Yes, many years ago to haul 4-6 Kayaks. It looked and worked great for many years, and I think I actually gave it away for someone else to use when I changed trucks. No pictures, so I'll do my best to describe construction from the bed up. I've also included a terrible sketch of
one corner attachment. I did not have the ability to metal work, so I used wood.
1. Install good
stake pocket screw eyes in the stakeholes. This is your base and anchor points.
2. Cut 2 2x4s the width of the bed, PLUS long enough to overhang both stake pockets.
3. Using a half inch drill bit, mortise through holes for the screweyes.
4. Place both bases onto the screweyes, this is your "foundation"
5. Add 2x4 uprights to clear the cab. I screwed them in from the bottom with 3" galv deck screws. Remember that your canoe is curved, so add a few inches.
6. Lag screw front and rear cross beams into fore and aft face of the uprights, flush with the top of the cross beam.. These are your canoe supports. I used a forstner bit to create pockets for the lag screw, and epoxied washers into the hole. This left lag screws flush and prevented them from tearing into the wood over time.
7. For each side cut side supports (front to rear) to fit between the uprights. Place them inside the cross beams and flush with the cross beam tops. Attach with glue and 2 screws.
8. Drill and insert a large eye bolt (I used 3/8") with fender washers through the upright and side supports. Tighten to bind the two studs together.
9. Add corner braces to prevent side to side movement. I used 2x4 diagonals, but if I did it again I would use plywood triangles face screwed outside.
10. Stain and varnish as desired. I left mine white pine and put a honey gold varnish on it that gave it a nice look.
In the diagram there is a red line from upper screw eye to lower screw eye. That could be a turnbuckle, but I used a short piece of 1/4 mantle rope with a loop in one end and a truckers hitch. This allowed me to don/doff the rack without tools, while applying a tremendous amount of down pressure to the truck. Rope also has the advantage of having some give, which helps prevent overloading the screw eyes on bumps. Good rope, cut to length and finished will yield a nice look that doesn't look like the Beverly hillbilly's built your rack.
When not in use the rack doubled as a low kayak rack in my shed.
What's not visible in the picture:
- A piece of 1/4" closed cell foam I added under the base 2x4 to prevent scratching.
- Screw eyes in the outside end of each cross beam for tie downs (optional)
- A screw eye in the middle to "half" the tie downs and attach painter lines.
It was similar to the picture below, except:
- My bedliner did not permit inside legs
- My cross beams were face mounted.
- My diagonals were MUCH shorter, leaving the inside open.
- No end caps on the cross beams.
