[DjHill18]

So while I had the day off Friday, I decided to put an idea in to motion. I've been wanting to add a rod holder into the bed, mounted to the rails. Main reason behind it was I was tired of worrying about things sliding around and breaking them. I'm in the process of finding a way to lock in the poles so someone doesn't walk by and five finger them while I'm in the store or at the gas station. Took a trip up to Boise over the weekend with two poles in there and only a rubber band stretched across the top to keep them in. Minus a little bit of bobbing from the road they didn't move at all even while going 85 on the freeway.

 

[FitzIngarage]

Couldn't get larger pictures to display (probably my computer), but what I can see looks cool and well engineered!

 

[Clint]

Nice job, I really enjoy the creativity of the members here.

Clint

 

[whistler]

Being a hardcore fisherman in my other life,yes it's a pain keeping fully rigged outfits in your vehicle. Use to do a lot of surf fishing in Baja, Mexico.I would run the rods through the shell into the cab and throw a sheet over them to keep them from bouncing. Never worked well.Seems you figured out a good way to do this.
I fished the Republic of Kiribati(Christmas Island).They transported us to the boats or to different flats in these open trucks.Hanging down from the roofs were just two small loops of chord.One loop for the handle and one towards the tip of the rod.I was surprised how simple and how well it worked. They were for 9 foot fly rods and very expensive I might add.

 

[whistler]

For just the rods,used abs tubes attached to the shell with rotary clamps.This was on my 83 Ford diesel.

 

[travhale]

I've just been pulling a rod sock over 2-3 rods at a time and throwing them in the bed. It has worked well. Move them in the cab when they need to be secured (doesn't work well with long rods). Will make a roof rack option eventually.

 

[DjHill18]

Thanks guys! I think they turned out pretty good so far im just having issues with trying to find a way to keep them in the holders and not grow a set of legs while im away from the truck. im thinking of taking a chain and fastening it on one side pretty good and looping it in front of the reels to the other side and have an eye bolt so I can adjust the length and tightness of it then run a padlock through it all.

 

[Contra]

I know this is an old thread, but Djhill are you still using this setup?

 

[DjHill18]

Yes I am sorry I don't jump on here very often and hadn't seen your reply.

 

[Contra]

what did you make the metal part that attaches to the rail and the the plastic tube out of?

 

[DjHill18]

I got the pieces from lowes. Depending on what type of rods your running and how heavy they are you may want to consider trying to find something a little sturdier but I have had three 7'-6" medium heavy ugly sticks in it with 2 ounces of lead on each rod and they will bounce up and down with the bumps in the road but never bad enough to hit the tailgate or ruin the rods. The metal seems to give a little bit when they bounce but it always returns to how it was originaly.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/USP-Steel-G185-Post-Base-Common-4-in-Actual-3-562-in/3365734