Back on Thanksgiving I bought an old canoe from a guy a few streets over, and have yet to put it in the water. It's a 14 footer, and my Dodge Dakota Quad Cab only has a 5 1/2 foot bed. I was able to get it home, but was going to have to find a way to haul it. I knew what I wanted, but had to find a way to do it that wouldn't cost more than the canoe did! So I've been working on ideas, and decided I needed some kind of rack to get it above the cab. I'm going to be spraying in a bedliner as soon as we get good enough weather, then mounting a lockable hard bed cover on the back that hinges in the middle. So I want a rack system I can use with the cover in place. Last week I figured out how to do the back support, and today I figured out the forward one!
I had seen those "bed extenders" that go into a receiver hitch and add about 4 or 5 feet to your bed, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... automotive
Was about to order one for $100 when last week I found one just like it at Harbor Freight for $40. Thing was the perfect height! So now I just had to figure out a front rack to keep the canoe off the top of my cab. I looked for any type of cargo rack that might be made for the Dakota, no luck. Found something by Thule but it was gonna be almost $600 to get all the pieces I'd need. Had several ideas, and today saw an ad that flipped on the old light bulb! Back to good old Harbor Freight!
They had some of the big suction cups used to pull dents or carry panes of glass on sale. Something told me I could make it work. I got to HF and found the big suction cups. The lo and behold, there it was, the answer - dual suction cups!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=46134
I bought 2 of these for $6 ea., but only needed one! After attaching the thing to my truck and assuring myself they would hold well enough for my purposes, I began creating my "removable roof rack"! I took one of the duals, and cut it in half. The handle is hollow, and a piece of 3/4" EMT conduit fit through it nicely, like it was made for it! Because of the curvature of my cab roof where I have to mount the suction cups, the tube inside the handle is angled upwards about 10 degrees. So I bent the last 6-8 inches of each end of the conduit, which is about 4 feet long, to match that angle. I plan to drill a hole to place a padlock through the handle and the conduit on one side to make removing the whole thing difficult, since you can't relieve the pressure on the suction cup with the conduit sticking through the handle and up against the lever.
So overall, my rack ended up costing me $40 for the extender, $6 for the suction cups, and $2.50 for a 10' piece of conduit I could use to make one more! Not bad for under 50 bucks!
I'll take some pics tomorrow and post. The rain came and kept me from getting any today. I plan to load up the canoe tomorrow and take it for a spin, maybe cast a bait or two. The canoe could use a little TLC, and I need to repaint it, but it will work good enough for now!
Almost ready...
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- GoodOyster
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Almost ready...
"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!"
~Thomas Jefferson
~Thomas Jefferson
Re: Almost ready...
Sweet idea! I've been wondering how to work something out for my truck. Got a rack set for my truck cap, but most jon boats have an upward curve to the hull, which ends up letting the bow hit the roof of the cab. Those suction grabber thingamabobs will work perfect.
- GoodOyster
- Ain't as Good as I Once Was , But I'm As Good Once As I Ever Was!
- Posts: 3902
- Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:28 am
- Location: Sarasota, FL
- Contact:
Re: Almost ready...
I tell ya, it's like they are made for it! I'm gonna paint mine black with some Krylon Fusion paint, and it'll look like some kind of factory set up. I also plan to get one of those foam pool float noodle things and cut a piece to put over the conduit. I might make another one tomorrow with the other clamp I bought, but make it so the bar sits a bit higher off the cab. Haven't got it all figured out yet, but I always come up with something! Must be all that Air Force Special Ops training!Papa_J wrote:Sweet idea! I've been wondering how to work something out for my truck. Got a rack set for my truck cap, but most jon boats have an upward curve to the hull, which ends up letting the bow hit the roof of the cab. Those suction grabber thingamabobs will work perfect.
"My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!"
~Thomas Jefferson
~Thomas Jefferson
Re: Almost ready...
Home Depot or Lowes might have what you need to wrap the conduit (a.k.a. pipe insulation), and it's probably cheaper than pool noodles. And the fusion stuff is great. You'll hafta post some pics of the setup. Hey, if ya can't use ur procurement and ingenuity ya picked up in training, it ain't doin ya no good.
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