I want to carry a boat to wilderness

Paint protection film?

 

Not worth it. It cracks and shrinks over time, looks like crap. Have it on headlights of all of my vehicles, the oldest already looks like crap, Tundra starts to look like crap, Sequoia still looks good, but I modified the process, knowing where and why the film turns to crap

 

I like it! https://www.holman.com/equipment/media/wysiwyg/instructions/8006A-Instructions.pdf Aluminum, can be removed (besides the posts), can technically weld the support frame under the cap like I wanted.

 

That's WhistlinDiesel. Watch some of his videos. He's not "accidently" strapping the bed down.

 

He makes enough money via youtube to buy a battle tank from overseas and wreck it.

 

Then laugh

 

I rooftop mine with a no drill Thule. The Thule comes off when not in use as it doesn't fit in my workplace garage with it on.

My canoe only weighs 50lbs though.

 

Came across this interesting way of carrying a small outboard.
Outboards can be a pain to carry w/gas and oil. This also keeps it upright, good if 4 stroke, and out of the way.
Not sure if it gives him that extra torque going up hills .......?

 

Not heavy duty enough for hundreds of miles of gravel. Also mine is very light, only 2.5 HP.

 

I don't think a lot of folks know just how brutal those roads are. In Arizona, the desert roads are rocky and not maintained. With the proliferation of IFS side-by-sides, the washboards are created in such a way that not only do you get the jarring up and down, you also get a side to side twisting.

20 miles on those and you will find the weakest link in your set-up, lol.

 

Yes. 300 miles of wilderness wears your rig out lot more than 30k miles of paved road. That's why I fear new complicated tech, especially when it is known for blowing up the engine occasionally.

 

Taking a ton of air out of the tires is a must to smooth it out a little

 

I know. Less than 14 PSI is not uncommon in winter.

 

I'm circling back to that rig. Years ago I welded a bolt-in two-piece stake supports that go under the cap and did drill holes in the cap's base, but never did the other half (under cap support frame). With the roof rack installed I now finally would have everything to fight my laziness off and weld the frame

Now need to decide if I need a 100" or 120" long rack. The cap's roof is exactly 6 ft long. The canoe will be either 13 or 15 ft long.

 

Installed Holman aluminum rack. 100", 50 lbs weight, can handle 500 lbs.

Canoe will be Sportspal S-13 w/ square stern.

 

I like that! I just couldn't afford the $900, so mine is the poor man's $300 version, lol.

 

Anyone have knowledge of a rack like any of these that would fit under a Leer canopy that extends somewhat over the sides of the bed of the truck?

 

$673 Paramount Automotive Restyling 19601 Full Size Camper Shell Contractors Rack for Long-Short Bed, black

www.amazon.com/Paramount-Restyling-19601-Contractors-Long-Short/dp/B004GMX8M0

 

Interesting option, thanks.
Not sure about this comment from the reviews though, definitely NOT interested in cutting the canopy if that is required:

Oh yeah and if you have a camper top on the truck bed, be prepared to have to cut it to fit over the outriggers ( the instructions don’t mention this till the very end in fine print lol)

 

I like the looks of this rack.
Is it mounted onto the canopy in the built in rail slots or did you drill through the fiberglass?

 

You either have to cut the outer "lips" of the canopy or weld different brackets that bolt to the stakes.

I was considering that or similar rack, but didn't like that it overhangs on sides.

 

Drill through. Disliked that idea previously, because it's a bunch of holes that will eventually leak, but I decided to relocate my sleeping place to the cabin and leave the bed for camping gear.

 

There are some super super cool inflatable boats coming to the market in the next year from one of the big inflatable companies- I’d wait for that and store it in the roof or in bed… or get a badass off-road mini camper to store it in. These will handle outboards from 9-40hp depending on model

 

You can get really cool ones right now. For mere $4-5k =) And they have ergonomic carrying handles for 4 persons =) Canoe I'm thinking of is well under $2, taxes, shipping, everything included, and weights under 60 lbs.

 

Out of curiosity, who's that?

 

I’ll take those roads over I-95 any day.

 

hence my dumping of the 22 tundra…. Not reliable

Can’t say unfortunately, but they make a lot of rafts

 

I have the 2 prinsu racks I installed myself. I haul a 3 waters Big Fish 120 on there. I hauled it from MN to Yellowstone and Glacier NP and back a couple years ago, and have hauled it all over MN. The wind noise is noticable for sure but not so much I cant hear the radio. I like that setup, its a chore to get the kayak up there, its a pretty heavy one. i also built a "jig" for the kayak to hold it from moving side to side, I think that makes a huge difference.

 

Brought the boat home. Sportspal S-13, a 2020 model. Price was lower than I expected. But it needs 3 or 4 new ribs. Maybe.

Now need to build something on top of the rack for canoe to sit securely upside down.

The boat is aerodynamic and does not add much to fuel consumption. In fact, I was going back about 10 MPH slower and MPG was over 16 - better than on the way there.

 

I've added FourTreks awning mounts to the Holman rack and ARB awning. Mounts were too small or too big for the rack, so I went with "too big" and some rubber padding.



For canoe made a profiled mounts from pressure treated 2x6. Can't see them on any picture I made, but canoe rests nice on top of them and does not move side to side at all.



Also spent half day building a water-tight lid from zinc plated wire mesh, 20 mil vinyl sheeting and 1x2. It is a shitty fit and lets the dust in in the back, but I've collected only half a gallon of water in 4 days.

Outboard was mounted vertically in truck's bed. I've built a mount for that.



Usually I sleep in bed (heh ), on a bed made of 2x4 and plywood, but this time needed all the bed space. Plus I knew it's gonna be very dusty and ton of bugs, so decided to sleep in back of the DC cab. Built a platform that goes over rear bench, put a shiki futon mattress, and slept like at home. I'm 5'9", if the front passenger seat pushed all the way to front - there's enough space to stretch legs and have a very good rest.



Boat, outboard and me made it all the way to Caniapiscau Reservoir in northern Quebec and back without hassles. Leer cap has got no extra support like I first planned to do, but it seems it does not care about ~150 lbs of static load on top of it, supported on 4 rack leg's with not very large surface area. Leer is sturdier than I thought.

I took the rear sway bar off, for better suspension articulation during my regular winter venting outs and regretted that a lot. Rear axle was overloaded, high center of gravity, truck was not very stable in RWD mode at speeds above ~40 MPH on gravel roads. I'd say, sway bar in back is must for such setups.

Had a lot of fun boating! Learned the hard way that a 13' canoe w/ 2.5 HP outboard is totally insufficient for big white water when the weather is less than perfect. Almost died twice when 30+ MPH wind gusts wanted to flip me over. Waves were a big problem, were filling up canoe all the time, often overrunning the motor. Fortunately, Suzuki DF2.5 is a very reliable little thing, and it never let me down. Falling in water was not an option, since the canoe would be blown away by wind instantly, and I would have like 15 minutes left before death from hypothermia. Satellite weather forecast said it will be even more windy and much colder the whole week, so I was fighting for 18 hours on the water on my way back. That included about 2 hours navigating in complete darkness. Fully wet, cold to bones, fighting with wind and waves, I barely made it.

No humans around to help, of course Solitude was the sole purpose of the whole trip.