Roof/Truck Racks -- Anyone make their own?

[Billy Bones]

Hi all,

I'd like to make my own roofrack for carrying spars and oars.

When I trail the sailboat I find that putting anything in the b-b-b-b-bouncey b-b-b-b-boat wreaks havoc on the finish. As I repainted this year I'd like to preserve it as long as possible.

I've used commercial ladder racks, including the easy off kind, with middling success. I'd like to try my making my own for use carrying the spars. I tried making some that mounted in just one side of the bed, but the brackets beneath the bed side holes prooved flimsy and bent out and now aren't usable.

Distances are short, speeds are slow.

Anyone else done this? Plans? Tips? Thoughts?

[Donn]

You said "one side of the bed." If that means the vehicle is a pickup, lots of guys around here build racks for surf fishing rods (to 15' long) out of PVC. They mount short sections of tube on the tailgate, and a cab-wide sandwiched length on the top of the cab. The cab-top is a 3" PVC tube, cut in half lengthwise, routed with round mortises for the rods, and filled with closed cell foam. They simply place the butt of the rod in the tailgate tube, rest the rod in the foam-filled groove on the cab, and lay the top half of the cab tube over the rod(s), holding it closed with bungi cords.

This will ony work with items under a certain length, for obvious reasons. I've seen one rack that had the split tube on the tailgate as well, except it was mounted on a PVC frame that held it about 2' above the tailgate.

[Paul Scheuer]

How 'bout a rack (removable) inside the boat to keep the sticks under control.

[Billy Bones]

Paul, that's what I used to do, more or less, with a cradle and cushions. Problem is, I've taken as much of the bounce out of the trailer as I can and it still bounces like fury. Up on the truck (Ford Ranger) the bounce is much less and the racket and damage from stuff bouncing in the hull is minimized.

[J. Dillon]

There is a whole thread on this subject somewhere right in the WBF. I can't remember where. But in the mean time here is what I did. I since specialized it for carring a canoe as well as general lumber etc. It was real cheap made with PT stuff and the plummers helper as seen in the image. That keeps the Fwd. end from scratching up the cab and helps take the load . I have since painted the whole thing. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/pedbea7e46164242cd14a57fe4ddfda5e/f915db7f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid110/pbaf27024f8722c90a43e07b280baaa3d/f915d9d9.jpg
It is removeable but I leave it in.

JD

[Dave Fleming]

JD, yer right there was a thread not too long ago.
'Erster' and DonnW were contributors IIRC.

[ion barnes]

Bouncey trailer? Drop the tire pressure to about 10 - 15 pounds. You said you go slow, didnt you?