Bed Bow section lengths?

[rmgill]

So I'm going to try to make a set of cargo bed bows to go with my top. I found some dropside bed corners that I'll be using on my non-dropside bed. I grabbed those because they have the quick release pin and they were available.

What height do I need for the staves (vertical parts?). Obviously figuring the width of the horizontal bow's is easy once you have the vertical heigh. Anyone have any advice on types of wood to use?

 

[baja_power]

I snapped one of the rear ones ( which are smaller in length) and i replaced it with a piece of oak. seems to hold up great. almost stronger then the fiberglass GI issue ones.

 

[rmgill]

Anyone have the lengths available?

 

[Squirt-Truck]

Ryan,
The installed bow assembly is 60" from bed to top of bow.
The original staves were red oak.
One variation was a shorter stave (roughly 36") with a metal block, secured with the same kind of screws that hold the corners on, that limited the depth into the sideboard. These are much easier to get in and out than the Loooong ones.

 

[rmgill]

I'll probably go with the longer stave 48" just for strength and I don't have the metal blocks. I'm going to have to fabricate or scrounge the straps for rolling up the sides and securing them.

 

[Ugg013]

Squirt-Truck:

Is that measurement taken at the center of the top? What about where the curves are?

rmgill:

Are you accounting for the curvature in the top bow?

Later
Ugg

 

[rmgill]

45" for the upright lengths works out accurately. The Top bows worked out to be 75 1/2" I cut them at 77" since the wood stock I used was a touch thinner and tended to go past the stops in the elbow sections and up against the pins.

 

[Jakob]

Since most of the information I needed was here already, I'll revive this thread. I had a trashed set of bows and stakes (none of which were in one complete piece). I'm wanting to make my own set and I have the lengths here. The only thing I don't know is how much curvature should be in the bows. If a whole bow is laid on the ground (like an arch), what is the measurement to the top of it in the middle?