I'm in the process of coming up with some sort of setup to hold some fishing rods on the inside top of my truck cap. Probably something that can hold 4 to 8 rods & reels.

I thought I'd post up a thread to see if anybody else has a setup like this in their truck or even possibly in an Excursion.

I'm still in the concept phase of this project so I'm open to any ideas.

Whatever I end up doing, I'll post back here with pics

Thanks in advance!

 

Sounds like a neat project Jason.

Have you thought about buying some? If not, these from Cabela's are pretty nice and would at least maybe give you some food for thought if you're going to make your own. Like the Oak ones, you could make your own with some oak planks and a good router.

Cabela's: Piranha Ceiling Rack

Cabela's: Rodmounts RodLoft PRO™ Rod Holder

Cabela's: Boat Buckle® RodBunk Deluxe Rod Carrier

Cabela's: Cabela's Solid-Oak Ceiling Rack

 

I know this may sound primitive but white or black pvc drain pipe has worked for me in the past. simply cut a groove for the reel seat lenthwise on one end and you can drill holes through both sides of pipe to screw it to whatever you mount to roof. they won't fall out like some others when you off road. Or put screw on caps on ends of pipe for smaller rods.

 

a 2x4 cut to length that fits ontop of the bed rail/cap

6" length of PVC with a recess notched for the reel (if necessary)


wire or screw the PVC to the 2x4. bolt the 2x4 to the fwd end of the bed and slip the poles into the PVC holders. Dad and I used to do this back in the day when camping. If you really want to get fancy, mount the 2x4 to the roof of the cap.

 

Thanks for the ideas guys!

One product I've been looking at is the Berkeley twist lock rack:

Berkley Twist - Lock Horizontal Rod Rack, Fishing, Berkley, Berkley at Sportsman's Guide

This should be a pretty fun project

 

PROGRESS BUMP!!!

Its been a while but I've made some headway on this. I searched and searched the web and it seems like all the ones that will do what I want are kinda pricy, or they work with some larger system that's not easy to mount in my truck cap...

So, I made up a drawing and had a machinist buddy of mine fab them up. The two pieces are identical. You mount one toward the front facing one way, and you mount one at the back facing opposite. I wanted something where I didn't have to crawl to the front to hang the tip in, but I also wanted it to be kinda hard to bounce out while driving.

Here's what I came up with:

It can hold 8 rods/reels. Four facing one direction and four facing back the other.



Test fit on the ceiling of my garage. Lookin' good so far!


Here's a couple remaining issues...

1 - How to mount it to my truck cap ceiling. I'm thinking some sort of hoop like frame work that either attaches to the bedrails or to the window mounts. Something that will hug the walls and the ceiling that I can bolt to.

2 - Thinking about gluing some felt in the areas that contact the fishing rod since it will be bouncing around a little bit while driving.

I'll post more as it progresses

 

Nice job.... and very clean.... i like the clean look

 

How about something like one of these. Need something to protect those rods. would be afraid felt might wear through after a while with the constant motion of a vehicle. If you don't like the catipiller look maybe some large rubber grommets cut and glued in place.

I like the design you came up with.

Wire Protection Grommet Edging

Bon Aero Mainpage

GROMMET EDGING from Aircraft Spruce

Molded Grommet Strip, Rubber Grommets at cableorganizer.com

Panel Grommet Strip, Round Grommet Strip, Rubber Grommet Strip, Moss Plastic Grommet Strip

 

Great idea Paul, that stuff would do the trick!

I might even have some of that type of stuff around here some place.

Reps to you!

 

Check out Tuna Slayer. His website is
Tuna Slayer Rod Racks - Custom Truck Bed Rod Holders | Rod Rack Gallery

Dont know if he is here, but I know I saw him on a forum once. Might have been back in the days of my F150. Anyway, he has some cool stuff!

 

Got this in my boat. Love it

 

So I took Paul's idea and dug around forever and finally found the grommet strip I had laying around. This seems to be the hot ticket. Here's my first cut at it.

 

That turned out great. What are the chances you have the right size just laying around

 

Thanks!

Yeah no kidding! About a year ago, a retired guy in my area who used to own and operate an electronics business decided to clean out all his old stuff. He gave it all to me and another guy and we split it. We had done a few jobs for him on the side so he passed it all down to us. Good score! Wish it would've been black though but beggers can't be choosers lol.

 

Ok, so it wasn't exactly warm out there today (~30deg) but I've been itching to work on this so I went after it.

Turns out my top has a lowered section in the middle of the roof. The mfg tells me that's for mounting stuff to the ceiling! There's about 3/4" of thickness there, so I just drilled into it and used #8 coarse threaded screws.

Some of our fishing poles are longer than my truck bed, so to minimize the bending, I mounted the brackets on a bit of an angle. When it warms up, I might adjust them a bit and give them a little more angle but we'll see.

I'm gonna drive around with them in there for a while to see how well it works. I'm working on a write up for it as well...

On to the pics!