What's a Good Car-Topper Boat

Charlie, I haven't forgotten , just had some camera trouble that is still not resolved. I cannot get the file size small enough to post without mini ing the picture. I used to have a program that would do it but lost it. I will draw some pics (W/O the pot head) and try to get them on tonight. I am so thrilled with how it works that I am going to put a reciever on my hunting trailer just to use the boat loader. I will not sacrifice another fall to a tore up back. More later.
 
Charlie and whoever is interested,
I finally got some pics that will post. The trick to this one is making it fit one vehicle and loose the wobblies. Start with a piece of 2" square tube thick walled. Cut, weld and trim to length an upright L shaped part. A corner brace is a nice touch. Make sure the tailgate will open. Then the real trick is to get a piece of tubing that is a snug fit, I think what I found is 1 1/2" EMT conduit but whatever it should be a snug fit. Cut a short piece of the square tube for a cross bar. Use a hole saw to cut holes through just one side of the square tube, the round will just fit.One in the middle and two pointing the other way at the ends. Bolt in short chunks of round and pad and tape up and you are all set. I plan on adapting mine to work on my new hunting trailer so I don't loose another season to a tore up back. You probably could use the loader for part of a rack too, just use one cros bar and tie 'er down. Hope this works for you, I sure like mine.

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Tom,

Thanks!

To use it do you put the canoe/kayak/etc on the ground, lift one end up to the horizontal cross piece, bungee the boat to the horizontal piece, then go to the opposite end of the boat, lift it up and walk it around to the front of the truck (rotating the horizontal cross piece) until you can place the front of the boat on the front rack? Then strap it all down like usual?

Ingenious!

Sure beats the deadlift/shoulder press deal I have going with my small boats. It gets old, even putting them on my wifes wagon like that forget about doing it on top of the truck cap. I'm getting too old for that.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post these pictures. Looks like I need to make a run to the steel yard soon.

Charlie
 
Charlie, We are gettng smarter all the time. That's the drill for loading. It works for my Poleboat that I think is about 80# in the morning, more like 800# at night. The other things besides our backs that could get the damaged are the truck and the boat (worst of all) ..Glad to help, we are just a bunch of show offs anyhow.
 
Tom,

I was thinking about the loader you made and was thinking with a little tinkering it could be used to kill two birds with one stone...

I borrowed a thing called an [font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif]extend-a-truck from a co-worker once that was used to carry long stuff in the bed if the truck. It was a two part deal - a T shaped part and an L shaped part with one long "leg" and one short "leg". Thinking about it just now, I realize that the L was just like your loader/lift assist!!!!

The [/font][/font][/font][/font][/font][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif][font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans sarif]Extend-a-Truck thing was usable in two ways, flipped so the long arm of the L was in the trailer hitch and the T was on the short leg, it could be used to carry very long materials (what I used it for - carrying 16' 5/4 trim pieces), but if you flipped the L so the short leg was in the trailer hitch and the long arm was vertical, you could support materials cab high (like on top of your truck cap).

This thing would not usable like your loader bacause the T was fixed and could not rotate (it was a square tube, not a round tube). however, if you combined the two....

I think if you drilled a set of holes (to fit the hitch pin) in the long leg of your L piece, you could use yours the same way (so the long arm could be horizontal and the short leg vertical). Sort of an extra feature for only the extra effort of drilling two holes. A canoe loader AND a bed extender all in one!!!!

So now you're going to tell me you already did that and am stating the obvious, right...

Charlie
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Hey Charlie,why not just use it like a lumber loader to haul the boat.Put a roller on the outboard end and slide almost any sized boat that you can lift one end at a time,right into the pickup bed.Put a small led red flashing light on the extream end.Could have additional roller/rollers near the tailgate.
 
Joe,

That would be way too easy! I need tools, contraptions and devices...

Actually, with my truck today, I just put the kayak in the back sort of diagonally with the long side sticking out toward the passenger side. I have a bed extender thingy which extends the bed to the end of the tailgate. Works fine for a single 14' kayak. It does stick out quite a ways, but is usable.

On longer items like that 5/4 x 6 x 16 trim the long bed extender thing is great.

The idea of loading the kayak on top of the truck is a good option if I need the bed for the dog or other large cargo.

Now I have a reason to make one that will do everything all-in-one.

Charlie
 
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