bed cover

Just ignore customcarchris. He may present a valid point, but we think that it is great that you want to take this project head on. It will allow you to get creative with it. And it isn't that difficult really.  we agree with younguru that you should make a frame out of 1" square tubing, but use lathe instead of sheet metal for the skin. That will make it a lot lighter but still give enough strength and surface area for the FG to hang on to. (as well as give the ability to mold an interesting shape into it.)

Post some pictures up while you work on it. We can't wait to see it. TIP on the lathe: until you have it glassed in, it most likely will flex around a little bit. We recommend that you tack in extra supports on hte tonneau as you glass the top half of it and then slice out the un-needed supports when you glass the underside of it.

Yes, ignore valid points, but please proceed with doing things the hard and long way just because you can.

If shortbed454 wants to make a frame and use that as a base, then the project will be greatly simplified, but the initial question was making it out of pure fiberglass, which would require a mold.
If he had a mold to use, then great.  If he's using framework, then great again, but if he's doing it just on a flat surface and wanting to get it done quick and relatively cheaply, not so great.

As for the vacuum, if you can make something like this, not really hard actually, you would be amazed at the difference in smoothness and straightness you get.

Sorry I don't just tell you to go ahead and do whatever, that's a great idea, spend half your life and money on it, I would rather warn against problems that I have myself done so that you can save a lot of time and money otherwise wasted on methods that don't work that great.

But it is the experimentations on the unknowns that make this industry / hobby so great. I believe it was Edison who said:

"I did not invent the lightbulb, I just found 200 ways how NOT to make a light bulb"

What one person may have done, the other may do differently even if the basic instructions may be similar.

We say "Never doubt the unknown because it is the unknown that makes us want to know."

Ok, Confusious, you go ahead and NOT make nice fiberglass pieces and spend the next decade doing it.

I am just trying to save shortbed454 a lot of unnecessary work and headache.  I experimented a lot with my first few projects trying to do things my own way and make them still work.  Then I decided I was tired of wasting my time and money and took some advice to simplify some things, and try a tested method.  Well what do you know they came out better than I could have hoped with my own methods and I still got just as much experience and creativity out of them.  When I was done, I wished someone could have told me how to make things easier and cheaper without me wasting so much time and money.

Trying to pass on good advice from my own mistakes, but I guess a good quote comes in handy... "Some people just have to learn the hard way."

Hey Shortbed454.  I have an '87 S-10 with a supercharged 455 Olds, Lenco, 4-link, Dana, tubbed, gutted bed, removed fenderwells, and no cab interior...all for lightweight purposes.  Im just thinking we may be on the same page.  As you know, trucks have a little more of a traction problem than cars do.  I made my bed cover with 3/4 Inch square metal tubing and steet metal for weight addition reasons, even though it didnt really add ALOT of weight altogether, but it helped with my front to back bias.  So, I made my square tube box that fit inside the bed so it would be flush with the top of the bed.  Made a "X" member that makes a simple cross support.  The bed is a little smaller than the 4x8 sheet of steel, so I had to cut it down just a little.  Blasted it, glazed it, primed, painted, no additional BS.  Fabricated some front brackets for a hinge plate at the cab end and as a mounting plate for my 2 gas struts that are made to raise a hefty rear hatch of a '97 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport.  I welded a seat belt clip onto each side of the tailgate area and the seatbelt latch on the bed cover, DONE.  Now all I gotta do is drop my tailgate, push in on both seatbelt buttons of each bed side, and the solid bed cover nicely goes up with a ssssshhhhhhhhh and stops at the gas strut's height....uh, that I forgot to mention you should plan for.