Constructing a pickup bed rod holder?

[mitchman]

Looking for some advice/input on creating rod storage in my pickup bed. I have a Toyota Tacoma with the bed rail system that I am planning on using to create a horizontal rod rack in the bed. What I would like to do is use T-nuts (see photo with nut in the rail) to mount 2 crossbars/rails across the bed. To the crossbars I could attach some basic horizontal rod racks to carry my rods. this would essentially be like a roof rack rod mounting system but in the bed. To complicate matters I have a roll-up bed cover, so what I am thinking about doing is dropping the crossbars down using some wood or sheet metal. In the end I would like to be able to carry my rods horizontally in the bed with the cover on. Few questions:

1) Has anyone done anything similar

2) Suggestions on cheap crossbars and/or mounting hardware

3) Suggestions on what type of rod rack I should mount to cross bars.....simple berkley ones? Adjustable Taco style? Or cut them out of PVC? (don't really want a rod vault).

 

I will appreciate any other input

 

[toyota]

search on the tacoma forum.. lots of guys do it.

[mitchman]

I searched there but really didn't find anything comparable to what I want to do. That's actually where I learned about the T-nuts from...fit like butter!

[initial reefer]

a  guy makes one for $200 on ebay and amazon

[DarrylZ]

mitch...I'd use the Berkeley Twist-Lok Racks. I've been using them for years...on the roof...and the inside of my trucks...with much satisfaction. Here's the rack I recently built to fit inside the roofline of the cap on my Tacoma DCSB. Good luck!

 

[mitchman]

Thanks for the advice and that looks great! could probabley mount the berkley rod holders to some crossbars and be good though.

[DarrylZ]

Get a 4-foot piece of square aluminum tube from a home improvement store, fashion it to hang from your T-bolts acrost the bed of the truck...attach the Berkeleys...and you'd be good-to-go.

[mitchman]

Taking some advice from you guys this what I came up with! I fashioned some crossbars out of 1" aluminum square stock and attached that to the bedrails using right angled pieces of aluminum and T-bolts in the rails. I secured a berkley twist-lock rod holder on top. This is only phase I. I plan to add more kinds of rod holders so I can hold fly rods, larger trolling outfits, gaffs, etc.

 

 

[img=http://www.stripersonline.com/image/id/3283699/width/560/height/418]

[img=

http://www.stripersonline.com/image/id/3283702/width/560/height/418]

[DarrylZ]

Nice mitch...how much clearance between the top of the Berkeley and your tonneau? Looks like it could go higher to give you more room underneath. Simple solution well done!

[mitchman]

Nice mitch...how much clearance between the top of the Berkeley and your tonneau? Looks like it could go higher to give you more room underneath. Simple solution well done!

 

Thanks and you're one step ahead! Once I got it rigged up I noticed that I had enough space to move it up to the next hole on the right angled aluminum. I use a fish tote to hold stuff in the bed and currently it doesn't fit under the rails. Of course this means I have to break out the hacksaw just need to find some time this week.

[TLap21]

This is awesome and pretty much exactly what I had in mind.  I'm so sick of  having my rods just sitting in the bed, something slid on top of my new St Croix and gave it a little scratch and that was the last straw.  

 

I have a couple questions if you don't mind. 

 

I don't have a tonneau cover, do you think this would work by making use of the stake pockets?

Do the rods slide back at all?

Do 4 poles fit into that Berkley holder with the reels on the pole?  

 

Thanks.