Kayak transport with a bumper pull 1-bedroom condo on wheels

[CyberSniper]

We have a 31' bumper to ball travel trailer I call our one bedroom condo on wheels. I'm looking to start taking a pair of 10' kayaks with us because one of the places we are going to go this year don't have other water fun (normally we take the jet boat or if it's on a river we go tubing).

I have a 6.5' bed truck. I'm thinking I'd like something that puts the nose down in the bed in the front and then sticks up above the tailgate. Normally the only thing that goes in the back of the truck is the inverter generator for boondocking or when whatever dumpy campground we're at blows a something. So, the world is my oyster.

I was thinking putting them flat, upside down, with the nose in the corners in the front and sitting on a rack just off the tailgate. Then at the front have a load bar across the top of the hulls.

Then I was thinking about putting them seat-to-seat on their sides in the center with another wooden rack to hold them in place.

Later I can weld up something out of steel or aluminum, but I don't know what works.

What have you guys seen? Or more importantly, what should I avoid?

Everyone I know that hauls kayaks either has an adult truck (8' bed), puts them in their camper, uses a full size SUV and puts them on the roof, or has a headache rack on their truck.

I know at 80mph in the rain the amount of wind force onto the ground is enough to blow off all the rain on the asphalt when I watch it in the mirrors. So I don't know what the air currents are like at the back of my truck up that high when I'm pulling the parachute.

 

[Wes Harden]

I am curious, with nose down at front of bed and 3'+ out the back, will you have enough room for sharp turns towing the travel trailer?
Me I would have them over the roof of the cab level.

 

[CyberSniper]

Yes, but you are correct, it will be tight. And they have to be in the middle. One kayak I could just put in the bed diagonal and it'd be fine.

Anything that sticks above the cab at expressway speeds is scary. Seen a lot of kayaks and canoes on the side of the road in my day.

I might mock something up tomorrow, but I had this picture on my phone.

 

[runamok151]

You're not going to have any room to turn w/ them sticking out the back of the bed. Put a 10' 2x4 in each corner and see how far back it goes.

I'd put a ladder rack on and put them above the bed and cab.

 

[Wes Harden]

You also need to support the kayak at 2' and 8' they can warp.
My brother carried 2 kayaks, 1 15'8" and the others 10'8" with a 96 ranger.
A shell and Yakama racks. Traveled all over California and Baja. Never had an issue.

 

[eric67camino]

From the looks of that picture, you might think about some air bags on your truck.

As for the kayaks, you might look at something like this.

 

[CyberSniper]

I'd need to have shorter kayaks (9' or less) to go on the back of the glamper. That was my first choice. I prefer to keep the truck empty so it can be our transportation without being a PITA to go into town.

They're cheap $350 Pelican kayaks, if you'd seen how they come out of Canada on the trailer you wouldn't worry about them warping in a couple hour trip. But that distortion issue with clamping them down, and a way to better fasten them, is why I want to build a mini holder for them in the bed.

The truck has Firestone 2320 bags and Hellwig 7800 rear sway bar. It's an NHT truck that has had the 2" lift block yanked (in a feeble attempt to stop atrocious wheelhop and make it look less like it is always rolling downhill). What you see there is 1300lbs of tongue weight on empty bags.

 

[CyberSniper]

Here are the kayaks with the noses stuffed in the corners. If I put them on their sides touching in the middle they go higher up and actually make the problem less.

 

[centexk5]

From the looks of that picture, you might think about some air bags on your truck.

As for the kayaks, you might look at something like this.

View attachment 379914

My brother in law tried that once. Nearly lost both kayaks and had to shove them in the camper through the window.

 

[centexk5]

Here are the kayaks with the noses stuffed in the corners. If I put them on their sides touching in the middle they go higher up and actually make the problem less.

From here it looks like you’d hit the bumper on the truck before you’d hit the kayaks turning.

 

[eric67camino]

I'd need to have shorter kayaks (9' or less) to go on the back of the glamper. That was my first choice. I prefer to keep the truck empty so it can be our transportation without being a PITA to go into town.

They're cheap $350 Pelican kayaks, if you'd seen how they come out of Canada on the trailer you wouldn't worry about them warping in a couple hour trip. But that distortion issue with clamping them down, and a way to better fasten them, is why I want to build a mini holder for them in the bed.

The truck has Firestone 2320 bags and Hellwig 7800 rear sway bar. It's an NHT truck that has had the 2" lift block yanked (in a feeble attempt to stop atrocious wheelhop and make it look less like it is always rolling downhill). What you see there is 1300lbs of tongue weight on empty bags.

That makes sense. Just looked a little low.

Looking at them in the bed, it looks like they might clear like that. Something like this could work, maybe. Or just use the rear portion and angle down like you have them.

 

[CyberSniper]

This is what I ended up with. The top 2x6 is such so I could easily through-bolt with an eyebolt and recess the nut. All of the eyebolts are through-eyebolt. I forgot to take a picture of the center one used to hold the kayaks forward.

The bags have 65lbs in them.

It may or may not have been tested to hold to 100mph without a trailer or 85mph with a trailer.