I just bought a crewcab f150 with a short box, and i am looking for options to haul a canoe on it. Sometimes i am towing my camper so anything that goes in a the receiver is out, i was thinking some sort of rack that goes in the stake pockets on the box. What do you guys suggest? I will be hauling a soris river q18.5 an di want something quick and hassle free to load and unload, and i have 5 hours of freeway driving to get to ely so it needs to be secure. Something that removes easily would be a big plus, and works with a tonneau cover.

I really like my setup, which is a rack on the cab and a "T" rack on the hitch. In your case, you could use a dual hitch extender ($35 at e-trailer) and you could use a canoe rack and pull a trailer at the same time. It's one option anyway.

Harbor Freight sells a bed extender, you can orient it vertically, instead of horizontally, so your canoe's bow would be strapped down to the cab and the stern would be resting on the vertically oriented bed extender.

Then, as the other poster suggested, get a dual receiver adapter.

Harbor Freight is really cheap, they have lots of sales and coupons. The stuff is a good value, the quality is OK, the prices are great.


Basic ideas linked below.

https://www.harborfreight.com/truck-bed-extender-69650.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/Dual-Hitch-Extender-69881.html

I use a Vantech P3000 clamp on rack and set of foam blocks on the cab. 6 1/2 ft. bed short cab, 16 1/2 ft. Wenonah Advantage on top. Solid, and has seen 1/2 dozen 500 mile trips. Removes easily in 15 minutes.



butthead

If you have the option to make a rack, this worked very well for me. A friend gave me this rack years ago. I cut it apart and put it back together to fit a half ton truck. Some day I will make another one. This one will be in 5 parts, the 2 sides and 3 cross members. Once the sides are up in the stake pockets you will bolt the cross members on. This will make it easy to install and take up less space to store. Another plus is you don't need to tie down the bow and stern. When you have to travel almost 6000 miles round trip, its nice not to have to look at those lines. All it is is a lumber rack! another plus.

If your current hitch incorporates Weight Distribution Hitch & antisway bars receivers, as mine does, have a welder modify to a dual receiver adapter.
Then you could make use of a bed extender, as suggested. The canoe bow would then be positioned on cab (foam blocks) w/front straps affixed as butthead's photo shows. Stern rest on the extender but not positioned too far back as to allow for those 90* turns & cuts when backing the travel trailer. A reasonably easy, quick takedown set up that would not interfere with the tonneau cover and allow you to remove & store away bed extender at landings/put-ins.
Of course, the bed extender would be installed reversed from pic on harbor freight site. Maybe vertical bar will need to be extended/adjusted also to bring crossbar level same as the truck cab. Use a strap on each side of the bed extender to steady to bumper to prevent any wobbling at those faster interstate speeds.
The welder would be the biggest expense. Quick and easy set-up/takedown. Use locking hitch pins on bed extender assembly and you'd not need to remove it when left at a parking lot of EP/ put-in.

John 800,

I have the same truck as you.....I spent months researching/agonizing over this....I had a set of Thule square bars from a previous vehicle and got lucky one day and found a set of feet on craigslist for less than 1/2 price of new. I then mounted the pair of Thule square bars on the cab of my truck...per factory spec.s the spacing between the bars is like 43" give or take. I also have tie down straps under my hood like Butthead has in his photo above. I am quite comfortable hauling kayaks and my 14.5 solo canoe locally with this set up. I was a little concerned hauling long distance with only the 43" spread so I wound up buying a goal post for my receiver. This set up worked very well. On a recent trip, I carried my solo and my buddies longer Wenonah solitude solo. Mine was secured between the goalpost and back bar and his longer boat was secured between the goalpost and front bar on the cab. We then utilized bow/stern straps for both boats. Probably overkill.....I do have a tonneau cover and the biggest drawback to this set up is the goalpost doesn't allow you to drop the tailgate. I can open it enough to reach my hand into the bed and unlock the tonneau and then flip it open. At the time, I was unable to find any bed mounted racks that were compatible with a tonneau cover. I even contacted several tonneau cover manufacturers directly and they were unable to provide any guidance. There is a company in Minnesota that was formerly an outfitter and recently sold off the outfitting side of the business and now just run a canoe accessory manufacturing business and they make several rack options. In fact, I purchased my goalpost from them. Their name escapes me at the moment, but I will dig it up and post later. They were extremely helpful and do a lot of customization. If I didn't live 15 hours away, I would have driven over there to see what they could do for me. A lot of people on this site have used them and rave about their work. On my most recent trip Norht, I saw a number of 17-18' canoes strapped on small Honda civic/accord size vehicles....the spread of their bars can't be anymore than 36".....they than had bow/stern tie downs.....I didn't stop and talk to any of them, but could you get by with just the racks on top of the cab? I wonder what peoples thoughts/experiences are on that......Having spent this past Summer hauling my 14.5' around locally on the top of my cab, I found it to be very stable, even on the highway with winds and semi's blowing by. I would feel comfortable hauling it long distqance this way....I just don't know what happens when you add 3-4 ' in length of the boat. I will try and dig ups ome photos and post later with the name of the company...

Mike
Springcreek manufacturing

above should be the link to the manufacturer I mentioned.....Chuck is the guy I spoke with

Your Crew Cab should have more than enough roof length to use just bars and towers on the roof without fiddling with anything on the bed or hitch. I've carried my Nothwind 17 on my Toyota Tundra Crew Cab for 1000s of miles that way. When you think about it small cars have the same roof length and carry canoes all the time.

John 800 and JATFOMike,

I have the same truck as both of you. I was looking at the Thule Goalpost or Yakima Dry Dock. I'm leaning towards the Dry dock because it can pivot and swing down out of the way. I have a foldable hard tonneau cover so mounting a semi-permanent system on the rails or in the stake pockets isn't an option. We get a lot of hail here in TX so it needs to fit in the garage. Either of hitch mounted options and a bar on the cab are easily removable. The cost really adds up. I was thinking of just using the foam pads/blocks on the cab but I have the full moonroof so that's really not an option.

Heres a pic of my truck hauling the canoe with the Thule cross bars.....The canoe is 14.5 feet long....The racks are about 43" apart per manufacturers spec.s. I f I'm traveling long distance, I can run a strap from the rear of the boat to the back bumper or if my tonneau is off/open, I can use one of the anchors in the bed.

Mike

JATFOMike: "Heres a pic of my truck hauling the canoe with the Thule cross bars.....The canoe is 14.5 feet long....The racks are about 43" apart per manufacturers spec.s. I f I'm traveling long distance, I can run a strap from the rear of the boat to the back bumper or if my tonneau is off/open, I can use one of the anchors in the bed.


Mike
That's just how my set up looks. I'm hauling a Northwind 17








"

I also use a Thule Square Bar with Aero Feet on top of my 2017 Ford 150 Crew Cab and pair it with a Thule Goal Post. I have a hard cover on my short bed … thus the need for the Goal Post.

I also use Thule tie down strips under my hood and tie to my bow with rope using a Truckers Hitch … I also tie my stern to the bottom of my bumper.

Here's a pic with Old Salts Souris River Tandem strapped on top my Ford 150 using a Goal Post and a Thule Square Bar and locking Aerofeet. ( hope the pic displays upright as I can not seem to get it to save upright to this post)

I also use a Roadmaster Quiet Hitch I bought at Etrailer to keep the Goal Post from swaying while driving and it really works well.

I also use a Thule Snug Tite Lock and Anti Sway that also is a great addition that keeps the lower 1/2 of the Thule Goal Post Attached to my truck 2 inch hitch.




Roadmaster Quiet Hitch from etrailer Thule Snug Tite Hitch Lock and Anti Sway

Agree with JatfoMike. Back in the day I had a Chevy S10 Extended Cab and VNO outfitters got a Wenonah Prism on it with just foam blocks and straps. You should be fine with that bigger truck/bigger cab.

JD

Having just sold my 2008 Ford F 250 with Yakima Racks on top... I purchased a new Ford F 350 and don't want to spend the money to by canoe racks to go on top... besides the top of the truck is too tall. This is what I'm looking at for the bed of my truck, much easier to access and put the canoe on.

Also, the racks are clamp on and can can be removed while in the BWCA... I have had receiver hitches and other things stolen in the parking lot. They will easily fit in the rear seat of my truck with about 10 minutes of work... Erickson No-Drill Ladder Rack

Bruce

Bruce,

Looks like your rack setup should serve you well.