Thanks – that is quite a rack!
Thank you.
But it was easy and pretty fast to make and it cost me about 90 dollars total. (plus about 90 minutes of labor)
The support legs and cross bars are made from steel and welded together with stake pockets to let the long 2X4s pass through them. The legs are bolted to the inside of my cargo boxes in my little truck, but for those I have made from friends I made extensions of strap steel to fit the inside of the beds so they were easy to put in and take out.
I dilled a hole through each pocket and passed a bolt through the wood and I tapped the steel so the bolts thread through and then secure the ends with nuts so they never back out.
Once the 2 long 2X4s are attached I made a box frame with 3 cross members also made from “2 by” wood. The one on the front and the one on the back are 2X6s with the center being a 2X4. The reason is the rocker of the various kayaks I carry. By having the higher cross members on the ends I can easily cut cleats that fit any boat. Those sets in the picture fit the Rebel Jara and TOC to perfection but the Chatham 17 also fits the cleats for the TOC quite well. When I want to carry the Old Town Loons I use a power drill with a screw driver bit and unscrew the cleats. Then I put on a set that fit the 2 loons. The time to change it over is about 2 minutes. There are support cleats in the middle too, but you can’t see them with the kayak loaded. So each kayak has 6 points of support.
When secured with a bow line which holds the kayaks from slipping back, and combing line pulling them backwards towards the rear 2X6, they can’t slip forward. I then use 2 girth lines per kayak to hold them down firmly with a truckers knot.
Loading only one kayak is what I do 3-5 times each week. From the time it touches the rack to the time I am driving away is about 2 minutes with this kind of rack and the paddles are simply carried in the bed of the truck if they are 2 piece. If I take my 8 to 9 foot long paddles, they are secured to the kayaks themselves through all the rear deck bungees, and the front end goes into the cockpit so even the 9 foot long Aleut paddles easily fit.
For highway trips I clip on a flag to the rear toggles of a kayak that is 3 feet X 3 feet, and blaze orange. I have a cord sewed into a loop on 1 corner of the flag so I just use a climbing carabiner to attach it for the trip. Super fast and easy. I don’t usually bother to place the flag on most days because it’s 8 minutes to the water ,and all on dirt farm/ranch roads. But if I am going somewhere else I clip on the flag.