Anyone haul a Canoe on their truck....???

Two canoes may not be that much weight, but the lift they generate is huge. I wouldn't trust the bed tracks to hold under those kind of forces.

 

Here are a few pictures of my $30 solution to the canoe hauling challenge. It consists of 2x6 uprights with 2x4s spanning the width of the box. A pair of turnbuckles are attached to the cleats and a cargo strap is attached to hooks on the bed of the box. While the rack worked well, the canoe did shift on the cab on a particularly windy day . I may swallow my pride and buy a proper rack for the cab.







If you're interested in the canoe, check out my build blog at http://greybeardcanoes.com.

 

So are paint and plastic moldings, I guess..

 

Yakima rack. Not a cheap solution, but it works well.

 

Here's another homemade solution: 1" galvanized pipe bolted with galvanized floor flanges to a frame of 2x6 lumber that sits in the bed. The frame is bolted together with wing nuts so it's easy to break it down for storage.

The bed extender helps to give the rack a longer base and more stability but is not totally necessary.



However, I now have to modify the rack to fit my new short bed Taco.

 

Pic of my 13' kayak, bed extender from Harbor Freight. Works great and I don't even have to remove my toolbox.

 

The canoes are 20' on Yakima Mako cradles....

 

damn...I just checked out your canoe that you built. Nice work! Now stop being a cheap ass and build or buy a REAL canoe carrier.

 

I went with a homemade weld job and one cab mounted rail system, works well. I've got racks for a cap, but can't find a cap to fit the stepside truck.

 

This is what I have and it's all you need.. None of this complicated racks, and nothing resting on your roof. I have a 15 foot kayak and it works great. It goes right into your receiver.

Type in kayak bed extender, on google.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/95/5d/d0f2793509a05ebfe8546110.L.jpg

 

It works great for 2 kayaks. Normally when I go kayaking, that's all I do that day. I'm not hauling a bunch of other stuff around. May as well just get a lumber rack then

 

To add to this, look at my above pic. I've hauled 3 SOT kayaks, all 13' or longer, and had no issues (with my toolbox still in the bed too).

 

Oh yeah, it works for that too......or pipes

 

Hey guys. I have an 07 longbed and I just bought an 18 foot cedar canoe. If I used the Thule bed rack. Do they adjust to a perfect height to match a couple foam canoe blocks I would need over the cab? It so that would leave 5-6 feet hanging over the front which seems ok. I want to still be able ttitle my 1956 16 foot airstream at the same time? What do you think? Ted

 

I've hauled a canoe a few times. All I did was throw a towl over the back of my cab and then ratchet strapped the thing down. Don't think you really need a rack to haul one. Had two short kayaks in the bed sticking out with the canoe over them and strapped down a couple times too. held up fine to freeway and dirt road driving

 

Sorry Ted. If you are talking about the 422XT, The Load Bars may only be raised or lowered to specific pre-set heights.

 

So how much higher than the cab height is the thule bed rack system when in the "almost level" setting with a second generation Tacoma? if its somewhat close I would think adding some foam to the inexpensive foam block canoe carriers would work to level out the canoe. You can imagine that I can't have the canoe going long in the back. The taco is 18 foot long too so I just. We'd more support up front if I get a thule. Can do one give me a measurement so I can determine if it's doable got me? Also is the Thule base upright working with found holes for adjustment.? If so could you drill perfect height holes? Thanks for any help. Ted

 

Sorry about the iPhone spell check above.

 

Does Thule use round holes for its adjustments? Can someone give me a measurement of the Thule bed rack when at close to level height at cab height?


Thinking of foam blocks over the cab to level things out and add support