Hello... My name is Jason, I'm a newcomer to sea kayaking. I have several things that I'd like to ask about but think I will probably lurk for a while and be an information sponge. I do have one question that can't wait and then I'l slink back into the shadows. My question concerns putting sea kayaks on top of pickup trucks. Specifically 18' Kayaks on Ford F250 Crew Cab Shortbed Pickups. It seems there are several ways to accomplish it and I was wondering if anyone had any specific experience. Does anyone use Trac-Rac? Thule? Yakima? As soon as I figure out how to get the boat to the water more often I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions. Til then I'm just kinda waiting around the house with a boat and a truck and no way to put one on top of the other. Thanks in advance for the help and advice. Jason *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[Moderator's Note: Content unaltered. Excessive quoting (including headers/footers/sig lines/extraneous text from previous posts, etc.) have been removed. Please edit quoted material in addition to removing header/trailers when replying to posts.] At 12:19 AM 4/11/2004 -0700, Jason Fitzgerald wrote: > My question concerns putting sea kayaks on top of pickup trucks. >Specifically 18' Kayaks on Ford F250 Crew Cab Shortbed Pickups. It seems >there are several ways to accomplish it and I was wondering if anyone had >any specific experience. Does anyone use Trac-Rac? Thule? >Yakima? Jason, I've done it a couple of ways in the past. On one, extended cab, truck (a Ranger) I added a ladder rack. The kind that contractors use. It was a little pricey but did an awesome job. Then I had a crew cab (four door) S10. For that vehicle I bought the tracks from Thule cut them to length and attached them to the roof. Essentially creating my own "factory" roof rack, only stronger. I can't remember exactly what they were called but they are a catalog item. Now I have an F150 crew cab. The problem this time is I bought a moonroof so the roof profile doesn't allow for the attachment of the tracks/rails. I've looked at Trac-Rack but they don't have a part number for the F150. The Thule Xsporter looks good but I haven't actually seen one yet. Plus I want to be able to use a tonneau cover. I'll keep you posted on my research.......... Have you found a GREAT solution yet? .Hal Hal Christiansen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> At 12:19 AM 4/11/2004 -0700, Jason Fitzgerald wrote: > > My question concerns putting sea kayaks on top of pickup trucks. > >Specifically 18' Kayaks on Ford F250 Crew Cab Shortbed Pickups. > I use a contractor's ladder/pipe rack on my Ford F150 Crew Cab shortbed pickup. I have a camper shell underneath the ladder rack. I usually carry a small step ladder to make tiedowns easier. The rack came with three crossbars (at the very front, very back and just ahead of the middle. The bars were too far apart so I added a fourth crossbar for better kayak weight distribution. The kayaks weight is on the middle two crossbars and the kayak ends are tied to the front and back crossbars. Tony Niilus *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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