Ready to go kayaking with custom kayak rack holder in bed

I borrowed the design from a post on this forum from last year. The rack will be secured with straps, and the cross pieces fall into place in the bed, so the rack will not move, forward or backward. In the photos the kayak is not strapped, but of course will be, and I'll have red flags attached since the boats will stick out about 4 ft from the back of the tailgate. I'll be honest, the picture from the driver side doesn't look like the kayak is very secure, but I assure you it is.

Great idea and enjoy playing on the water.

Looks great to me.

That's a great rack for sure. Considering roof rack crossbars can be up to $700 and bed racks even more. Those boats look perfect for sneaking around the mangroves. I prefer to SUP and everything I have is inflatable and folds up. Maverick has a ton of options but I've been fine with just NRS straps so far.

I drove down once from VA and hit Thousand Islands in my inflatable Kayak. Seems like the area has infinite paddling, but I'd imagine it's getting to be hot in May.

have fun

How do you keep from flooding your truck when you back down the boat ramp to get your kayaks into the water? /s

Don't forget to hang a red flag so you don't get a ticket for over length cargo.

Might have to steal this idea... Guessing you strap them down as well somehow?

Sembazuru said:

How do you keep from flooding your truck when you back down the boat ramp to get your kayaks into the water? /s

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I just put water wings on the tailgate.

LSchicago said:

Don't forget to hang a red flag so you don't get a ticket for over length cargo.

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Flag will definitely be on. Just for the safe side, there'll be a flag on both kayaks.

uncle.rat.foot said:

Might have to steal this idea... Guessing you strap them down as well somehow?

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Yep. There are straps from the rack to the rings in the bed, straps holding the kayaks to the rack. Everything will be held fully in place. No problem with you stealing the idea, since I stole the idea myself.

Awesome! I hope to get kayaks some day, can't think of a more gas-efficient way to carry them!

Should work well. Have you tried the tailgate in the halfway-up position? Just curious as to whether it would help support the 'yak.

Ozarkbeard said:

Should work well. Have you tried the tailgate in the halfway-up position? Just curious as to whether it would help support the 'yak.

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It might. I'll try it next time, but I think it will be too high and would lift the rack off the bed.

crgator said:

It might. I'll try it next time, but I think it will be too high and would lift the rack off the bed.

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Yeah seems the rack would have to be built differently- with an angled base under it. Might make loading/ unloading harder than this flat version.