The Navarre Fisherman

I have finsished setting up my Ocean Prowler 15 for fishing and now I need to transport it. I have a 1995 Toyota pickup to use and have looked at several options.

Has anyone found a good (and reasonably priced) setup?

jthuwf

Harbor Freight Truck Bed Extender. I have a Chevy S-10. I put the extender in my hitch so it points up. I've padded the extender and I put a pad on the roof of my truck. I put the kayak upside down on the rack. The extender is kind of wobbly, so I bought two straps from harbor freight and ran them through the eyes on the bed of my truck and the eyes on the extender. I then use two more straps to hold the kayak snug. I have a Prowler 13 and this works great.

1956_4x4

I use the same extender for my Prowler 13. It's simple and supports the kayak well. I leave the kayak sitting in the normal position. Make sure not to tighten the straps too much or it could be bad for the kayak. I just use a couple of bungee cords over the back, but then I have a roll-n-lock that covers the bed and keeps the wind off the kayak.

Smitty

JRG24

I put my 16' revolution in the bed of my ranger with the harbor freight bed extender as well. It works awesome.

FLSalomon

I'll make it unanimous - bed extender from Harbor Freight. Stop reading, go buy one. $40, or $20 on sale. Cheap. Allows you to transport the yak almost full rigged in the bed of the truck. Less heavy lifting, less wasted time at the launch, fits two yaks side by side.

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CAJUN

Anyone know how often does the bed extender go on sale?

Framerguy

I fish from a 14' Heritage Redfish andI haul it in the bed of my '97 F-150 with no extender. I have never had an issue with it and I usually just loop my homemade locking cable through one of the scupper holes and go.



The length of the inside of my bed from the front to the end of the tailgate is 106" which will support a 14' kayak with no problem of overcentering and tipping backwards. If I am driving over 10 miles or so I usually put a ratchet tiedown on the rear of the kayak and run it over to the 2 tiedowns on each side of the rear of the bed.



The locking cable is just a length of vinyl coated 3/16" cable that I bought for .49¢/ft. and I carefully measured it to fit pretty tight through one of the rear scupper holes and down through the tow chain safety loop on the Reese hitch. Once it's locked it will hold the kayak in place if I drive sensibly. I place my large tackle box in between one of the wheel wells and the kayak and a 5 gal. bucket or my milk crate in between the other which keeps the whole shootin' match tight and lined up in the bed. The vinyl coated cable won't put rub marks on the tailgate, mine has a bed liner and a tailgate liner with a lip on top of the tailgate which the cable rests on.

You could use both rear scuppers and run your cable down through both safety chain loops and up through the scuppers and that should hold the kayak centered better than using just one side for a tiedown. There are some other modifications and hookups that you could use depending on the type of truck and placement of the safety loops or tow hooks in the rear.



OK, this photo shows my "professional" warning flag rigged out of a bandana and one of those cheap caribiners that BPS or most sporting goods stores sell for a half a buck! I clip it onto the rear carrying handle loop and I am good to go!!

Edit: It seems like I always think of something else right after I hit the post button!! If you put loops in your cable with large aluminum sleeves like I did, ask the guy at the hardware store if he has a clinch pliers to clinch them down. Most have them if they carry the large sleeves and will clinch them down tight for nothing. Also, if your truck bed is around the same length as mine, it should handle any kayak up to 14'. A longer kayak may fit into a longbed large pickup or you may have to go with the extenders if you are floating 15'or longer.

And one more tip, you can haul a kayak up to maybe 16' in the same length bed as mine if you leave the tailgate up and slide it into the bed at an angle. It will work better in an open bed without a lid like mine though. It will have to be tied in anyway and a longer kayak will fit better at an angle upwards than lying flat with the tailgate down. Less chance of it overcentering and sliding backwards.

TWINKIE6816

I just got an e-mail newsletter from them and I am 95% sure they are on sale now or will be next week! I didn't check to see what the dates were!:banghead

captken

I built a little trailer that uses old high wheel lawnmower wheels. The yak is on it all times when it is not in the water. The trailer slides into the back of my little Nissan short bed PU. I often pull the trailer a half mile to get to some real secluded launch sites.

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Captken
http://www.panhandlefishingbooks.com/