Monday, April 16, 2012

Double Duty Pickup Rod Rack

A Rod Loft Pro rod rack for your vehicle costs about $129.99 at Cabelas.  It holds six rods, and is supposed to work in just about any vehicle using a variety of attachments on the end of the rods that support the whole deal.  Great.   But I didn't have $129.99 and I don't tote 6 rods around and I drive a plain old very long F-150 with aluminum cap.  Hmmmm, what to do?

I've had one cargo bar to keep things from heading all the way up to the front of the 8-foot bed for a long time.  But I've always put it down low.  I got it at Tractor Supply for $24.99.   Surfing around at Cabelas some more, I found that they sell just the 3-rod holders without the bars and clamps and ratchets for $29.99 the pair.   See where we're going with this?

So, back to Tractor Supply for another cargo bar, order the rod thingies online from Cabelas, and I now have a 3-rod rack in the making for $79.97 plus some tax and wicked high shipping from Cabelas.  Let's call it 90 bucks.

The rod thingy attaches to the cargo bar with a couple hefty zip ties:



You may notice that both my cap and my truck's cab have sliding windows.  And its a crew cab truck with an 8-foot bed.  In fair weather, I can haul 13' rods fully assembled.


In crummy weather (admittedly that seems to be most of the time) I move the forward bar back towards the rear bar and break the rods down into two pieces, no problemo.

And I still have my cargo bar!


By the way, you math whizzes out there have probably already figured out that you can buy the two cargo bars and two sets of rod thingies for about 110 bucks....cheaper than the Rod Loft Pro gizmo, but you don't get all the hanger doo-dads.  You just have a nice heavy duty set-up that might work in other vehicles, too.  Happy rod racking!

Oh, here's the beast at rest:





8 comments:

  1. Rack 'em! would have been a better ending there Gary. Just sayin'. Nice post!

    Eunan

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  2. Eunan, you are the eighteen thousand and one visitor to the blog! I think I'll throw a little party for you right now! I'll drink your share!!

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  3. http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=9E4Y Fills a slightly different niche than the internal carriers, but I have grown to love these things. Whether in a moment of complete faith or absolute stupidity I don't know, but I actually made the trek from the Salmon River to the Schenectady exit of the Thruway with two 11' switch rods strapped to my hood. I can't imagine I'll do that again, but it is a testament to how well the magnets work.

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  4. I'm in 2nd visitor Gary.
    Always love your blog and keep on coming.
    Jin.

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  5. Gt, I had this wonderful image of your truck bed, minus the cap with a rod holder that fit the entire bed, looking like the wood one you made for Jamie, which would hold......120 rods upright in cases... about the right number for a crazed collector.....

    mw

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  6. Interesting, my wife (who also fishes) and I been thinking about the same thing, but after looking at how we would mount the bars, we decided we are first going to try and string across the back some rope-cord with loops. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but if it does, I will post it.

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  7. Good looking rack Gary, never thought of using my load bars, good idea!

    Rick

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  8. I just wanted to thank you for helping me realize how lazy I am!!! I am notoriously guilty of not carrying my rods in their tube and if I can actually spend the 10 minutes to put up the racks I already have I might not feel so bad about leaving the tubes at home.

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