For those who are enthusiasts of towable RVs, there’s good news and then there’s more good news. The good news is that today’s enthusiast has many new and exciting travel trailers and fifth wheels from which to choose, like the Holiday Rambler Presidential and Alumascape. Along with these state-of-the-art towables, new, more powerful and more luxurious pickup trucks, with V-8 and V-10 gasoline engines and cutting-edge turbo-charged diesel engines can be found at nearby dealers. Today, long hauls, short hauls and all-around-the-town kinds of hauls, come with more rewards than ever before. That’s the good news. However as noted, there’s more good news.

Today, a company named Royal Truck Body, Inc., located in Paramount, CA (adjacent to the City of Los Angeles), brings to selected Chevy, GMC and Ford dealers across the United States, a utility pickup truck body that yields copious amounts of built in storage capacity, storage that’s designed into the bed rails of the truck body itself. But that’s only part of the story. This is a truck body where the factory intended exterior lines have not been compromised. The aesthetics established by the design of the truck cab go undisturbed. The finished look clean and complete, as if the Royal Truck Body had come directly from Ford or General Motors itself.

What exactly do we mean by built in storage? What we’re talking about is 30 cubic feet of storage capacity that’s enclosed behind walls and doors of heavy gage galvanized steel, in compartments that protect the stowed gear from the outside elements. This is storage that’s built into the bed rails of the truck body itself. The storage compartments (they come with adjustable shelves) feature an automotive bulb style seal around the doors that prevents the outside elements from getting to the gear stowed inside. Lockable automotive style handles on the compartment doors complement the factory door handles found on the truck cab. When the storage compartment doors are opened, sealed gas springs keep them locked in the open position until you decide it’s time to close them.

On the Chevy and GMC Truck Body (these are called the Summit Truck Body), the heavy-duty doors that fold down above the rear wheel wells are self-supporting. On the Ford Truck Body (these are called the Sport Truck Body) the storage compartments feature 8-inch deep pull out drawers. On both the Summit and Sport Truck Body, the top of the vertical rails also disguises additional storage compartments.

The tops are hinged to swing up. When opened they reveal two long storage compartments, the length of the truck, one on either side of the truck. Inside are organizers (individual trays) for stowing large and small items. These trays can be removed to create long storage compartments where items such as fishing poles, rifles and shotguns, things that are long in dimension can be stowed securely under lock and key and away from the weather.

For today's towing enthusiast the beauty part of the Summit and Sport Truck Body is that thedoors to the storage compartments offer the luxury of accessible, lockable storage. These are doors that can be opened and closed whether the fifth wheel or the travel trailer is hitched and ready to travel, or the truck is simply being used as a runabout once a destination is reached.
Prior to 2001, Royal Truck Body was well along in presenting this kind of storage configuration in the truck bodies of the Ford F-250, F-350, and F-450 and F-550 Truck Body models. Two of the larger Ford models offered are the dual rear wheel F-450 and F-550 Royal Sport Dually Storage Body. The Gross Vehicle Weight Ratings on these duallies range from 11,200 pounds up to 17,500 pounds. Gross Combine Weight Ratings range from 13,500 pounds up to 26,000 pounds. Towing weight capacities range from 6,100 pounds up to 18,800 pounds. Engine choices include 5.4L Triton V-8, 6.8L Triton V10 and the 7.3L PowerStroke Diesel. The Ford Sport Dually Truck Body can be enjoyed with a 5 or 6-speed manual transmission, or a 4-speed automatic.

However, for Model Year 2001 the General Motors 2500HD Chevy Silverado and 2500HD GMC Sierra have been added to the Royal Truck Body menu. This same type of truck body configuration with built in storage is now available on those pickup trucks as well. For the 2500HD, the maximum GVWR, GCWR and trailer towing capacity are 9,200-pounds, 22,000-pounds and 12,000-pounds, respectively.

Standard features include a 34-gallon fuel tank, Vortec 6000 V-8 engine, 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and 4-wheel Anti-Lock Disc Brakes. Options include those offered through GMC or Chevrolet dealers. Both the Chevy/GMC Summit and Ford Sport Truck Body can be enjoyed with a standard cab, extended cab or crew-cab. Exterior color choices for the Chevy, GMC and Ford Truck Body are the same as those offered through the respective dealers.

So how does Royal Truck Body do this? To begin with, the bed/box that would typically come with the GM or Ford pickup truck is not used. The trucks cab and chassis are shipped to Royal minus the truck body. Royal designs and fabricates their own truck body. They install these truck bodies on the factory chassis rails. In the process several hundred pounds of weight are added to the each unit, which by definition reduces to some degree the total cargo carrying capacity, trailering capacity and hitch pin weight rating of the truck.

It’s important to again emphasize that all Royal Truck Body models are available only through authorized Chevy, GMC and Ford dealers. Currently there are hundreds of Royal Summit (GMC & Chevy) and Royal Sport (Ford) Truck Body units in inventory at the designated dealers across the United States. But should a 2500HD or F-Super Duty Series pickup truck be wanted with specific equipment (for example with leather interior, other luxury appointments, a specific type of transmission or particular engine size), special requests do not up-set the people at Royal. Options can be ordered through an authorized dealer. The basic cost added to the truck by the Summit or Sport Truck Body (no special options) begins at about $5,000 and go up to about $7,000.

Visiting the Royal Truck Body factory in Paramount (they offer factory tours, call a couple of days in advance), we found a facility with a 5,000 square foot design studio and 145,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space. We wanted to do a look-see and understand exactly what Royal does to the Chevy, GMC and Ford pickup trucks after they're received from the factory. We walked away amazed at the value-added modifications that comprise each and every completed Royal Truck Body.

Right up front we asked Royal if the modifications they make in any way compromise the factory warranty that comes from Chevy, GMC and Ford pickup truck. Their answer was an unequivocal "No." The 3-year, 36,000-mile General Motors and Ford factory warranties remain complete and intact, with Royal Truck Body adding its own 3-year, 36,000 miles factory warranty to the truck body they build and install.

One of the things the RV enthusiast will ask about the Summit and Sport Truck Body, "Can these trucks be outfitted with a 5th wheel hitch or gooseneck hitch ball? The answer is yes. The dimension of each truck bed is 97.5-inches (tailgate to bulkhead), by 49-inches wide by 18.5-inches high. Royal Truck Body also designs and fabricates the necessary hitch bracing that fits between the factory chassis rails below the textured steel plate bed of the truck. This bracing is what the fifth wheel and gooseneck hitches are attached to. Royal Truck Body will install this bracing and even the fifth wheel and gooseneck hitch, if requested. And there’s one more optional feature the fifth wheel enthusiast will find "very sweet." A V-shape opening designed into the top of the tailgate (the tailgate is also fabricated by Royal Truck Body) can be ordered. This is an opening that precludes the need to remove the tailgate from the truck when the fifth wheel or gooseneck towable is hitched and ready to go.

We asked the folks at Royal why they only recently added the General Motors 2500HD unit to their menu of truck bodies? They explained they are confident that the exterior lines of the Model Year 2001 Silverado and Sierra truck cab will not change for some time to come. This is a reasonable concern, for there are huge development costs associated with changing the design and tooling when a truck body’s lines change. The truck body needs to match the exterior lines of the cab so the over all presentation will be visually complete and appealing. The bottom line is that Royal Truck Body produces a finished product consistent with the GM and Ford factory look. This is the look customers prefer. "It just isn’t profitable to continually make changes," Royal explained. "If the OE manufacturer makes frequent changes to the exterior lines of the truck cab, our profitability shrinks."

Next we asked them to walk us down the production line and explain the design and fabrication processes involved with building a Royal Truck Body. The process begins when one of their craftsmen take a sheet of 12-gage texturized/rigidized stainless steel plate and welds 10-gage steel cross members along the underside. These members act as bracing to support heavy loads. They are high tensile strength members that give rigidity to what will eventually be the floor in the bed of the truck.

The vertical bed/box rails that house the storage compartments are created using 16-gage steel walls and 18-gage steel doors. Everything is spot welded on the body side to prevent metal distortion. The top dressing that guards the exterior and interior sheet metal involves a multi-step, anti-corrosion paint process. When completed the truck body is then mounted to the factory frame rails using the existing factory drilled rail penetrations. New holes are not drilled (this is important) for drilling or cutting into the frame rails can disturb and compromise the strength characteristics of the metal. All total, the weight added to a Chevy and GMC unit equals about 1,100 pounds of additional gross weight, with an actual net weight addition of about 800 pounds (when the weight of the factory built bed/box is subtracted). The Ford modification equals about 1,200 pounds of additional gross weight, with a net addition of about 900 pounds.

The long and short of it is that few would ever guess this truck body has been augmented with storage compartments, that is until it comes time to access those compartments. Then you realize that a quantum step has been taken in the area of truck utility (storage).

For those looking for that extra something that can make the RV lifestyle more enjoyable, the Royal Summit and Sport Truck Body merits your undivided attention. For additional information or to locate a Ford, Chevy or GMC dealer near you that carries this product, visit the Royal website at www.royaltruckbody.com, or give them a call at (800) 834-7692. This is an idea whose time has come. Check it out.

J. Martin Kohler is a freelance writer based in Northern California, and author of several Holidays features.