I am also looking into ways to better utilize the space between my caper and the pickup truck bed in my 1993 Dodge W250. I want to relocate the stuff that could be stored in the area between the bed and the camper and that sits on the camper floor and has to be removed every time we stop and set up.
I searched the web and found that Royal truck bodies used to make an after market sculpted bed with access hatches. It looks nice. They made them for Ford and GM pickups until around 2004 or so (not exactly sure when production ceased). They were not made for Dodge (darn it).
So if you have a Ford or GM that can accept a late 1990's to early 2000's bed you might look for a used Royal Truck Bodies Sport bed (also referred to as sculptured beds). They no longer make them but I have seen used beds for sale from time to time. I have read that they have a bad reputation on the East Coast due to rusting issues. I further read that the root cause of the problem was that a vendor Royal used for the priming and paint did not do a good job or used the wrong primer resulting in the problems.
Here is a link to an old catalog:
http://www.internetwebmaster.com/wwwroyal/cat_sculpt.html
Another possibility is the Stahl Grand Challenger Utility body. It is contoured rather than rectangular. Here is a link:
http://www.stahl.cc/grandchall/
I am looking into three options:
1) Find a body shop to customize my bed to be equivalent to the Sport Bed
2) Get a Stahl Grand Challenger type bed (not sure yet if I can get one for my old Dodge)
3) Going to a Ute or equivalent flatbed and adding storage boxes.
My challenge will be to maintain (or even reduce) the current pickup bed floor to top of cab distance as our 2009 Keystone already sits high with a large gap between the truck cab roof and the camper cab over bed floor.
Price will likely dictate the final choice.
Regards,
Craig