Designing a bed side rail extension thing for kayaks!

[BTAO]

Greetings!

I've been working on a little design I thought I'd share to solve a problem I have. I love to kayak! So a few weeks ago I put the kayak holder on the roof rack, and was too short to get the kayak safely on top, and that's just for one side of my double J rack. I have a utility trailer, but that's no good for getting to little backwoods ponds and marshes to fish. So I put my engineer hat on and stared at my truck for a while and tried to picture a way to fit two kayaks.

I have all my gear in the back, so I don't want to empty it all to put the kayaks in the bed, then have to find a home for everything. I have the Bak X4ts hard roll up cover that needs space to roll up, but, it does come with T-Slot rails. It's a 5' bed, and 10' kayaks. What I really needed was an extension! If I extended the rails and raised it up, I could mount the kayak holders and still let me roll up the cover.

Fortunately, my company makes the aluminum extrusion framing, so I've been going through the catalog and working through a design at lunch. Here's where it's at!

Final Model:

Here's the basic frame on the truck:

It laid on and mounts really solidly. The handle bolts lock it in really well and lock the rails together. The cover rolls up no problem. I went through some iterations on how to support the sag, and I had trusses in there originally but it got heavy quick. So I've got some foamed PVC hard panels being machined now on the router that will fit right in the internal t-slot pockets on the sides and be lightweight, but fully rigid. The middle crossbar is for a handle.

What do y'all think? Anyone else have this on a wish list?

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[lauren01]

Neato! We have an inflatable Sea Eagle kayak. We could store the bag on an extension if there was a shelf or better yet, be able to carry it inflated when we want to change locations without deflating. We could still access the rest of the bed since we have a ReTrax retractable cover.

We hauled the kayak in its bag strapped on top of the tonneau cover a week ago. I’m guessing it weighs 50+ lbs. including its inflator, oars, and seats.

So nice that you can engineer things for the truck.

 

[BTAO]

Thanks! With the t-slots, you can really modify and add anything you'd want, like a shelf. Easy on and easy off too to switch. We raft/tube down the river sometimes too, might need it for that. Could probably stack up 4 tubes pretty easy.

 

[BTAO]

Finished it up last night. It couldn't have come out better. Super happy with it. The side panels make it completely rigid. Perfect height, easy to load, and the stops hold both kayaks exactly in position for tying it down. I shortened the front post a little for better hold down, and added some rubber matting to the rest points. The cover still rolls up just fine, and still have access to everything in the bed. If it wasn't 9,000,000 degrees out I'd be on the water after lunch....

 

[BTAO]

Well I'm back. Was enjoying the ease of kayaking again, and I fish, so I got a fishing kayak! What I wasn't enjoying, was that these things are F#^&$# heavy. And, it's longer than my other ones. I got the Perception Showdown 11.5' pedal kayak. When I put it up on my rack to add cradles, it started to bend the brackets that hold the actual cover system on inside the bed, and flexed onto the bed sides plastic trim. That wasn't gonna work....

With some research, I found a double hitch extender for adding accessories for $36 bucks at Harbor Freight. With that I can hitch up the boat and build a kick stand for the rack when I have the big yak on it. I grabbed some 50x50mm extrusion, which slides right in, and bolted it in from the sides into the t-slots so it doesn't jiggle. I then mounted the upright to a gusset with a quick lever on it so I can dial in the height I want. Now the rack is rock solid with a 100+lb kayak hanging out the back even on dirt roads. Another mod I'm super pleased with.

After that I built and mounted the kayak cart. Everything still opens and closes, tailgate and cover, for easy access to the gear once the boat is off.

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