Underside wood detail.

Seen in the photo is the underside of one of the inverted hat channel crossmembers supporting the bed wood. Note the staggered bolt pattern through this channel. Where these bolts pass through the channel are located the wide joints between boards. These are the wide joints that are covered by the bed skid strips above. These wide joints can barely be seen in the photo. Also visible are other tighter joints. These are the gaps between the random width boards as they lay side by side. Note the difference in wood grain patterns and the how old black paint was absorbed and held differently by the various boards.