Platform to go on a bed rack?

Hello all,

Hoping for some ideas and inspiration here. I'm a landscape photographer by trade and found myself standing on my tonneau cover with my tripod last night and wishing I was a few feet higher. Got me thinking about some sort of platform to stick on my Overhaul HD rack to occasionally shoot from.

Yakima makes the LockNLoad platform, but it's pretty spendy for a pretty now and then kind of thing.

I'd really like to attach a scissor lift, but that's not at all practical lol

Thanks!

Lyle

Here's the shot from last night, just for shits and giggles:

 

My roof rack is a steel square tube rectangle with 1x6 pine boards bolted to it. About 150 in metal, some boards and whatever attachment works with your rack.

3 or 4 unistruts across your rack (secured maybe with ubolts?) and boards across would work too.

 

I can envision a hinged frames, attached to the cross bars, that could be hinged up and locked into place. You could use perforated tubing perhaps. I have no idea how the pivot points at the cross bars would be attached. The geometry would need tweeking based on the spacing (front to rear) of the cross bars. Reattach the diagonal structs for travel so it doesn't swing front to rear.

 

That's an interesting thought, and the extra height would be nice...but perhaps more mental energy than I've got for this particular project haha

Lyle

 

I get that.
I'm a structural engineer. These kinds of challenges are tough to resist.
If I had a good picture of the cross bars I could probably figure out how to attach.
The rest of the stand's assembly is a piece of cake.

 

I have no suggestions on the rack, but that picture is beautiful!
Very nice work!

 

Is that the Paia area?

 

Plywood, 2x4s, and maybe some carpet if you wanted it to look nice. Don't need to get crazy building a fancy "stage"

 

Makena, but my gallery is in Paia

 

Thanks!

 

Cool! Send me a link to your gallery site if you have one. I’m due for a trip there to visit family. Covid permitting

 

How about a motorcycle lift? You could bolt on a larger wooden platform for more space. Small ones are cheap. This one is $85.00

 

You could put a Frontrunner roof rack on top of a bed rack, but you're looking at around $2000 for a semi-permanent solution.


A piece of MDF bolted to a bed rack would be cheaper and more flexible

 

That is beautiful!
Do you have a website or gallery?

 

Great image - do tell the EXIF info -

I too have found folding the cover once or twice, jumping in the bed, setting up a tripod on the cover has helped me get a shot as well.

This one, not as fantastic and clean as yours but for a rookie not bad - needed to shoot over a brick wall.. sure was nice to hit the bed step,
ease into the bed, setup for it.