Canoe Ponderings by Red Rock Wilderness Store

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Hauling Canoe with a Truck

Q.I have recently put a down payment on a new canoe.  I have no idea what I am doing.  I bought an OT Osprey 140. I hope I made a good choice. I found your site while looking for tie down methods.  I have a Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab PU with a 6.5' bed.  I'm looking for the best way to tie down my canoe.  I don't want to permanently affix a rack system on the roof.  The truck is getting old and I may want to sell it soon.  Could you suggest the best method for transporting my new purchase.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

A. Since that's a short., wide plastic canoe, why not just drop your tailgate and slide it into the box?  Tie it off to your bumper on each side from the carrying yoke and  make sure you tie it from the grab handle into the box as well.  Should be a tie down loop in the truck box corners. 

Another good option is to get a Thule truck box rack.  We have one in stock and you could take it to another truck when the time comes.  It costs about $499 plus shipping.  Two proper straps to tie down are about $12.00 extra.  Works well., too, but does cost a fair chunk of change.. 

The final option  for a truck rack that you can take with you (to a new vehicle) is a T - rack that sticks in your 2" receiver hitch on the back of the truck.  You would then use 2 foam blocks and strap that goes thru your cab and over the canoe.  This works ok but the truck box  rack is better.  Cost is $165 for the rack and  about $24.00 for the blocks and straps, plus shipping.

Aside from these three ways of doing it, hauling on a truck is always a pain.  You'll need to use your inner "MacGiver" to tie it on any other way.  The tools you'll need will be math, physics, and a swiss army knife - and maybe a roll of duct tape, a penchant for tying quality knots and some good 5/16 solid braid nylon rope.  This whole technique is always a bit more experimental so you might want to take it out for "stop-and-go" test run in a Walmart parking lot after hours before you test out your insurance on the open road.

Your final option is to build a rack for the truck out of 2X4's which is definitely not cheaper and surprisingly time consuming.  It looks easy and simple in concept - the design becomes a question during the construction.

I'm sure there are other ways out there to do it, but I'm tapped out.  I hope some of this is useful to you.

Thanks!

Joe
Red Rock