surgtech56
michigan
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I'm looking for ideas for kayak racks - carry kayaks. We will be towing the TT with a pick up. Any homemade racks ideas?
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brianpearce
Central Coast, CA
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Joined: 10/14/2008
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You won't need anything special. Get a roof rack for the truck roof and use front and rear tie downs to be sure the kayaks do not twist out of the roof rack. If they are shorter sit on tops, you will only need the roof racks and a rear tie-down.
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dave54
Northeast CA.
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Joined: 02/12/2004
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I suggest buying a manufactured rack rather than home made. They have been designed and tested for a broad range of conditions.
The yak or canoe gets battered around quite a bit, and has lots of stresses pushing on it from all directions -- highway speeds, crosswinds, walloped by passing trucks, etc.
Nothing worse than a yak or canoe coming loose on a highway at 65 MPH.
In fact, when I see a homemade rack with a yak on the highway I put distance between me and that vehicle ASAP.
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surgtech56
michigan
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These are 12 ft kayaks. Online I've seen some universal racks that fit on the box almost like a ladder rack.
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Bucky Badger
Madison, WI
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surgtech56 wrote:These are 12 ft kayaks. Online I've seen some universal racks that fit on the box almost like a ladder rack.
Does it matter if you have a flat cover on your bed? Could you post a link to the one you found, because i'm looking into one also
Fred & Jodie, dogs, Zoey & Mika
RIP Bella
2010 F150 5.4, 3.55, 4x4, Equli-z-er Hitch
2007 Forest River Salem 27RB LE
and
2009 Nomad 3980
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Dixiechick
Trussville, AL
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Myhusband ordered a rack from J C Whitney and we purchased kayak "holders" from a local company. He made carriers for us to wheel the kayaks from the jeep down to the water. If you are interested just PM me and I will send those instructions. We are on the road and won't be home until April so it will be a while before I can get to it.
Cathy and Don, finally retired 
Cats-Whiskers the Princess and Shadow the Baby
2008 Allegro Class A Open Road 32'
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surgtech56
michigan
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I happened upon this type of rack by searching for 'tonneau covers'. Check out www.realtruck.com. Search racks and carriers. I also found some similar ones on EBay
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tahiti16
Camarillo, CA
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Harbor Freight sells ladder racks that look like they would work. We thought about them for my son's pickup. You could get 2 and mount 1 on each side or use full cross bars. People with 5er's have a bigger issue because the trailer occupies part of the bed.
We have a moho so I am working on something for the bmw we tow.
Ray, Cheryl, Cory & of course Miss Molly the four-legged child
2006 Dolphin 36' F53 V10 5 speed auto 2 slides 7.5 KW genset
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shutdown
In The Dog House
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Joined: 03/13/2008
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check out US Rack. they have solutions for almost any need. I have one from there. I tried the homemade route but I couldn't build one that was strong enough and looked nice enough for less than what i could buy it for. perhaps if you had a well equipped metal shop with a bender? My shop consists of a torch, plasma cutter and a couple of welders.
If you don't need a anything special you can pick up a basic ladder rack from ebay for right around $100.
I have a set of Malone J brackets to hold the yak to the rack. they allow the boats to set on their side rather than laying flat. they are nice if you have especially wide boats or are carrying more than 2. they can be a bit of a pain for a couple of reasons, first they are HIGH don't count on going through any drive-thru second they because they are high they catch wind BIG TIME! third they can be tough to load...again because they are high. forth, becuse the boat is on its side (rather than upside down) water tends to pool in the cockpit of the boats. My advice is that if you can fit the kayaks directly on the racks that is a better option.
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shutdown
In The Dog House
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duplicate post.
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