How STAPLL Fender Racks Add Exterior Storage to a Truck Camper
Load a camper into a pickup bed and the truck gains a comfortable place to sleep, cook, and wait out bad weather. It also loses most of the space where shovels, recovery boards, tools, and other dirty gear used to go.
STAPLL found another place for it: the narrow strip of unused space above the truck’s rear fender.
The Durango, Colorado, storage company sent us a 48×10-inch Fender Rack and 56L Fender Case Kit to install on our HS 640 show truck. The gear was provided at no cost, but STAPLL did not pay for this article or tell us what to say. These products are also not currently offered as Alaskan Camper options.
The system made sense in the shop. After the HS 640 debuted at Overland Expo PNW, it also spent a week traveling through the Pacific Northwest.
The Storage Problem STAPLL Solves
STAPLL was founded in 2021 by brothers Bruce and Charlie Hoch, who had spent years inventing and refining products together before turning their attention to cargo storage.
The idea grew from a problem Charlie encountered while camping. Once a truck camper occupied the bed, there was no good place left for bulky equipment without compromising how the truck or camper functioned.
Their solution became the Modular Truck-Rail Mounting System, or MTMS. It attaches at the bed rail and supports racks and accessories along the outside of the truck, just above the fender. The system installs without drilling and can be configured for MOLLE-compatible equipment, recovery boards, fuel containers, tools, hard cases, and other accessories.
That origin feels familiar to us. STAPLL and Alaskan started in different decades and different corners of the West, but both grew from the same instinct: build better equipment for people who want to travel farther from the pavement and rely on what they bring with them.
The location is what makes STAPLL’s idea work. Gear stays outside the camper, remains accessible from the ground, and occupies space that otherwise contributes very little to the truck.
What We Mounted on the HS 640
Our show truck carries two versions of the STAPLL system, each suited to a different kind of gear.
48×10-Inch Fender Rack
The 48×10-inch Fender Rack is STAPLL’s largest MOLLE panel. Its long exterior mounting surface can hold traction boards, a shovel, recovery equipment, storage pouches, and other trail tools.
The rack is built with 6061 anodized aluminum, powder-coated steel, and stainless-steel hardware. STAPLL gives it a minimum weight rating of 84 pounds, although that rating applies to the rack itself rather than the truck carrying it.
On the HS 640 rig, the panel keeps bulky and dirty equipment outside while leaving it within easy reach. There is no need to open the camper, climb into the bed, or dismantle the packing system to find it.
If the traction boards are buried beneath the gear they are supposed to recover, the packing plan has already failed.
56L Fender Case Kit
The 56L Fender Case Kit provides enclosed storage using two smaller 6×7-inch Fender Racks and a long, low-profile hard case.
The case is certified IP65 for resistance to dust and water, making it a logical home for tools, recovery equipment, camp hardware, and other gear that should remain protected without occupying an interior cabinet.
Its placement also keeps frequently used equipment close at hand. Gear has a way of migrating toward the nearest open floor, seat, or countertop during a long trip. Giving it a dedicated place outside helps preserve the camper’s living and storage space, especially when wet weather sends everything under cover.
How the No-Drill Mount Works
Each Fender Rack attaches at the truck’s bed rail using STAPLL’s clamp hardware or an available accessory track. A brace extends toward the fender, where a rubber spacer stabilizes the rack and helps control vibration.
Paint protection film sits between the system and the truck body. STAPLL also provides an adhesive option for aluminum-bodied trucks where the magnetic spacer cannot attach directly.
The system can be installed without drilling, then removed or reconfigured as the loadout changes. An open MOLLE panel may suit recovery equipment on one trip, while an enclosed case or fuel mount may be more useful on another.
That flexibility matters because a truck camper rarely carries the same equipment year-round. A weekend fishing trip, a winter road trip, and two weeks of dispersed camping place very different demands on the truck.
Overlanding gear also has to do more than look capable in a driveway. It needs to handle vibration, weather, changing loadouts, and the inevitable moment when the tool you need is underneath everything else. The simpler and more accessible the system, the better it works when the trip stops going according to plan.
Seven Days on the Road With STAPLL
After the HS 640 debuted at Overland Expo PNW, Christina Luppi of @huntressoffroad and filmmaker Colten Stephens of @realityfilm.co took the STAPLL-equipped HS 640 and our 800 Flatbed on a seven-day road trip through the Pacific Northwest. We’ll be sharing more from their journey soon.
The rigs moved between campsites, traveled rough backroads, and encountered enough rain to make accessible exterior storage more than a showroom benefit.
Their posts from the trip focused heavily on how the campers worked once the weather turned. Colten shared scenes of staying dry while rain rolled through camp, while Christina put the newly introduced HS 640 through repeated travel days, changing camps, and long stretches spent living out of the truck.
The trip also showed why the STAPLL system fits this kind of travel. With the camper occupying nearly the entire bed, bulky equipment still had a dedicated place outside the living space. The open rack kept recovery gear accessible, while the enclosed case protected equipment that did not need to follow wet boots and muddy tools into the camper.
The mounting system traveled with the rig while protruding less than two inches into the bed and requiring no holes in the truck. It made better use of a constrained space without asking the truck or camper to give up much in return.
You can see more from the trip through @huntressoffroad, @realityfilm.co, and @alaskan.campers.
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Putting Wasted Fender Space to Work
STAPLL has found a way to turn dead space into useful storage without drilling the truck, crowding the camper, or adding another box above the roofline or behind the bumper.
The 48×10-inch Fender Rack keeps traction boards, a shovel, and recovery gear mounted low, outside, and easy to grab when the trail stops cooperating. The 56L Fender Case Kit gives tools, tire-repair equipment, air hoses, and other trail essentials a sealed home where they are protected but still accessible from the ground.
After a week on Pacific Northwest backroads with the HS 640, the appeal was clearer. STAPLL approaches truck storage much the way we approach campers: preserve the truck’s capability, make every inch work harder, and avoid complexity that becomes a liability far from pavement.
The best gear earns its place by helping the rig travel farther without making the trip harder.
