedly-less adventurous job of taking some yard trimmings and other refuse to the county waste transfer station—also known as the dump, once upon a time. The nice thing about the Decked System is that it did not get in the way of getting things done. I threw a tarp over the top of everything to make clean-up easy, loaded up the junk, leaves and branches, and happily finished my chores. All the while, I had a couple salmon rods rigged and ready to fish in one drawer, and my D-co cases packed and ready on the other side. If I’d wanted to, I could have hit the river on the way home from the dump—but I was beat and decided to take it easy instead.

At the end of the day, the Decked system fits in perfectly with my family’s lifestyle—we like adventures!—and I can’t imagine going back to a time without it. It has allowed me to upgrade my rig in a way that is straightforward and useful, without going over-the-top and losing some of the practicality one looks for in a pickup truck.

Visit Decked to learn more and get organized.