Canoe rack advice, pickup w/ camper shell

Howdy all. My buddy Ralph and I had just recently decided to buy a 2-man pontoon boat for 2006. Easier and less stressful boating to have a driver and a fisher and trade off, and easier to have a conversation.

Then all of a sudden last week, a 16 ft Grumman aluminum canoe dropped in our laps. Store it in my backyard, and we can use it anytime we want!

We just saved over $1000 bucks, and now I need a rack for the top of my little Ford Ranger pickup. I have a camper shell I want to keep on there, and I do have a box hitch. There are so many options searching Google that I'm baffled....so I wanted to ask if anyone has a product they like or dislike, and why.

I've been looking at Darby and Yakima, but there are many more. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

DANBOB

Danbob,

You might look at [url=http://www.castlecraft.com:a0585]www.castlecraft.com[/url:a0585] and see if they have anything that might work for you. They have Hitch Racks and Roof Racks. I have done business with them in the past and had no problems.

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Warren

If the topper is fiberglass you can buy Thule artificial raingutters which bolt through. Then you attach bracket and bars. The nice thing about the Thule is that it's removable (all but the raingutters) and it will hold the kind of stuff you need to haul. If this truck is more of a beater you can buy a kit from NRS that you use to build your own roof rack with the brackets and 2by4s. Those are burly and I have seen them used to hold rafts but they don't look as nice. I had the Thule on my old truck and it worked great.

I think the easiest route would be to get a few of those swimming pool foam noodles from Wal-Mart for about a dollar apiece, cut them lengthwise halfway through and then put them on the gunnels as cushions between the canoe and the cab/topper with the canoe upended. Then just tie the canoe down on the bow and stern to the pickup's front and back. Thats similar to what a fellow I know did with his 16 foot square-end aluminum Grumman before he got a canoe trailer for it. Best of luck.


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Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL

"Flip a fly"

danbob - there's a gazillion roof top carriers out there; they run from very reasonable to very expensive, with adequate somewhere in the middle! Take your time and look some different systems over - maybe you might be able to come up with a rig of your very own. Rather than getting a system that maybe might not be best for what you want, why don't you just get some of the foam blocks for the roof of the truck bed shell and maybe the roof of the truck. For example -
[url=http://www.drdcorp.com/rooftopfoams.htm:15197]http://www.drdcorp.com/rooftopfoams.htm[/url:15197]

Since there will be two of you handling that canoe, the blocks will suffice until you get a chance to look some systems over and get an idea of what you want. Even after you did replace the foam blocks with a roof rack your happy with, there might come a time to still use those foam blocks for another vehicle.

What I'm trying to say, is take your time, look them racks over ... and yet you can still get out and use the canoe with the inexpensive foam blocks!

Dale

A few years back I had a Grumman and a beater Toyota PU w/ a cap. I bolted some light angle iron uprights to the rear corners of the cap and spanned them w/ another piece of angle bolted on. Over the cab I used a basic gutter cheapie rack.
The foam blocks are an excellent way to go and can be modified w/ an electric carving knife ( cuts even better than turkey). I used a set of them when I was freighting the Grumman on an old full sized van.
I now have a light weight canoe, and will be using Thule ( expensive but EXCELLENT) racks on my Subaru wagon. I still use the foam blocks. The ones I got from Campmor have a groove in the long axis for the rack, and on the other side they have a groove for the gunnels running at right angles to the first groove. Works out nice, and there is no marking up of the gunnels by the rack.
AgMD

I looked at all the hardware and followed the advise I got on FAOL by taking two 2 by 4's and attaching them to the standard rack on my Explorer with U-bolts upside down. I also used goop to glue down carpet on the 2 by 4's. This worked perfect because I spaced the U-bolts so they not only hold the wood in place, but keep the canoe from sliding all over. Cost me about $10 and I've never been happier. Make sure you tie down front and back, though. JGW

[This message has been edited by white43 (edited 29 November 2005).]

Does your camper shell rise higher than the roof of your cab. If it doesn't, the outfit that I use on my Ranger could work very well for you. I use an Extend-A-Rack on the rear that fits into a class III trailer hitch. On the top of the cab I use a suction cup rack, with a strap running through the top of the windows. I found this setup to be very secure and significantly less expensive than the racks from Thule, Yakima, or Barrecrafters. Everything you need can be obtained from [url=http://www.canoegear.com.:91e94]www.canoegear.com.[/url:91e94] In fact, they are the only ones building the suction cup rack that I know of. In addition, the Extend-A-Rack can also be extended horizontally from your trailer, effectively extending the length of your pickup bed when hauling lumber or other lengthy items.

Larry Compton