Transporting my Outback

[ronaultmtd]

For the last few years, I have just put my outback in the bed of my Ford Ranger pickup secured it in place with a couple of tie downs and bungee cords- and every time, I find myself constantly looking in the rear mirror with nagging doubts...thinking, I need a better system...so after having my number drawn and winning the Lady Luck, I decide that I would make myself a secure, fast, and user friendly kayak transport system for my pickup- yesterday I went to Lowes and bought two 8 foot long pressure treated 4X4's and a 10' 1 by 6 pressure treated board...my design will be pretty simple using the wheel wells in the truck bed to prevent the 4X4 from moving by cutting the 10' long 1X6 in two at 52 inches long and then securing them on both sides to the 4X4 by screwing plasticote deck screws into the board and the 4X4's...the distance between the 4X4's will be 20 inches so that the Outback will sit upright on the 4X4s (covered by carpet to prevent scratching) and the center keel will be free in the 20 inch wide slot- the two 52 inch long 1X6s will be on either sides of the wheel well in the bed positively preventing any movement of the 4X4's- tie downs will be by bungee cords for quick and secure loading and unloading- one big benefit of this setup is that when you go to load the outback you simply put the bow of the kayak between the two 4X4's and grab the rear handle at the stern and lift the kayak on the 4X4 rails, sliding it forward- remove the Hobie HD cart, attach bungee and head up the highway...fast, secure and no damage to the Outback..

[DanMarino]

Sounds like a good plan Ron. Post some photos when done.

[mchottie]

subscribed for photos.

I have an 8' bed with a cap, all I use to secure my 12' is a bungee from the rear yak handle to the cap tie-down. not very theft deterrent, but when not in-use, i unload it from my truck.

[Big Mike]

Sounds kind of heavy when you need to take the rack out of the bed. Any idea what it weighs?

[ronaultmtd]

It is fairly heavy, Mike- when we go fishing I'll let you take a hard look at it- I would figure it is close to 80-90 pounds- but I am happy with the results- I could have used 2X4s to be lighter but the keel would have been hitting the bed- with the 4X4 the keel is about an inch off the bed- the security of not worrying about losing your kayak in the event of a hard bump or hard acceleration, plus the ease of loading without the bow of the kayak sliding/falling off the tailgate when you lift the stern is pretty nice- like it...

[Ronsangler14]

Please post photos.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[ronaultmtd]

I did on my FB page- using my IPhone camera- haven't got the Photobucket from my Iphone mastered...