You know what a Kayak is likely to do at the bed of your truck — exceed the bed’s length. Some people would ask, “do I just leave it like that?” or “do I need a truck bed extender for my Kayak?” To answer the first question, it’s not appropriate that anyone leaves it like that. Having answered that, let’s go ahead at answering the second question — which is the crux of this article.

Do I Need A Truck Bed Extender For My Kayak?

One of the easy ways to transport a Kayak in your truck is by using a truck bed extender. Kayaks are of different lengths; if you’re transporting Kayaks ranging from 10′ to 12′ in length, having the tailgate down will give extra support. In addition, always ensure you attach a red flag on the Kayak’s end to guarantee safety.

Truck Bed Extender For Pickup

The reasons, good reasons, why it’s advisable to go for truck extenders when hauling a Kayak that’s 12′ or longer — is of a good number. After getting feedback from people concerning the truck bed extender they use, and the effective one, we’ve chosen to talk about one on which truck owners can rely. The name of this truck extender is Boonedox T-bone Bed Extender — and you can find it on Amazon.

Recently, this bed extender, Boonedox T-bone Bed Extender has been upgraded with a few amazon features, one of which is the gear tracks that make provision for one to mount a couple of accessories when hauling your Kayak or when fishing. Here’s the point where we outline the reasons why you should use a bed extender when hauling your Kayak, instead of allowing it to hang out of the truck bed:

Support

If you check a few pictures online, you’d see how much a Kayak hangs out, over the tailgate. If you are transporting a Kayak that’s 14′ or 16′ long, there will definitely be overhauling, to a little extent. Traveling for a long time makes it necessary that you ensure there’s solid support for that your Kayak — the longer one. Considering the Kayak’s weight and any gear that could be present inside it, there’s a high tendency that the plastic hull could deform or end up cracking at any point of stress.

Furthermore, one thing that’ll make you like the T-bone Bed Extender is how tightly it sits on your receiver hitch. For you to lock this receiver hitch, you have to get a locking receiver pin. Alternatively, pull the hitch out and carefully store it inside your truck for safekeeping while you are still busy on the water.

Safety

Because of the support, the additional support, provided by the bed extender — you are assured of a higher degree of safety while taking with you your longer Kayak. Your tie-downs’ angles are not as severe, giving you even more security.

Convenience

As a truck owner who uses a truck bed extender, it’s easy for you to store it around where you stay without having it obstruct other activities. You can store it along a wall or even hang up out of your way right inside the garage, at the time you are not using it. If you make use of a tonneau cover or a truck cap, it’d be easy for you to store them out of sight in your truck bed.

Ease Of Use

It’s very quick, simple, and easy to carry out the installation process of a bed extender into a receiver hitch. It also brings ease into the process of hauling the Kayak inside the truck bed. With bed extenders — simplicity, safety, and security while transporting your Kayak are assured.

Transporting A 10′ – 12′ Kayak In A Truck

By just having the tailgate down, you’ll be able to haul Kayaks ranging from 10′ to 12′. We can also say that the tailgate being down gives added support. If you have the smaller Kayaks, you must know that they have less overhang compared to the bigger ones — and as a result, there’s only very little unsupported weight. In addition, in terms of hulling deformation and/or stress cracks, they’re less prone.

Moreso, no truck owner would love to arrive at his/her destination and discover that the Kayak at the truck bed has fallen out while he/she was driving. For you to avoid this, make use of a high-quality, strong padded cam lock specifically for your tie-downs. Get to the corners of your bed box, then use that area to simply anchor your tie-downs. The next thing to do is to run them to the part of the Kayak that hangs out of the tailgate. Make sure you do not over-tighten the straps.

As you carry out the activity of pulling the tie-downs tighter in order to secure your Kayak, they’ll force your Kayak’s bow into the truck bed, behind the cab. Another thing is to do the necessary thing that’d ensure that your Kayak is prevented from sliding around — which is: place pool noodles alongside. Doing that also supports the keel off the bed of the truck.

Hauling Kayaks In A Short Bed Truck

Trucks with short beds give little options since the room they provide for hauling materials is limited. There’s a way regarded as the best way when it comes to hauling a Kayak in a short bed. That best and reliable way is leaving the tailgate down for added support.

In addition to that, you have to use at least two tie-down straps to help you secure the Kayak. Also, for safety reasons while driving, place a red flag, plastic, or cloth at the very end of the Kayak. If you don’t have plans on traveling for a long distance, prop it around the tailgate.

Transporting Kayaks With Tailgate Up Or Down

It’s, at all times, the best move to have the tailgate down while transporting your Kayak. For extra support underneath the Kayak, ensure the tailgate is down. We’re sure that you’ve seen several small trucks hauling either one or two Kayaks with them angled right inside the truck bed and hanging out. What they do can end up causing damage to the hull of the Kayak.

It’s not favourable to hang the kayak over in such a manner during hotter weather: it could dent or bend the hull. If you want to use this method, it should only be when you’re traveling short distances.

How Far Can A Kayak Hang Out Of A Truck?

Always allow the Code of Federal Regulations to guide you. The moment you discover that a hauled load is extending way more than 4′ behind your truck’s back, ensure you mark such load using an orange or a red fluorescent warning flag. When attaching these flags, make sure that they’re at least 457 mm (18 inches) square. It solely depends on the truck you drive and your specific Kayak — because a lot of Kayaks out there will go beyond the rear of your truck, from 2′ to over 4′.

What’s more, placing an orange or a red flag on the Kayak’s rear is considered an amazing practice. You have to do this, not just to improve safety, but to protect your expensive gear.

How To Haul Three Or Four Kayaks In A Truck

When going out fishing with your friends, and you begin to experience problems transporting about three or even four Kayaks — you’ll end up sorting for ways you can transport them. This section of this article will help you in achieving such. One of the ways, we mean pretty easy ways, you can travel with about three or four Kayaks is by stacking them on one another at the bed of your truck. This would contribute to helping you stack them down securely.

Just like we said in some paragraphs ago, you can bring the tailgate down — put it in such a position to stack the kayaks. Doing this gives additional support. If you choose to stack them together on one side, you can as well do that. There’s an exception: if the kayaks needed to be transported are 10′ long or smaller, you can just keep the tailgate up while hauling them — but it’s recommended you leave it down when you embark on a long distance.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I Put A Kayak In My Truck Bed?

When you get to the back of your kayak simply lift it and carefully slide the kayak right into the bed of your truck. Placing a piece of padding between the front of your kayak and the truck cab will protect your truck and kayak.

Do Kayaks Have Different Weight Limits?

You should know that every kayak out there has different weight limits. Let’s take for instance a touring (sea) kayak has a limit of 350 pounds, a typical recreational kayak has a limit of 250-300 pounds, a sit-on-top kayak has a weight capacity of 350-400 pounds while a tandem kayak has a limit of 500-600 pounds.

Do You Need To Tie-down Front And Back Of Kayak?

The answer to this question is a big YES. Without tie-downs, your kayak can hit a few folks after coming through a windshield.

Do I Need A Truck Bed Extender For My Kayak? – Conclusion

So, to ensure the stability of your Kayak, you need to make use of a bed extender — as one of the ways you can transport a Kayak safely. To recap, as an answer to the question — Do I Need A Truck Bed Extender For My Kayak? — we said:

One of the easy ways to transport a Kayak in your truck is by using a truck bed extender. Kayaks are of different lengths; if you’re transporting Kayaks ranging from 10′ to 12′ in length, having the tailgate down will give extra support. In addition, always ensure you attach a red flag on the Kayak’s end to guarantee safety.

Happy “transporting your kayak using a bed extender.”

Thanks for reading.