# Hauling a Jon boat without a trailer



## Blake. (Oct 2, 2014)

Hey everyone,

Just wanting to see how everybody hauls their jon boats/canoes/kayaks with camping gear in their truck without a trailer. 

I have a 14 ft Jon boat and it sticks out the bed a little too much for my liking. I have a trailer but sometimes it's easier to not tow one. I was thinking of getting a roof rack and some type of removable bar to go across the rear of the bed at roof level to put the boat on and keep the bed mostly clear. (If that makes sense).


Anyways, lets see what you've got.


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## Y_J (Oct 2, 2014)

Up until recently I just slid mine in the back of my truck, tied her down and went with a red flag hanging off the back of the part that hung out of the truck bed.


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## great white (Oct 3, 2014)

Know a guy who has one, pretty neat: https://westcanmanufacturing.com/boat-loaders/


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## overboard (Oct 3, 2014)

I don't have a pic.of it because it's long gone. An old timer I fished with carried the boat on the top of his vehicle.
Best I can explain: There was a channel centered on something like a roof rack. It bent down slightly at the rear of the vehicle.
He had a small wheel mounted on the top of the bow of the boat. When we went to load the boat, we would flip the boat over, lift the bow up, and place the wheel into the channel. (that's why it needed to curve down slightly) Then we would grab the rear handles, push the boat up on top, and secure it. 
I don't think this was a homemade setup, but it could have been. 
Needless to say, that boat wasn't that heavy and everything had to be removed from the boat. 
May give you an idea.


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## SumDumGuy (Oct 3, 2014)




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## lovedr79 (Oct 3, 2014)

i used to just tie mine down real good. red flag stayed attached to the boat all the time. you can get a "bed extender" goes in the receiver gives you a couple more feet, used one when i had a 17' canoe


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## Keystone (Oct 3, 2014)

https://www.amazon.com/TMS-T-NS-HITCH-BED-EXTENDER-Pickup-Mounted-Extender/dp/B005KVLX50/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412347471&sr=8-2&keywords=lund+truck+bed+extender


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## great white (Oct 3, 2014)

This guy has a neat homemade solution: 

[youtube]https://youtu.be/HsIKMeSC6_4[/youtube]


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## great white (Oct 3, 2014)

This guy has a neat homemade solution: 

Simple and low cost boat loader: https://youtu.be/HsIKMeSC6_4


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## zrxfishing (Oct 3, 2014)

I bring the trailer too!


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## onthewater102 (Oct 4, 2014)

great white said:


> This guy has a neat homemade solution:
> 
> Simple and low cost boat loader: https://youtu.be/HsIKMeSC6_4



While that is very cool, you totally missed the point to the thread...not only did that I involve a trailer, it required a trailer with a reinforced 8' tall steel enclosure built onto the trailer...

Seriously though, that guys rope and pulley system should work perfectly with a full truck racking system.


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## great white (Oct 4, 2014)

onthewater102 said:


> great white said:
> 
> 
> > This guy has a neat homemade solution:
> ...



No, I didn't.

The idea was the point, not that it was on a trailer. It could easily be adapted to a roof rack system. Which is essentially what was on that trailer. I could just as easily say you missed my point.

Plus its cheap, easy to use and home made. 

Not only that, after making an inflammatory/derogitory statement you turn around and start saying how good an idea it is...

:roll:


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## marshman (Oct 4, 2014)

I used to carry a 12 footer around In the back of a pickup truck... I don't know if I got lazy or what but I grew very tired of unloading gear, dragging a boat up a bank, loading it in to the truck, tying it down and loading gear back in to it at the end of a day if fishing.. I can't even imagine putting one up on a roof... I much rather a trailer... 

I have however been thinking about building me a little teardrop camper trailer and been trying to figure out how to carry a boat and camper... So that roof rack/ramp idea is pretty neat...


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## looserivet (Oct 5, 2014)

overboard said:


> I don't have a pic.of it because it's long gone. An old timer I fished with carried the boat on the top of his vehicle.
> Best I can explain: There was a channel centered on something like a roof rack. It bent down slightly at the rear of the vehicle.
> He had a small wheel mounted on the top of the bow of the boat. When we went to load the boat, we would flip the boat over, lift the bow up, and place the wheel into the channel. (that's why it needed to curve down slightly) Then we would grab the rear handles, push the boat up on top, and secure it.
> I don't think this was a homemade setup, but it could have been.
> ...



When I was a kid there was an old guy down the road that did something similar with his old International Travelall.
He had keel roller off a trailer, with the bracket mounted to the top of the bow of his Sears row boat. He had a length of pipe mounted to the roof rack as a guide. 
He'd roll the boat over, lift the bow up to the back of the roof and then shove the boat up on the roof rack from behind. A couple of bungee cords and he was good to go. The outboard got thrown in the back of the truck. 

I hauled a 14' flat bottom jon boat down to FL once on the roof rack of my truck, my thought was that I'd save some gas not pulling a trailer but I think it cost me more in wind resistance. I burned almost a third more fuel then I did running without the boat up there. Not to mention the wind noise and drone it created at high speeds. The noise was so bad I stopped at a plumbing store and bought huge pipe insulation to try and seal the gap between the front of the hull and the cab to stop some of the noise. It helped but not a whole lot.
Also, at really high speeds I could feel the wind affecting how the truck handled. Luckily I left the boat in FL and didn't have to deal with it coming home. A buddy later made the trip and brought the boat back here on the roof of a minivan, he rimmed the whole perimeter of the hull with foam pool floaties and strapped it right to the roof of his Dodge Caravan.


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## onthewater102 (Oct 6, 2014)

great white said:


> onthewater102 said:
> 
> 
> > great white said:
> ...



Something got lost in there - I was trying to make a comical jab at the fact that the video displays an over built trailer in response to a thread about ditching trailers, but acknowledge that yes, it would work on a roof rack system...nothing inflammatory/derogatory intended - you picked up on me complimenting the system and missed the humor intended in the initial comment - my apologies.


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## lovedr79 (Oct 6, 2014)

Keystone said:


> https://www.amazon.com/TMS-T-NS-HITCH-BED-EXTENDER-Pickup-Mounted-Extender/dp/B005KVLX50/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412347471&sr=8-2&keywords=lund+truck+bed+extender




that is exactly what I had!


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## acabtp (Oct 6, 2014)

zrxfishing said:


> I bring the trailer too!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 1



NJneering at it's finest! :LOL2:


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## Blake. (Oct 6, 2014)

Awesome ideas guys. I appreciate all the input! 

The bed extender is probably the easiest and would take up the least amount of space when stored, but I don't have a receiver hitch. I don't pull anything heavy so I don't really need one. 

I'm trying to come up with something that isn't permanently attached over the bed and when removed is easily stored. i want it removable because I feel like it'd get in my way when using the truck for other stuff. Anything permenantly fixed over the cab wouldn't be an issue.

I was thinking about something similar to this. It'd be pretty cool and useful for other stuff. Heck I might just go with this, put the boat in the bed and throw the gear up top. I'd make sure my tool box still could fit though.

https://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3610793&postcount=25

In conjunction With something kind of like this across the rear that is easily removable. if I still want to put the boat on top. 

https://www.tracrac.com/pick-up-trucks/tracone


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## bobberboy (Oct 7, 2014)

great white said:


> This guy has a neat homemade solution:
> 
> Simple and low cost boat loader: https://youtu.be/HsIKMeSC6_4



That's a nice job. I love to see this kind of inventive work.


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## marshman (Oct 7, 2014)

I love that rope pulley and winch idea in the you tube video... Not something I'd want to do every weekend but to bring a small boat in a camping trip 3-4 times a year it would be cool!!


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## turbotodd (Oct 13, 2014)

I used to put a 1432 in the back of my old El Camino. It hung out a good bit. I removed the outboard and put it in the motor well of the boat, which was in the front of the bed of the truck-which put all (or most) of the weight in the truck. Then a couple tie downs and it was done. Worked well for many many years. Used to fish on lunch break from work. Lake is like 2 miles from the shop, drive over there, put the boat in and paddle around, 45 min later (and sometimes a stringer full of crappie), load up and go back to work. Honestly the biggest problem was figuring out how to keep 20 crappie while I am at work since we don't have any ice at work. Usually just stuck 'em in a cooler with some frozen ice packs; by time I got home they were still cold but not frozen cold. Either way they still cooked up nicely


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## wlshafor (Dec 11, 2014)

zrxfishing said:


> I bring the trailer too!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 1


They're good gas mileage


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## dementia (Dec 11, 2014)

zrxfishing said:


> I bring the trailer too!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 1


Where can I get that setup?


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## zrxfishing (Dec 14, 2014)

You just have to make it. Took me about 50 hrs of cutting, welding & scratching my head to get everything done & working. Ramp supports take about 5 mins to set up & a winch in the front pulled it up & lowers it back down. It's a little primitive but has been used at least 20 times & so far so good! If you want some I can see if I have better pics of the set up when I get a min.


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