Cartopping with a pickup truck

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lkwinnipesaukee

New Member
I have found a pretty good deal on a Laser. The problem is, the only car my family has that is capable of hauling a boat of any kind is our pickup truck.

If I do get the Laser, I will need to haul it about 120 miles (all highway) back home. Because I don't have a trailer, I have to attach it to the truck itself somehow, and get it back home without damaging it.

Any advice?

Thanks
 
do you have a bed cap?

could always get/borrow a trailer....
 
I have a Chevy S10 that I thought I could possibly get away with using some type of ladder rack on the back pickets of the bed rails. That might be a way of going.

I ended up buying a reciever hitch on ebay for 75 bucks. Installed it in two hours and then borrowed someones trailer to pick up a boat.

Id feel safer with a trailer versus a ladder rack. A cap would be the better option without a trailer.
 
Is it a full size pickup with a full bed? If so, with a little help, a bunch of padding and some rope you could get the boat in the back of the bed, maybe with the tailgate down, and the bow resting on top of the cab (it'll stick up pretty high). If you tie the boat down well enough so it doesn't move it should be fine -- just don't try to pull into the garage with the boat still on it. I'm pretty sure you'll only want to do that for one trip!

Otherwise you could make a rack with some 2 x 4s. Drop some vertical ones about 3' or 4' long into the holes on the bed rail and run a cross piece over top. Secure with rope or straps so they are well braced fore and aft and you should be able to make it home.

If these guys can manage, surely with some good old, American ingenuity you can work something out!

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lkwinnipesaukee said:
I have found a pretty good deal on a Laser. The problem is, the only car my family has that is capable of hauling a boat of any kind is our pickup truck.

If I do get the Laser, I will need to haul it about 120 miles (all highway) back home. Because I don't have a trailer, I have to attach it to the truck itself somehow, and get it back home without damaging it.

Any advice?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Hi lkwinnipesaukee,
beside of the stuff above, some useful answers f.e. you find here:

http://www.laserforum.org/showthread.php?t=4245

and here:

http://www.laserforum.org/showpost.php?p=19860&postcount=8

Ciao
LooserLu
 
I know a guy with a shortish truck who supports the boat deck down above the bed rails. The stern is at the cab rear window, supported on a wood rail across the bed. The bow end is supported by a padded wooden rack that looks a bit like a picnic bench, which sits on the open tailgate. Hangs off the back quite a ways, but it works.
 
Not Ideal but if the pickup can be fitted with a roof rack sufficiently back on the cab so the boat can clear it the transom can sit on suitable padding inside the tail gate on the bed. At about 45 degrees you have to watch low branches and keep the speed down a bit. (some light tray commercials already have a raised bar directly behind the cab and these just need padding)

If you can fit 'ladder racks' to the rear you can just use these and a forward roof rack - but the ladder racks at the rear may need bracing forward each side if road is rough or speed is high. Talk to a Thule distributor and see what they suggest - expensive but good products, and maybe you can make the rear part yourself.
 
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