Northwest Fishing Reports

Anybody know if it is ok (safe) to drive w/ a boat on your truck rack. I am driving from Seattle to TX and have a 10ft bass hunter boat - weighs about 120lbs - that I wanted to take w/ me. I can't put it in the bed like I usually do bc we are towing a trailer and it sticks out. So I was thinking about buying a rack to put it on top - but it seems like they are made more for ladders/lumber and I don't know if it would work for a boat... any advise?

I put my 110 lb two person pontoon boat on top of mine. Never had a problem, other than reduced gas mileage. Just make sure it's well secured. It depends on the capacity of the rack too of course.

I haven't done it myself, but it's a common site around here. I'm actually looking for a rack for my 1/2 ton to do just this with my 12' aluminum, so I can carry the boat and tow the travel trailer at the same time. Most contractor's racks are rated for over 300 lbs. Like Mike said, make sure you're rig can handle the extra weight of the rack, boat, and whatever is loaded in your truck and make sure it's well secured. They make boat loaders and carriers for trucks with toppers, so it's essentially the same idea.
Good luck on your move.

I've got a small 10' Jon boat I do this with when I hit some of our smaller lakes, works great! In the old days I used to strap an 8' Livingston to the roof of my truck canopy, using a carpeted 2x4 as a spacer near the cab to keep the bow of the boat off my truck roof. Did this for years without any roof rack of any kind and had no problems of any kind. Its only a problem if your boat go's airborne!!

Just remember that the force put on your roof and rack is going to be really high if you're driving fast. Force = Mass x Velocity^2. Think about it like this, how much pressure does the wind put on your hand at 10 mph? Now think about your hand out the window at 70 mph.

Your truck can do it, and you can find a rack system that can handle it, but don't push it too far. Additionally, if you're putting on a new rack, make sure to stop and check it frequently, just to make sure it's on there good and you didn't miss something putting it on

For many years I have utilized Yakama rack systems on numerous vehicles each with different mounting provisions and have always felt secure that my load was going to stay put. About 1 hour after this picture was taken while driving across the Arizona dessert we got hit by a mini tornado. I thought that the car was going to flip over and the associated wind damage took down a large roadside sign but thank goodness, all our gear survived the swirling winds and remained attached to the car.

it all depends on what rack you get. iv loaded up to around 700 pounds of lumber on customers racks, not mine:-"

As far as weight goes I'm sure any stardard lumber rack would work great. We load lots of glu-lam beams on lumber racks at work all the time. Some weighing around 300 pounds.

Im going for it... If I can find a rack that fits!

fishnislife wrote:Really anything is possible.








Of coarse if your hesitant about the decision you could always just give the boat to me to take care of for ya.





fishnislife

I am not so curious as to how they got the boats on the trucks as I am curious about when Toyota made a dually an option in the early 90's?:scratch: LOL !!![biggrin]