Best Rod & Reel Holder for Inside Truck Topper

[Wall I Ranger]

I'm looking for recomendations for rod holder to mount in a truck topper

[goldman]

You need something that is easy to slide the rod tip into up in the front. I've tried that before, and its a pain to get the rod tip into the holder up in the front, because you about have to crawl in there and slide the rod tip into the holder, if you go with the kind with the foam inserts. You'd almost be better off just using a piece of pvc pipe, and removing the reels each time, and slide the rod into a rod sock, and then into the pvc pipe. I got rid of the whole shooting match, topper, rod holders, everything. Its too hard getting things that end up in the front end of the pickup box, unless your skinny and agile enough to crawl up there and retrieve the stuff. I had actually made a "gear getter", which was a broom stick with a large cup hook screwed into the end of it, which I used to hook things and drag them to the back. That was a pain in the neck too. I wish I had a answer for you, no doubt someone will weigh in with something clever.

good luck,
Paul

[Ristorapper]

Send me a pm and I'll send you some pics on how I've done it. I don't know how to attach them here.

I used to tournament fish and created a rod/gear storage area in the bed of my pickup and put a floor over that so that I could sleep overnight in my topper. The biggest advantage over the pickup bed storage vs topper rod storage is that it is out of sight and usually out of mind for thieves....

Buddy has the nylon belts that are in the topper where he has about 8 rods hanging in the topper area. Man oh man is that an advertisement for thieves... my 2 cents..

[kkaustin]

This is what I did.. I used Velcro Black, pipe Insulation 3/4 ( used for copper pipe), Handy Roll tape (strong kind) and a drop cloth 6x9.. as you can see from the picture the pipe insulation is used for the front of the topper.. I'm going to get a bigger pipe insulation for the mid section of the rod for more support.. on the back of the topper (tailgate) we used velcro to support the reel.. The drop cloth will be taped to the front of the topper and velcro on the back.. This way I can hide the rods and reels on the ceiling of the topper However, you have easy access to it.. Buy a lot of velcro and tape to make sure your $300.00 rod and reel combo will not fall when you hit that speed bump at the public access or that big hump on that dirt road.. The good thing its only tape... NO Holes in the topper! and the total cost at Home Depot is about $25.00... good luck!

Kyle

[REW]

A simple thing to do is to construct a frame of pvc pipe.

i.e. simply make what looks like a bed that extends from the box of the truck to near the roof if the topper. Then, simply lay the rods over the top of the pipes and you are good to go.
You can put 10-20 rods on top of the pipes with no issue. It is only dependent on the size of the reels.

So, you simply make a rectangle of the length and width that you desire.
Then , in each corner of the rectangle, simply drop down a vertical leg that supports each corner of the rectangle. You can simply use inexpensive pvc fittings that are simply pressed together. You might want to have some of the fittings glued permanently to the pipes. But you simply want to dry fit some of the other pieces. This will allow you to take the rack out of your truck - disassemble it and bundle the pieces and store the rack in the attic of your garage. You can likely do this for under $10.

A big advantage of this type rack, is that you put no fasteners into your topper or into the body of your truck.

If you put insulation foam on the cross pipes, the insulation will cushion the pipes and will also help to keep the rods from sliding around.

Take care
REW