Rod Storage

[Mal]

I am retired now and have one to two week fishing vacations planned for May through October. About half of the time I take my boat and the other half just the truck. I need some advice on how to fix some kind of upper storage in the truck cap for the fishing rods. I don't like carrying them on top of the other gear in the truck bed and having the graphite rods bounce on each other. One other thing - I need the information that will allow for me and my fishing partner(s) to sometimes carry 20 to 25 rods. Any advice will be appreciated and thanks in advance.

[Bo]

Give this a shot. I built a sub-floor for my truck. Take 3 2x6's, 8 ft. long and cover them with a 4x8 sheet of plywood. You can use 1x2's for added support. I have a rubber bed mat in my truck so it makes the bed flat. Take 2 pieces of felt about 12in. x the width of the opening to lay on the floor. It will protect your reels when traveling. I covered the top with indoor-outdoor carpeting, makes loading and unloading a breeze. By the way, this does require that you have a truck cap of some sort. I've been using mine for years, and it works out great. By the way, when the tailgate is closed, no one can see your rod and reels at all.You can get about 15-20 rod and reels in there.

[Pitts]

I used berkly locking rod holders for the top of my suburban and 3 of them will fit across the top side to side which gives you storage for 12 rods. I mounted them on a 1x4 that fit across.
If I built a false floor I would definately use rod tubes to min. tangles.

Hope this helps

Pitts

[Mattman]

My brother-in-law bought a "rack" that fits in the topper right up against the ceiling. Check Cabela's. Especially their truck catalog. I've seen them somewhere.